This article is the first in a series dedicated to helping you manage the vast array of SEO tools that are available today– in as few steps and panels as possible. Our ProStores SEO customers use a mix of Google Analytics and Adwords, Yahoo Tools and PPC, Bing optimization tools, along with a number of smaller SEO and PPC services.
Our ProStores SEO clients will often ask, “Is the amount I’m paying for this Adwords or Pay-Per-Click campaign really worth it?” or “Which one of my Google, Yahoo! or Bing campaigns is really having an impact?” For the sake of efficiency, we’ve been helping our SEO clients customize Google Analytics to capture as much data from other services as possible. In this article we would like to feature a technique found here http://www.ppchero.com/the-secret-of-tracking-yahoo-keyword-data-in-google-analytics/ for tracking Yahoo! or non-Google PPC campaigns in the Google Analytics panel. Since Google and Yahoo! are in direct competition, the data isn’t automatically shared between the different services. By following the steps below, it’s possible to track your Yahoo! advertising campaigns right within your Google Analytics account. This is a huge time saver, not to mention that it makes it much easier to compare the effectiveness of all of your paid traffic. Note: Before you can track your e-mail marketing campaigns, you must have Google Analytics installed on your website. If you need help with this, we offer advanced Google Analytics setup for ProStores.
1. The main step is to build custom links for analytics to track with. Google has a handy tool that will help you build these special links right here . This custom link will have all the information Google Analytics needs to full out the reporting in panel.
2. Rather than inputting fixed data into each one of the URL segments for reporting, identifiers originating from the PPC service are used to build out dynamic URLs. For instance Yahoo PPC, quote “{OVKEY} for the paid keyword, {OVRAW} for the actual search query, {OVADID} for the ad text ID number and {OVCAMPGID} for the campaign ID number.”
3. Now this URL can be inserted into the destination URL for your chosen PPC service (your campaign tells Google to track it, rather than you changing an option in Google Analytics.)
That’s it! Now you don’t have to look in half-a-dozen panels to see what traffic sources are working. All of your traffic sources can be analyzed and compared right from the intuitive Google Analytics panel. Keep in mind you must have Google Analytics installed and to take advantage of Google eCommerce tracking. Again, we’re happy to offer advanced Google Analytics setup for ProStores if you require assistance.
