Conversion Tracking and User Behaviour

[KPickenJr]

Apologies if this has already been discussed.....

My issue is conversion and tracking conversion at a keyword level. It's generally simple enough to track what keywords convert, but my question is - how valuable is this? Sure, it's more valuable than not being able to track it, but is it REALLY as valuable as people think.

One study that is on my mind a lot is below (well, an article summarising the study anyway.) In short, it takes a look at travel related searches and user behavior over a period of 3 months.

http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1991

On average, customers make 12 travel related searches, visit 22 websites and take 29 days from the first time they search until they make a purchase

So...

Let's say someone performs 5 searches before converting. Basic conversion stats will tell us the last keyword was responsible for the conversion. However, going by the logic of 'several searches = conversion as opposes to single search = conversion', this would only be true to an extent. Chances are, the first 4 searches / keywords will be misinterpreted to be poor performing keywords. And the last keyword, the so called 'converting keyword', would be credited more than it actually should.

Do you REALLY know what converts, even if you track conversions on a 'keyword level'?

Some Analytics companies claim to track 'keyword attribution'. Unfortunately I've not had a chance to test any of these yet.

The more I learn about this game, the more confused I get.

Any thoughts?

If you agree with the logic that several different searches lead to one conversion, then how much credit do you 'attribute' to the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth search term? The first search term got the new visitor, so surely that's more important... But the last search term converted the new visitor... But the ones in between 'built the case' for the conversion... Would you still convert if you only got clicked for the last term and not the first four?

(not enough sleep, too much caffeine, and too many questions!)

Thanks

KP

[BasicECommerce]

In my opinion, the article and information you're referring to is nothing more than interesting. It only emphasizes the fact that your top converting keywords are that much more important.

There was another study done a few years ago that followed searchers over a 3 month period. It stated how searchers do not search for brand or items specific keywords until right before the purchase. Before this, they were searching with generic terms. Again, nothing really actionable. Just interesting.

There are tracking systems out there that you can track 'attributions' or 'assists' to see customer paths. The information I've received on this in the past has only been interesting and not very actionable.

The only actionable method is to possibly optimize your site for the general keywords. Hopefully you'll get good organic rankings to grab searchers at the beginning of the buying cycle (the research phase). But, you should keep your SEM projects tuned to brand oriented terms and emphasize the high converting ones. After all, it is the conversion you're after.

[attak]

Sounds like you need to define your sales/conversion funnel. Once you have, it will become much easier to assign a true value to your keyword sets.

IMO...you shouldn't rely exclusively on the "long(est)-tail" keywords...aka...the final action keywords in your sales/conversion funnel either. Remember, there's a buying process...and you need to be in front of your customer in as many steps as possible before the buying decision is made to have the best chance of converting them into a customer. From what I've experienced in the past, this is unfortunately the area that is most commonly overlooked and/or completely sacrificed due to a campaign's budget.

If you can consistently increase a potential customer's confidence/trust in your site during the buying cycle, conversions won't be an issue...

It's generally simple enough to track what keywords convert, but my question is - how valuable is this? Sure, it's more valuable than not being able to track it, but is it REALLY as valuable as people think.

Yes - and probably more so.
If you have the resources, tracking your "assisting keywords" is able to be done.
If the resources (time, money, expertise, etc.) aren't in place, at the very least this information gives you a way to start the process of better understanding your customer's search behavior.

Cheers!

Attak

[KPickenJr]

Thanks for the replies.

Deep down, I'm just gutted that I don't have these 'assist' stats yet. It's been difficult to justify the expense.

I guess the answer to a successful campaign lies in achieving the correct balance between the 'research' stage and the 'buying / conversion' stage, and being able to have a site that caters for the whole search tail.

KP

[jkwilson78]

I know this is an old thread but I agree with the original poster about the importance of knowing what the "assist keywords" are and the role they play in the conversion process.

The reason for my interest lies with negative keywords for my Adwords account.

No matter how I try to implement them over the past 2 years the result of adding negative keywords never results in the improved ROI my conversion reports say I should see.

Sure they will never be exact, but they should be in the same ball park but it's never the case.

As this stage, I am convinced that it is because I am deleting/negative matching keywords that while they don't show conversions themselves were instrumental in the conversion process of my other keywords.

I've also noticed that when negative matching "non converting" keywords you can observe decreases in conversion keywords that should not have been impacted. If you go back and remove all the negatives you just added, the conversion for your converting keywords creep back up.

The problem for me is that I cannot find an analytics system that tracks "keyword assists"

Yahoo's analytics package does this but not Google analytics.

Anyone know of a package that tracks this?

[rensquared]

Originally Posted by jkwilson78

trumental in the conversion process of my other keywords.

I've also noticed that when negative matching "non converting" keywords you can observe decreases in conversion keywords that should not have been impacted. If you go back and remove all the negatives you just added, the conversion for your converting keywords creep back up.

This negative keywords sir, um do they evolve as time goes by?? Do those negative keywords increase?

[jkwilson78]

This negative keywords sir, um do they evolve as time goes by?? Do those negative keywords increase?

Not sure I understand your question.

If you mean do new keywords that you could use as negatives increase over time, then yes, negative keywords increase as Google shows your ads for more and more keywords if you are using broad and phrase match.

The problem is that keywords that "look" like they should be used as negative keywords could also be contributing to your conversions.

For instance say some one wants a new camcorder.

They may search on "camcorder" and then "sony camcorder", then "sony hard drive camcorder", and finally "Sony model 123" and then they purchase.

Your stats will only credit the conversion to "sony model 123" but the other keywords contributed to the sale and without them the sale may or may not have converted.

So you go and negative match the first 3 keywords because they result in no conversions and the money you spend on them is wasted.

You negative match them and not only do sales decrease but the conversion rate for "sony model 123" plummets as well because the "assist" keywords are no longer active.

Sure there are some keywords that are truly wasteful but when your analytics show thousands of "non converting" that does not mean you can add them all as negative matches.

What I want is an analytics package where I can get a list of keywords that have never resulted in a conversion and were never involved in a conversion "assist"...the remaining keyowrds are the real negative keywords.