Adam Woodburn

M Posted 10 years 9 months ago

t 9 min read

BrightEdge is perhaps our favorite software platform here at Be Found Online when it comes to reporting on and sorting data. Through innovative capabilities like Data Cube and StoryBuilder, BrightEdge is constantly innovating their platform to improve how SEOs and clients interpret traffic, revenue, and engagement metrics to convey clear and comprehensible data.

In this vein, since the launch of Search Console last spring, formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, Google has made some significant updates to better consolidate queries. BrightEdge has responded to these updates with a slew of their own reporting platform updates.

Oh dearie, my queries! In the beginning of early August it’s very likely SEOs and their clients have already seen a “drop” in Clicks & Impressions metrics as a result of these recent BrightEdge reporting updates. However, don’t panic! While this may have caused some weaker-willed SEOs to run screaming to the hills, it most certainly is not that bleak. In fact, it’s quite the opposite:

Individual Page Impressions

All links to the same site are now counted as a single impression, instead of counting each page in the search results. The result is data that is cleaned up and now devoid of any avenue that didn’t lead to a visit. If you haven’t already, you will almost certainly see the total number of impressions in your BrightEdge reports decrease based on this update.

Different Data Storage Thresholds

The old Search Queries report and the new Search Analytics report have different set levels for storing data. As a result, one report may have a larger pool of data from which to make a summation, so you may notice this difference in the summed values section of BrightEdge reports. For instance, this may be noticed specifically in total clicks data for a specific time period. This is because one report will not have as much data as the other from which to make the total clicks summation.

Search Properties and Devices are Now Separate

The old Search Queries report has an option to filter by web, image, video, and mobile, and in this case mobile means web searches from a mobile device specifically. Desktop search and mobile metrics were combined for images and videos in the old report. In the new Search Analytics report, the device type and the search type are separated. Let’s say you’ve just put in a long day of crushing it at the office and you want to chill out with some videos of Truckasaurus.

Now, if you perform a Google search on a mobile device for images or videos of Truckasaurus, you will see in BrightEdge that the search originated from a mobile device. The alternative being all mobile device searches for images and videos of Truckasaurus, along with searches from desktops, being thrown into one massive pile… like the pile of mangled cars left in the wake of Truckasaurus.

Lower Image Click Count

Only clicks which expand an image or clicks on a link to the image owner’s website are counted in the new Search Analytics report, instead of counting any click on an image in all Web Searches and Image Searches.

So, now only clicks that resulted in a notable action are recorded in the new report. The result is a pool of data which is much more meaningful for understanding who is engaging with your images (of Truckasaurus).

Data Consolidated by Full Domain

Perhaps the most significant of the updates. If you own multiple hosts in a domain (for example, www.truckasaurus-rocks.com and truckasaurus-rocks.com), you might see your click and impression counts drop for each host. Why? The old Search Queries report often assigned clicks, impressions, or other data by domain name, where a domain might span multiple hosts.

Formerly, a click on a link to www.truckasaurus-rocks.com might be counted for both www.truckasaurus-rocks.com and truckasaurusrocks.com accounts.

Now, the new Search Analytics report assigns all clicks, impressions, and other search data to a single, complete host name. This means a click or impression on www.truckasaurus-rocks.com will only be counted toward www.truckasaurus-rocks.com, and not to m.truckasaurus-rocks.com, truckasaurus-rocks.com, or any other variations.

Find more information on the functionality of the Search Analytics Report in Google Search Console.

A BrightEdger

M Posted 10 years 9 months ago

t 9 min read

From Tuesday’s exhilarating opening keynote to the interactive acrobatics at Tuesday night’s Elevation Celebration, Share15’s first full day was a fantastic start.

We spent the day surrounded by some of the best and brightest minds in the industry, sharing best practices, challenges, successes and all things digital marketing. In particular, attendees have had the chance to dig into content performance marketing strategies with today’s leading brands, learning how to reach the right audiences at the right time.

This year, our speakers represent even more top brands, including experts from The Home Depot, Salesforce, Google and Motorola. Starting off with several engaging labs, the day continued with sessions including an exploration into content demand with The Home Depot, Cabela’s and WPromote, as well as an insightful session on scaling content with CareerBuilder, Maxim Integrated, and House of Fraser.

In addition to all the great content coming out of yesterday’s sessions, we announced several new exciting solutions, including Content Atlas and BrightEdge Content, a pair of technologies that allow marketing leaders and practitioners to understand the impact of their content to the bottom line, identify opportunities in their existing content, and maximize the performance of their digital content.

We also announced Enterprise Edition, an enhanced version of our platform designed specifically to help large, sophisticated enterprise organizations run their marketing by the numbers. We saw some exciting news coverage of the announcements as well, including a piece in SiliconANGLE and Demand Gen Report, among others.

Finally, we loved interacting with everyone over social throughout the day. Everyone following along with #Share15 on Twitter was treated to a stream of expert insights, thoughtful questions, and humor (one of our favorites was when speaker Jennifer Day from Tableau Software sparked a mini-trending moment when she introduced herself as “DemandJen!”).

We’re loving Share so far and are excited to see what the rest of the day brings. Below, check out some of the excellent content that came out of Tuesday’s sessions.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing requires understanding how the different online pieces fit together. You must know how to leverage everything from email to earned media, and it can be a labyrinth. Those who wanted to learn about digital marketing today were able to dive into the following hot topics:

Paid, Owned & Earned Digital Marketing

Presenters: Cindy Phan, the Senior Manager of Digital Marketing Strategy for VMware Charmaine Madamba, the Senior Search Marketing Manager for Citrix Michael Thomas, the Chief Marketing Officer for Noble Studios and Alex Edlund, Global Director of Search Marketing for Marriott

These presenters gave an excellent, in-depth look at how paid, owned and earned media come together to form a cohesive strategy. Numerous case studies and real-world examples helped to demonstrate how the three influence each other, major touch points and how they need to work together. 

