Posts Tagged: tracking


28
Oct 11

Understanding Google’s New Search Default Restrictions

Google has found a way to start tightening the rope around search, and more specifically, SEO. According to Brad Reynolds, CEO at Mongoose, “Google is changing the face of web analytics by encrypting search results.” As a result of this change, anyone who logs into their Google account (i.e. Google+, Gmail) and then conducts a search via Google will no longer have referrer data sent along with it. That referrer data reveals what search terms were used in order to find a particular business or website. Paid ads, however, will not be affected by this change.

Who does this impact?

In a blog post, Google says less than 10% of searches will be affected by this change. Additionally, in a Search Engine Land Article, Matt Cutts a Google Software Engineer estimates the affected traffic to be 1-2% of search volume.  Aggregate query data will continue to be available and include visits from users who are not signed into a Google account. This change only concerns organic search results while the user is logged into a Google account. It does not impact direct traffic, PPC traffic or affiliated traffic.

How does this affect the user experience?

In the Search Engine Land article: Google to Begin Encrypting Searches & Outbound Clicks By Default with SSL Search, Danny Sullivan does a great job of describing the setbacks from this change. This encryption prevents sophisticated keyword-based targeting from being used. It is almost as if we’re taking a step backwards in the progression of custom and personalized information. Instead of creating a better user experience, this is essentially making the consumer work harder. Take for example someone searching for a specific product, but since referrer data isn’t passed along to the company, the user lands on a basic web page. Now the user has to navigate through the website in order to find their particular product – essentially making the entire process more time consuming for the user. As a marketer, having the capability to track and analyze specific keyword information will become harder to obtain.

Why the change?

There is much speculation and controversy around why this change has been made. The majority of comments we have seen believe it is a way for Google to make more money and gain competitive advantage. Google mentions there is a growing importance of protecting the privacy of personalized search results. In an effort to protect users and their privacy, Google feels this is reason enough.

There are two additional facts we find to be confusing. First, Google will continue to offer this data to their paid advertisers, which seems inconsistent with the goal of protecting user privacy. Second, Google will continue to gather this organic search result information without passing it on, thus giving them exclusive intelligence related to search results. Some say this will hurt small businesses that cannot afford to pay for online marketing services, while others mention that this is a step in the right direction towards protecting the privacy of the consumer. The debate will be ongoing as more people become aware of this change in the marketing and SEO world.

With change, there is naturally going to be resistance. Like many changes, there will be pros and cons. At the moment, Mongoose is more interested in the long-term effects. Specifically, we’re curious to know how this will impact the way we search and if this will become a standard across all search engines. Will referrer data one day disappear for good – paid or not? Again, going back to Search Engine Land’s article, Sullivan claims that the future is clear:

“Referrer data is going away from search engines, and likely from other web sites, too. It’s somewhat amazing that we’ve had it last this long, and it will be painful to see that specific, valuable data disappear.”

Let’s say he’s right and this data disappears from search engines, what does this mean for social? Most users are searching via social already; perhaps this is an attempt by Google to gain traction in the social space as well. Although Google+ is not the most popular network in the social world, this might be the first step towards making that a reality. For now, Facebook and Twitter continue to own the social search arena. Users trust their friends’ feedback, comments and likes, which is something you don’t have in search engines. However, with Google, you do have the +1 option – but you need to be on Google+ for that function.

Your thoughts?

What do you think about what Google is doing? Are you for or against this change? Please leave any comments and suggestions below.


7
Oct 11

Exploding Growth of Mobile Search Makes Call Tracking Essential for the Automotive Industry

Visitors to mobile auto sites grew 463% over the course of one year. The demand for mobile phone conversion solutions is critical. With the rise of mobile internet becoming the leading platform of web browsing, dealers must address this channel now or risk losing revenue.

Mobile Call Tracking Drives Conversion for Dealers

With one in seven searches happening via mobile, automotive retailers can’t afford to ignore the growing demand for mobile conversion solutions. A comScore study reported 21% of users access auto content almost every day and 48% access the content one to three times a month. Combining call tracking features with mobile conversion optimization enables marketers to engage mobile visitors, drive mobile sales conversions and help create competitive advantage. Consider the example scenario below:

Jane is looking to purchase a new car. She opens Google on her mobile browser and searches for “Used Ford Escape Dallas, Texas” This search takes her to a number of results, showing many options of used Ford vehicles being offered at various dealers in the Dallas region. She clicks on a prominent search result for John Ford Auto.

We know she is in the Options stage of the Buying Process, and we only have 9 seconds to get her attention. Using Mongoose’s Mobile Call Track technology, John Ford Auto pushes a special mobile alert to Jane 5 seconds into her visit that says, “We have your SUV, touch to call us now.” Jane clicks the mobile alert and her mobile phone populates with the number for John Ford Auto. The dealership gets the sale and Jane drives away in her Ford Escape. John Ford Auto knows that they won the sale thanks to Mongoose technology – because the conversion and phone call are recorded for easy tracking.

