Last month I spoke at sascon in the uk on the topic of getting actions from analytics. It’s something that I feel quite strongly about so I wanted to write a post on here to talk about it a little and expand upon what I talked about at sascon.
The key question I want to answer is
I can break the answer down pretty quickly by saying the following –
Metrics that are actionable – why measure stuff you can’t do anything about?
Metrics that help you get Spain Business Fax List stuff done – using data to fight internal battles is vital
Everything else – meh, wouldn’t worry about it too much!
Whilst I love diving into data and getting into the how and why trends appear in analytics, I have to remember that my time is limited, in particular when looking at a clients analytics account. I need to understand as much as I can, but ultimately I need to focus on the metrics that make a difference. Also if you are a bit of a newbie in seo or analytics, the amount of data available to you can be very overwhelming. Far too many people make the mistake of focusing on the wrong metrics which can be costly to a project. It can sometimes look like you are doing a bad job if you are measuring the wrong metrics.
Metrics that are actionable What key metrics should I be tracking
If a metric isn’t actionable, then its just fluff that fills up space in a report and doesn’t mean very much. Whilst metrics can be interesting, there is a difference between a metric that is interesting and one Email Lists that is actionable. Below I’ve listed a number of metrics that I define as actionable.
1. Beat panda – measure content
Whilst the google panda updates of 2011 have looked to address a number of quality issues, one of the key ones in my opinion was the amount of good, quality content on a page. Many pages of thin or duplicate content across your site could potentially cause your entire site to fall foul of panda. One way to assess this on your own site is to use custom variables to measure the content on your page. This works very well if you have an ecommerce site or any site where you collate reviews.