1.Google Analytics announced some changes to the referring urls coming from Google search engine results. We later learn that Google adds rank information to referral URL.

2. Google Analytics also announces the availability of a read-only API to their application. Several customer examples of applications built on this API are announced, including FutureNow’s OnTarget for Google Analytics. We can now leverage customer’s Google Analytics tags and bring in the data into OnTarget where our analysts can provide you your to-do list of conversion…

...continue to read "TheGrok’s Not-To-Miss Links for the Week 4/23/09"

Craig Danuloff, President of ClickEquations did a fabulous job exposing how to leverage Google Quality Score to improve pay per click success during our webinar yesterday. In case you missed the webinar you can see the replay. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to get to all the questions so Craig and I will take turns answering them on our respective blogs. Enjoy part 1 of Craig’s responses on the ClickEquations blog. Then enjoy some additional questions and answers are below:

Q: How…

...continue to read "Follow-up: Google Quality Score Webinar"

Who: Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder & EVP at FutureNow, and Craig Danuloff, Founder and President of Commerce360 Inc, a full service paid search management firm and developed the ClickEquations paid search software platform.

What: “Always Be Testing” Webinar: Google Quality Score – Exposing the Secret Factor to PPC Success

Quality Score is the PageRank of PPC. It’s a number Google assigns to your keywords which determines how much you have to bid, the position in which your ads appear, how often your ads are…

...continue to read "Free Webinar: Google Quality Score – Exposing the Secret Factor to PPC Success"

Google Analytics provides some great information about what is happening on your website. But what if you want to take it to the next level? Thanks to the many smart people who have created these wonderful hacks and plugins to get you some powerful additions to Google Analytics. Please note most of these need the truly awesome GreaseMonkey FireFox extension.

(*post updated 6/18/09)

1. Social Media Metrics Greasemonkey Plugin For Google Analytics – it pulls the social media metrics right into Google Analytics Content…

...continue to read "The Ultimate Google Analytics Plugins, Hacks & Tricks Collection"

Who: Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder & EVP at FutureNow, and Tom Leung, Business Product Manager at Google.

What: “Always Be Testing” Webinar: Landing Page Optimization: Layout and Design Elements

When: Monday, September 29, 2008 | 2:00pm EST

Where: Online, register here to receive your invitation

How much: It’s free, but space is limited so sign-up today!

About this session:

July kicked off the series with a webinar on testing trust and confidence building elements on landing pages (view archive ). Our August session covered improving landing pages focusing…

...continue to read "Landing Page Optimization: Layout and Design Elements – Always Be Testing Webinar"

Google released another great tool today, Google Insights for Search. Whether you’re an advertising agency, a small business owner, a multinational corporation, or an academic researcher, Insights for Search can help you gauge interest in your relevant search terms. It allows you to compare search volume patterns (and trends) across specific geographic regions, categories (like finance, health, and sports), and time frames. You can read more about it at the Insight for Search help center or get a quick overview here.How does…

...continue to read "Insights into Google Search"

Who: Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder & EVP at FutureNow, and Tom Leung, Business Product Manager at Google.

What: “Always Be Testing” Webinar: Landing Pages: Headlines and Calls to Action

When: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 | 12:00pm EST

Where: Online, register here to receive your invitation

How much: It’s free, but space is limited so sign-up today!

About this session:

Last month kicked off the series with a webinar on testing trust and confidence building elements on landing pages (view archive ). Our August session will continue to explore…

...continue to read "Free Webinar: August Session of “Always Be Testing” Webinar Series"

I used to run websites for a living.

I was responsible for the performance of those sites, and I was the de facto “web analytics guy” within my company.  But I wasn’t a full-time Web Analyst, and I had lots of other strategic and operational things to do.

Sound familiar?

When I did look at my web analytics, I often skimmed the information contained in my default “dashboard,” and rarely dove into the real data unless someone came to me with a…

...continue to read "Beyond the Dashboard: 5 Tips for Data Diving in Google Analytics"

We all take the Google homepage for granted.

It’s so remarkably simple that (unless you’re, say, a blogger for a website optimization firm) it’s unremarkable; just a text box, two call to action buttons, and a few links that most humans don’t even look at, let alone use. That’s all.

But why? Why is it that the Google homepage has barely changed in the past decade? Are they obsessed with minimalism, or is there more to the story?

From its humble origins as…

...continue to read "What You Never Noticed About Google’s Homepage"

Just one year after Google [GOOG] launched Google Website Optimizer, the free A/B split and multivariate testing platform has shed its “beta” status and gone mainstream.

Formerly available only to AdWords users, Google Website Optimizer can now be accessed by anyone with a basic Google account. Even if you only have so much as a Gmail account, you can start testing your website — for free — regardless of whether you’re running a paid search campaign. (No worries, AdWords users, Website…

...continue to read "Google Website Optimizer Opens Up, Sheds Beta"