Analytics & conversion
Search Engine Land is your source for analytics & conversion news and content. You’ll find a variety of up-to-date and authoritative resources, including the latest news, tactic-rich tutorials, and the latest data to help you work smarter and make better decisions.
What you read here is written by our experienced in-house team, and subject matter experts from leading brands and agencies.
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Riding the wave of AI: Is your marketing campaign as smart as it can be?
AI and machine learning are helping marketers in more ways that you can imagine.
Ask an SMXpert: New approaches in customization can build better analytics reports
Data-driven digital marketing expert Simon Poulton outlines opportunities in various solutions to customize dimensions for more focused analytics reporting.
AI in action
Marketers’ jobs have never been more complex. They have to juggle vendors, evaluate complicated technology, and draw insights from reams of data, all while meeting skyrocketing customer expectations. But artificial intelligence is changing the equation, helping marketers make sense of a deluge of information and effortlessly execute more effective campaigns. Watson Marketing’s suite of AI-powered […]
Analyze data distribution more accurately with time series
Using a time series layer to histograms and box and whisker plot visualizations can add true diagnostic value. This is part three of a three-part series about Bing's data distribution tools.
A closer look at Bing’s box and whisker plots to analyze CPC data
The box and whisker visualization offers a view of both the mean and median along with four quartiles to identify statistical outliers. This is part two of a three-part series about Bing's data distribution tools.
Bing histograms reveal better business intelligence metrics with data distribution
Simple average is ok but histograms of your CPC data can help to better understand outlier data points. This is part one of a three-part series about Bing's data distribution tools.
3 signs it’s time to make the switch to account-based analytics
If someone asked how you track your marketing efforts, how would you respond? Chances are, your answer would sound like a game of martech MadLibs. You’re using Google Analytics, advertising platforms, marketing automation, your CRM and myriad other tools to track, measure and take action on your marketing data. You spend your days building marketing […]
Why aligning marketing with your customer journey matters
The session offered a sophisticated blueprint to calibrate marketing, sales and content for different personas at each stage of the buyer journey.
YouTube now counts ‘engagement’ for YouTube for action ads at 10 seconds, not 30
Google says the new attribution will better reflect the role of video in the customer journey.
How to use data to power target account selection
According to SiriusDecisions, a full 91% of B2B teams that are doing account-based marketing (ABM) see larger deal sizes from their target accounts than from non-target accounts. If that isn’t a ringing endorsement for the efficacy of ABM, then I don’t know what is. In theory, ABM is straightforward: Focus the bulk of your energy […]
Ask the SMXperts — Schema & Structured Data, JavaScript
Three #SMXperts answer questions from the Advanced Technical SEO session at SMX Advanced and share their insights on JavaScript and structured data, two topics at the forefront of website development and search engine ranking.
Why your marketing performance problem is really a measurement challenge
Figuring out how your company will grow is one of the biggest challenges facing marketers. The playbook is clear: Choose a high-value audience, execute relevant and creative campaigns, and voilà, results and growth for your brand, product or service. But setting your marketing team up for success is tougher than ever. One reason is that, […]
Is your marketing platform really intelligent?
Let’s face it, the future isn’t turning out to be what we were promised in decades past. No flying cars, and the closest thing to robot butlers are Siri and Alexa. Don’t get me wrong, they’re handy in their ways: suggesting nearby Thai food or tending to virtual shopping carts as we yell our grocery […]
5 Google Optimize tests to take AdWords to the next level
Recently, Google released new ways to connect landing page tests to AdWords using Google Optimize. Columnist and Googler Matt Lawson runs down the tests you should set up in your accounts.
Improve paid search lead-gen with cohort analysis
Adopting cohort analyses is a powerful means to assess trends, retention and path to purchase. Contributor Megan Taggart explains how to implement the model in your paid search reporting.
All the right marketing technology for advanced TV media buying
Every marketer, regardless of discipline, has a holy grail in mind. For analysts, it may be having a holistic view of the customer journey. For creatives, it may be having the team and tools to conceptualize and generate impactful experiences. And for media buyers, it may be the ability to take a single media plan […]
RIP A/B Testing
Gather all ye family, friends, webmasters and digital marketing executives. We’ve come here to celebrate the life of the now outdated A/B Testing process, which has finally succumbed to the inefficiencies that have plagued its process. What was A/B? How many of us truly knew what A/B Testing was? Allow me to briefly introduce the […]
Marketing in a distracted, digital world
In today’s world, digital media is so pervasive that it’s no longer considered unique; it’s a way of life. Virtually everyone has a smartphone, and most individuals and households have multiple smart devices, including tablets, phones and computers. This prevalence, coupled with the rise of Big Data, digital marketing tools and social media, has given […]
LaterPay offers first paywall platform for AMP pages
The German-Swiss payment infrastructure provider allows readers to maintain a running tab of per-article charges until a threshold is met.
