Correctly Track Your Mobile SEO Traffic
In October of 2012 many sites including Search Engine Land uncovered that not only was Google hiding keyword data within the dreaded “(not provided)” keyword set, but Google was totally missing the boat on recording organic traffic from Safari iOS users as well.
The reason behind this shift was the fact that the default browser for the iPhone is Safari. Google searches being done on the mobile Safari browser started generating secure search result. Not only were these searches secure, but they weren’t passing any referrer data at all.
One of our clients, the Cleveland Clinic, noticed an interesting trend starting ever since the mobile version of iOS 6 was introduced. Here you can see the chart they referred to.
Have you been underestimating your organic traffic? As mobile continues to grow chances are the answer is “yes”. So how are online marketers supposed to show the true numbers for organic traffic? I’ll tell you how in this step-by-step process. (Google Analytics is required for this estimation, and having MS Excel is also very useful)
- Access Google Analytics and select Traffic Source > Sources > Search > Organic
- For the Primary Dimension select “Source”
- For your Secondary Dimension select “Operating System”.
- Add up all of the iOS referral visits to get your iOS Organic Traffic
- Next you’ll need your direct iOS traffic. To get that go to Traffic Source > Source > Direct.
- For your Secondary Dimension select “Operating System”.
- Perform an advanced filter Operating System matches “iOS” and add up all of the iOS visits to arrive at your iOS Direct Traffic
Now that you have your total iOS Organic Traffic and iOS Direct Traffic just a few formulas and you’ll have your Adjusted Organic Traffic Total.
Next you’ll need the Percent of Direct Traffic Over Total iOS Traffic. To accomplish this you do the following:
= iOS Direct Traffic / (iOS Organic Traffic + iOS Direct Traffic)
The next step will help you arrive at Recovered Organic Search Visits. To accomplish this you use the following formula:
= (iOS Direct Traffic – (iOS Direct Traffic + iOS Organic Traffic) * X)
In order to calculate X you need to take the average Percent of Direct Traffic Over Total iOS Traffic from January 2012 to September 2012. That number is then applied as “X” to the Recovered Organic Search Visits equation above.
Almost there! The final step is to arrive at the Adjusted Total Organic Search Traffic. To arrive at your final calculation you do the following:
= (Overall Search Traffic Including All Operating Systems + Recovered Organic Search Visits)
This is an awful lot of calculation to do even on a monthly basis, so be sure to use Google Analytics Advanced Segments, dashboards or shorcuts to set up this type of calculation to be easily accessible.
Thank you for reading. Please comment below to let me know if you have any feedback or corrections with the process laid out here.
Send to KindleGetting Mobile SEO Right: SMX Advanced 2013 Preview
If you’re going to SMX Advanced in Seattle next month (June 11-12), you’re in for a treat. And even if you’re not going (it’s sold out!), there are plenty of ways to see recaps and summaries of the panels you’ll miss.
I’m speaking on the “Getting Mobile SEO Right” panel, and the speakers are an impressive lot. While we’ve not yet compared formal notes on our specific presentations, here’s a general overview of what you can expect from the panelists:
Michael Martin of Covario. Michael has a firm grasp of the numbers behind the numbers in mobile. In one of his latest articles, for example, he discusses how mobile search is outpacing overall mobile growth by a factor of 2:1. Expect a firm understanding of where the market is going (and how you need to prepare for it) in Michael’s discussion.
Bryson Munier of Resolution Media. Bryson is well known in the Mobile SEO world as an expert on how to intelligently build a mobile architecture for your business’s specific needs. He’s saddled with a reputation of being a responsive-design “basher,” although that’s a vast oversimplification of his perspective. Bryson will leave you with ways to know what type of mobile setup is appropriate for you, and he can justify the claims.
Dave Roth of Move.com. Of the four panelists, Dave is the only “in-houser” of the bunch (even though he has experience both at Yahoo and on the agency side), and that’s valuable. Audiences love panelists who work in house (i.e., not on the agency side) since they’re deeper in the trenches than most. Expect a lot of very concrete tactics that you can implement right away.
In my portion of the panel, I’ll be pulling from audience research, analytics, design, and coding to pull up some informative recommendations. The working title is “Mobile SEO: Five Dumb Things You’re Doing, and Five Smart Things You’re Not.”
A few weeks after the panel, I’ll be hosting a webinar that summarizes the key elements of the presentations. We’ll post the information here and our Twitter account, so stay tuned.
Send to KindleIs Employee Development a Priority for Your Company?
In an industry such as ours (online marketing, in case you’re new around here), the rules are constantly changing and it is vital that we stay on top of these changes. As the industry evolves, so too will your workforce. That is where Employee Development comes in. A lot of people seem to think that Employee Development means “getting this guy ready to steal my job one day.” Not true. What it means to me is enhancing your employee’s work experience so that he feels valued and appreciated, and is given opportunities for growth.
Some companies undervalue the importance of an employee development plan. Two huge mistakes I see companies make:
- “We don’t have time for it.”
- Leaving it entirely to the employee
To the first point: If you don’t have time to develop your employees, how can you expect your company to develop further? You need to allow room for innovation and creativity. You need fresh ideas and improvement. Imagine if Google had never moved beyond a search engine. No Gmail? No thanks. You know who is pretty good at employee development? Professional sports teams. Let’s look at football. When Andrew Luck was drafted into the NFL, what are the odds that they expected him to stay exactly as he was with no additional training or development? I would say slim to none. Your employees should be your best resource and you should invest in that resource with more than a paycheck and benefits.
To the second point: There is some responsibility on the employees’ shoulders to develop their careers. However, they cannot do it alone. Supervisors/managers should take notice of when an employee seems in a “rut.” They should listen when an employee has new ideas. They should talk with employees about where they want their careers to go within the company. Make goals and timelines and follow up with them.
Over my next few posts, I’ll explore three different areas of Employee Development:
- Self development
- Department development
- Company development
Stay tuned as we explore the differences in these three and how each can contribute to a more productive workforce.
Feel free to share in the comments below what you do (or would like to do) to increase employee development in your company.
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