If you’re thinking that web analytics has the answers to these questions, you’re spot

on.

No matter which web analytics tool you’re using, you’ll be able to monitor how many
visitors are coming to your website from organic search results from the different
search engines. If you’re paying an agency or consultant to maintain your website for
you, you should ask them for access to your website’s analytics data.

Once you’ve got access to that data, one of the first things you’ll want to check out is how your
traffic from search engines is trending over time. If you’re getting more visitors from search
engines, that’s great. But, if your traffic is trailing off, you’ve probably got some work to do. Either
way - before you can make any decisions, you’ll need to know the “why”, and that means we
need to dig deeper.

If you’re using Google Analytics as your web analytics tool, you can dig deeper by learning which
keywords people are typing into Google before they reached your website. That data doesn’t
necessarily come from the analytics tool itself, but because Google Analytics can integrate data
from Google Search Console, you get to see that kind of information.

Remember our example of the guesthouse? You might see that people are searching for things
you wouldn’t have expected, like “luxury guest houses in Glasgow” or “cheap Glasgow bed and
breakfast” to find your website. This can help you get a sense of what your visitors are really
looking for, and you can respond to that by building the right content and pages to fit their needs.

You’d also be able to see whether you’re getting more or fewer visitors from any given keyword
theme, as well as whether or not visits to those pages end up with actual bookings.

Let’s say you’re noticing that you used to be getting more traffic for a certain search term, but
that traffic has been gradually declining. What can you do to turn things around? Well, you might
start by taking a look at some of the content on your site. How can you ensure that your content
is as relevant as possible to users who are looking for that luxury guest house? Could you
rewrite some of your text to focus on the fact that you’ve got a high-end guest house?
Remember, you’re not re-working your content to suit a search engine. You’re working on it to
make it match your existing business better. And to make it as relevant and useful as possible to
people who are searching for luxury guest houses. If you want to know even more about
optimizing your pages, check out some of the other videos on SEO.

Now, what about the opposite scenario? Maybe you’ve found that you’re getting more traffic from
people searching for keywords around that luxury guest house theme. That’s great - but how can
you build on that? Again, you want to focus on what’s relevant to the people who are searching.
What are some of the exclusive, high-end features of your guest house? Have you included
content on your website that talks about your gourmet breakfast? The fancy cocktails you’re
offering on Saturday afternoon?

Adding more useful content about the luxury aspects of the guest house could help search
engines point more relevant users to your website.

If you’ve invested some time in improving your content, you’ll want to know what the impact is,
and web analytics can show you this. If you’re expecting your content to be more relevant to
people searching for luxury guest houses, Google Analytics can show you whether that effort is
translating into more visitors reaching your website. Pretty smart, huh?

So far, we’ve been focusing on analyzing the amount of traffic, or visitors, that are reaching your
website after searching. That’s really important. But keep in mind that even more important than
the amount of traffic you’re getting is the quality of the traffic that you’re getting.
After all, what’s the use of attracting loads of people to your website if nobody’s going to book a
stay at your guest house? Remember, analytics doesn’t just tell you where people are coming
from, it also tracks what they do on the website.

So take a look at the themes that are driving conversions on your goals, as well as visits. If all
this work on luxury themes has got you more traffic, but people aren’t engaging with your
content, they’re not signing up for your email newsletter, and they’re not reserving their rooms,
you may want to investigate why, or even consider shifting your focus somewhere else.

Web analytics can be a great tool for your SEO efforts, helping you measure how much traffic
you’re getting from search engines, where you might be able to make improvements, and the
impact of changes you’re making to your website.

So if you’re focused on SEO, put on that analysis hat and start digging into your data!
HIDE

The data cycle is an effective process to help Jo make the most of data when
running her campaign.

The four main stages of a data cycle are as follows:

 Plan - Start by identifying the goals of the campaign

 Do - Then, begin collecting the relevant data
 Check - Once you have that, review your data
 Act - Lastly, take action to test the hypothesis.

 If she sees people access her shop a lot from their mobiles, Jo can introduce
responsive design to improve her customers’ browsing experience.
 Adding a search feature will help people search for and quickly locate specific
products.
 Improving product pages could be the answer if lots of people visit but don’t
buy from her shop.
 Finally, customer accounts can simplify the check-out process, helping people
complete their purchases more easily.

Google Market Finder would can show Matt that there is high search traffic on
vintage record terms from Portugal. To Matt this may imply that a lot of people are
looking for records out there.

Low competition on search ads in Portugal would mean Matt wouldn’t be up against
lots of other vintage record sellers. Google Keyword Planner is a useful tool for
looking at the volume of search ads.

If people in Portugal are looking at his website already, then Matt can be fairly sure
that there would be potential buyers. Google Analytics can help Matt keep track of
things like who’s looking at his website and what pages they look at most and adapt
his strategy as needed.

Localisation is where you adapt content to suit the culture. For example, removing or
rewriting colloquialisms, idioms or humourous content, and generally making the site
feel as if it’s tailored to the needs of the new market.

Localisation might also include changing things like currency, addresses and cultural
references to bring the content in line with the local market.

Before Matt can work out whether or not expanding into Portugal would achieve the
growth he wants, there are a number of things he should check, including:

 Customs duties or tariffs

 Portuguese taxes
 Exchange rates
 Product safety requirements
 Whether he needs insurance cover

The Portuguese government website would be a good starting point for finding these
things out.