The evolution of phone marketing
In the beginning, there was the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. And it was not good. By 2017 standards, it was barely a phone. Virtually zero coverage, a price tag that translates to almost $10,000 of today’s dollars, and completely devoid of apps. It also had a 10-hour charge time that only translated into about a half-hour […]
Google expanding Attribution beta to hundreds more advertisers
Google's anticipated multi-channel attribution product is rolling out to more advertisers.
5 ways to capitalize on Google Tag Manager
If you haven't taken advantage of Google Tag Manager, now may be the time to get started. Columnist Stela Yordanova outlines five ways to utilize GTM to help you improve your marketing results.
How to use AI for link building and improve your search rankings
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow in popularity among consumers, marketers working in search engine optimization must consider how it can make their work easier and help them get better results.
SEO 101: Which URL versions to add to Google Search Console
Can you really afford to miss out on free technical data about your website's performance in Google search results? Of course not! Contributor Fili Wiese explains how to set up your website in Google Search Console to make it work to your advantage.
Bridging data and action: How to create killer reports
Are your reports not having the impact you would have hoped? Check out columnist Amy Bishop's tips and tools below to create powerful, useful reports that drive results.
Google Analytics rolling out ‘ask a question’ to get answers instantaneously
With natural language, users can quickly get data without having to dig for it from both desktop and Google Analytics' mobile apps.
PaveAI unveils AI-powered platform to turn Google Analytics into actions
Startup says this is the first Google Analytics tool that turns the data into news you can use about increasing leads or revenue.
How to solve the mystery of what your customers really want
How well do you really know your customers? If your company is like most brands, you already realize that you don’t really know them at all. In fact, a 2015 study from Aberdeen Group found that just 4 percent of organizations are fully satisfied with their ability to ensure data-driven conversations with their customers. That’s […]
How AI is disrupting major industries
Advances in artificial intelligence tend to provoke polarizing reactions for most people. One, a dystopian anxiety where humans huddle in fear of their metallic overlords. Or two, a utopian futurist society where humans are freed from mundane labor and complex challenges are solved by machines. Wherever you fall on the AI anxiety spectrum, the […]
How to track conversions like a pro
Driving more traffic is only good if you're driving the right traffic. Columnist Ryan Shelley outlines three simple conversion goals you can track that will give you powerful insights into how your users are interacting with your website.
Google Analytics is unifying user IDs from AMP & non-AMP pages
Some metrics will be effected as the change rolls out.
Weathering the Google storms
Columnist Bobby Lyons explains his method for gauging the impact of a Google algorithm update and using these insights to discover opportunities for improvement.
What is demand generation marketing?
The role of demand generation marketing is evolving along with technology, enabling B2B marketers to get better at filling the pipeline with actual opportunities versus just a bunch of leads. In one TED Talk, Malcolm Gladwell shares a story about choice, happiness and Howard Moskowitz. He talks about Howard’s role as a food scientist and […]
What is customer marketing?
B2B marketers are focusing more and more on making sure their customers are successful after they’ve signed the contract and started using your product or service. This renewed attention helps in a couple of ways. First, successful customers are happy customers, and they are more likely to renew with you. The second reason is that […]
Machine learning is marketing’s future
When you hear “artificial intelligence” or “machine learning,” what comes to mind? A complicated technology that demands deep domain experience or a degree to use? This was once the way technology worked; only a select few had access. But innovation has a funny way of changing things. What might seem out of reach today can […]
How to use Google Tag Manager to show your clients results
Columnist Sherry Bonelli provides an overview of Google Tag Manager, including how get started with it.
5 A/B testing resolutions you should embrace in 2017
A year’s beginning is the most ambitious of times for teams and businesses — lots of reflection, planning, strategizing, revamping approaches, right? To get you off to a good start, we have listed five A/B testing resolutions that should take in 2017. A/B testing is a relatively young practice, yet it only takes a Simple […]
Small business owners: 3 steps to creating accurate Google Analytics reports
Raw traffic data in Google Analytics isn't always accurate. In this helpful how-to, columnist Dianna Huff shows Analytics beginners how to create a filter that excludes spam traffic and traffic from internal sources.
Setting SEO KPIs for small manufacturing websites
Columnist Dianna Huff shares her process for helping businesses determine, set up and measure key performance indicators (KPIs) for their SEO campaigns.
Allstate: Offline call data improved SEM performance and the customer experience
Company generated an increase in quality calls and lowered customer acquisition costs.