The Mongoose Metrics’ Mobile Call Track solution for automotive offers several powerful  features for customers that are serious about making mobile a part of their automotive marketing strategy:

  • Right Time, Right Place action triggers, which rescue visitors before they abandon your mobile website.
  • Increase & Measure Conversions – Auto dealers realize an immediate lift in mobile conversions of up to 30%– with ROI potential to increase overtime from 45 – 100%.
  • Seamless integration – Integrate with web analytics, bid management and CRM software for easy, consistent reporting.

With a growing number of searches being conducted via mobile phones, having statistics to understand the behavior of your customers is critical. The power to increase mobile conversions is yours. Are you equipped to drive more sales from your mobile site? Start now by contacting us today!


5
Jun 09

AccuTrack Session – Ease of Use for PPC Managers

This post provides an overview of Mongoose Metrics’ AccuTrack Session keyword level phone call tracking product. In particular it will describe how a key benefit of AccuTrack Session is its ease of use.

Our customers want a phone call tracking platform that is easy to setup and easy to manage.  This is especially true for online marketers who manage PPC campaigns.  Marketers want a product that does not require a great deal of acclimation or extensive maintenance.  Low maintenance is of particular importance as its common for PPC campaigns to make experimental changes in keywords and bidding.  The last thing our customers want is to make changes in their PPC campaign only to be saddled with further maintenance burdens within Mongoose Metrics.

AccuTrack Session keyword level phone call tracking was designed to meet these needs.   AccuTrack Session, is our new keyword level phone call tracking product designed to track phone call conversions from both PPC and organic search campaigns.  AccuTrack Session uses ans an innovative pricing model where the customer only pays for the publishing of the phone number.  The Session Publishing Cost (SPC) pricing model allows our customers to easily understand what their campaign’s phone call tracking costs will be by looking at their monthly paid click volume.  There are no minute usage charges with AccuTrack Session nor are there monthly charges for holding the tracking phone numbers.

Easy To Understand Campaign Cost

Keyword level phone call tracking often requires the need for many phone numbers and there are uncertainties around phone call minute usage.  Often an analysis of the campaign’s traffic volume, major keywords and call usage is required before a keyword level phone call tracking campaign can begin. In addition there is often the need for client communication and budget approval.  With AccuTrack Session the decision process is simplified.  To predict cost, only an estimate of the campaign’s monthly click volume is neecessary.  Since there are no minute usage charges, a huge uncertainty regarding minute usage cost is removed from the decision making process.  This means faster decisions and greater efficiency when launching a keyword level phone call tracking campaign.

Easy Setup

Setup requires only basic HTML skills. .  It is a one-time setup and no further changes on the campaign website are required.  Once setup, AccuTrack Session publishes the tracking number to the campaign page. This removes the need for customers to manage and publish tracking numbers.  In addition, there is no need to upload your campaign’s keywords to AccuTrack Session .

Automatic Tracking Number Management

AccuTrack Session automates the provisioning of tracking numbers to the customer’s campaign.  Tracking numbers provisioned are private numbers used exclusively for the customer’s campaign. These numbers are not shared across different campaigns or customers.  The benefit with automatic tracking number provisioning is that as the customer makes changes to their campaign there is no need to return to Mongoose Metrics to provision more numbers.  Tracking numbers can be either local or toll-free.

Automatic Postback Reporting to Web Analytics Package

When a phone call comes in through an AccuTrack Session campaign, the call is automatically reported back to the customer’s web analytics account.  The reporting includes the keyword that drove the call in addition to call details such as the incoming caller’s phone number and call duration.  For example, Google Analytics users can then see the phone calls reported in the Campaign section of Google Analytics and by filtering to the dimension of ‘keyword’ they can then see what keywords drove phone calls.

Like all Mongoose Metrics’ products, AccuTrack delivers reliable data into the customers preferred web analytics package in a simple and easy to use system.


11
Mar 08

Google Analytics/Google Audio Ads and Phone Call Tracking

Summary: This post explains how Google Analytics users can leverage the Google Audio Ads integration to not support both online ROI and offline phone call ROI via Mongoose Metrics phone call tracking technology.

Google Analytic announced integration with Google Audio Ads this week. The integration allows Google Analytics users who run Google Audio Ads campaigns to see a special overlay report that shows both the radio ad broadcast schedule and website visitors. The report allows the Google Analytics user to clearly see the correlation between spot broadcasts and site visits and conversions. As rich as the overlay report is, a simple solution exists that allows Google Audio Ads advertisers to track phone calls driven from their radio spot campaigns.

Using Mongoose Metrics With Google Audio Ads

As a brief walk through, a Mongoose Metrics trackable phone number can be used in radio spots as the call to action phone number and also in the web campaign’s landing page.  When the number is dialed, the phone call event will be logged back to Google Analytics within the campaign section.

In this way, Google Audio Ads advertisers can create radio campaigns that can target both web based conversions and offline phone call conversions.