Email & Marketing Automation

Presenters: Dave Lawson, Director of Solution Consulting for IgnitionOne Tyler Altrup, Senior Consultant for Oracle/Eloqua Rodrigo Fuentes, CEO of Listenloop

These three presenters dove into the role of email in automation and behavioral marketing. Marketing automation delivers the personalized experience that consumers crave, so these presentations helped attendees really see how they can start to implement the latest techniques into their own procedures.

Channel Marketing - Digital Marketing Mix

Presenters: John Hensel, Associate Manager for Best Buy Jennifer Day, Senior Director of Demand Generation for Tableau Ujjwal Bhattarai, Senior Search Manager for Brady Corp

Digital marketers were treated to a close look at how marketers can leverage cross-channel best practices, including how to measure their progress and understand on and offline revenue attribution. #demandJen from Tableau talked about best practices for data visualization and reporting.

Content Marketing

Content marketers know that the value of high-quality content continues to rise, thanks in no small part to increased competition as well as Google updates that have focused on weeding out low-quality sites. The content marketing sessions focused on helping marketers integrate valuable content production into their processes and how to make sure that content attracts the attention for which it was designed.

Demand for Content: People, Personas & Intent

Presenters: Erin Everhart, Content Marketing Director for Home Depot Jesse Farley, SEO and Content Manager for Cabela’s Michael Mothner, Founder and CEO of WPromote

Attendees were able to examine case studies and see the true impact of creating a customer-centric approach to content. The topics covered how to plan content and create material that brings in customers and encourages them to convert. 

Content Marketing Models: Content Mix

Presenters: Natasha Persad, Digital Marketing Manager for Prophix Kent Yunk, Owner and Consultant for Roaring Pajamas Whitney Parker, Director of Global Digital Marketing for Kroll

Building content is one thing, but for it to provide value to the brand, it has to have a strong ROI. These presentations dove into how to measure the impact of contact, predict opportunities and build revenue through content.

Scaling Content: Production, Process & Culture

Presenters: Kelvin Lee, Senior Content Manager for Financial Institution from Australia Robert Reneau, Director of Digital for Maxim Integrated Allison Fabella, Director of Global SEO for CareerBuilder Jamie Peach, Director of Global SEO for House of Fraser

As brands grow and respond to customer demand, they must be able to scale their content to meet their needs. These presenters have experience with large brands that must scale their content efficiently. Attendees gained valuable insights about the art of repurposing content and how to use organizational collaboration to accomplish these goals, including how to scale content for ecommerce.

Search

Getting to the top of Google SERPs can dramatically increase traffic, conversions and profit. Google’s algorithm has become increasingly complex over the years, however, as the developers have sought to better understand website value and user intent. This has left site owners struggling to keep up. Fortunately, our Share sessions have been designed to close that gap.

Mobile Friendly Momentum - Multi-Device Type Optimization & Measurement

Presenters: Sean Kainec, Senior Manager of SEO for the Home Depot Denis Scott, Senior Director of Acquisition for OpenTable Dave Lloyd, Senior Manager of Global Search for Adobe

It has been made clear that for businesses to succeed, they need to be mobile-friendly. These presenters explored the main aspects of a successful mobile campaign, including how to determine the right approach and measure progress. Even optimizing in an app store to attract more attention was covered.  

Beyond the Algorithm - Advanced SEO & Technical Trajectory

Presenters: Jacqueline Urick, Enterprise eCommerce Manager for Sears PartsDirect Binti Pawa, Head of SEO for Time, Inc Dawna Olsen, Senior Director of Corporate Marketing for Epicor Adam Audette, SVP Organic Search for Merkle

These presentations examined the importance of site structure and how to handle global site changes. It examines the technical aspects of SEO and how they should be working alongside content efforts to maximize search.

Breaking Borders

Presenters: Marco Musijsert, Global Search Lead for Philips David Fisher, Head of Global Search for Schneider Electronics BeFound Online & Motorola, Steve Krull (CEO Befound), Michael Velasco (Director of Brand and Digital Experience, Motorola), and Bob Dearsley (Chief Executive, B2B Marketing Labs) Melissa Walner, Director of Global SEO for Hilton

As brands and online marketing efforts expand overseas, companies have many pressing concerns that must be addressed. They must learn how to scale efficiently and manage multiple sites. The teams must be able to collaborate and work together to promote the brand while still understanding the importance of localization. These presentations dove into challenges, case studies and tips to help brands succeed when expanding their site internationally.

The day’s general sessions

In addition to the exciting track presentations, we also heard from Matt Lawson, the Director of Performance Ads for Google, and Michael Kahn, the CEO of Performics, who spoke about the Content Performance Marketing Blueprint. Kahn explored examples of how to succeed and what is critical to a successful content marketing plan. Lawson used case studies to explain how to leverage micro moments and the mobile content battleground.

As we wrapped up the night with our Share15 party, the excitement and energy was easily apparent throughout the attendees and speakers. There is nothing like being able to laugh, learn and network among hudreds of fellow marketers, each with their own insights to add.

We cannot wait to see what Wednesday will bring at Share.