ga2

Meet Google Analytics 4: What Digital Marketers Need to Know

by AnalyticsGoogleMarketing

As more businesses move online, insights from Google Analytics and other tools are crucial for understanding customer preferences, creating better user experiences, and making every marketing dollar count. In recent years, however, there have been major shifts in consumer behavior and data privacy. According to Google Marketing Platform, “current approaches to analytics aren’t keeping pace” with these changes which is why it’s “creating a new, more intelligent Google Analytics.” 

Learn more about Google Analytics 4 and key features that digital marketers should know to be ready for an evolving technology landscape.

Key Features of Google Analytics 4

As Google begins to phase out support for third-party cookies in the Chrome browser, it anticipates there’ll be data sparsity. Google Analytics 4 builds on the foundation of the App + Web property that was introduced in 2019 and relies on machine learning to fill in the data gaps. The new privacy-centric Analytics automatically provides insights and a holistic understanding of customers across devices and platforms, regardless of industry changes (e.g. restrictions on cookies and identifiers) that create data gaps. Whether you’re already using Google Analytics 4 or plan to soon, here are key features you should know.

1. Smarter insights from advanced machine learning

Analytics is now capable of alerting marketers to significant data trends, which is made possible by Google’s advanced machine learning models. These insights can help marketers improve their marketing decisions and get a better ROI.

2. Deeper integration with Google Ads

A deeper Google Ads integration allows you to build and maintain audiences so you can “reach customers with more relevant, helpful experiences, wherever they choose to engage with your brand.” Google Analytics now measures interactions across the web and apps together, including conversions from YouTube video views, Google and non-Google paid channels, Google Search, social media, and email.

3. Customer-centric data measurement

One of the biggest differences between Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics is its customer-centric data measurement, instead of measurement by device or platform. It uses multiple identity spaces like marketer-provided User IDs and unique Google signals from users who opted into ad personalization. Marketers will be able to gain a better understanding of the entire customer lifecycle – acquisition, conversion, and retention.

4. More granular data controls

Marketers have more granular data controls to manage how data is collected, retained, and used. They’re able to choose when to use customer data for ad personalization, and when to limit data used for measurement only. These options can help marketers adapt to limited cookies or identifiers in the future.

Evolve Your Digital Marketing

Google Analytics 4 is now the default for new properties, however, Google understands that digital marketers may need to retain capabilities before switching to the new Analytics. It’s encouraging marketers to create a new Google Analytics 4 property alongside their existing properties to start gathering data and benefit from the latest innovations while keeping their current implementation. As the technology landscape changes, it’s imperative that brands evolve their digital marketing by using responsive software products to remain competitive.

Check out our product SEO Ranker and discover accuracy powered by innovation.

Depositphotos_55952551_s-2019-1

How Google Analytics Can Help Your Business Grow

by AnalyticsBusinessGoogle

Google Analytics is a free web analytics service that’s used around the world to grow businesses by allowing them to track, report, and understand their website traffic. However, there are many businesses that aren’t using this powerful tool or taking full advantage of it. Although Analytics offers a wealth of data, you don’t need to use every feature to reap its benefits. In this article, Adretreaver will highlight some of the best ways you can leverage Analytics to grow your business.  

5 Ways to Leverage Analytics to Grow Your Business

If you haven’t already done so, set up your Google Analytics account, property (i.e. website or app), and reporting view. Here’s a guide to get started with Analytics. Already have Analytics? Let’s get started on how you can use this service to scale your business!

1. Set Up Website Goals

When you set up website goals in Analytics, you’re able to track and measure performance which is crucial for improving your website. What your goals are will depend on your business. For example, an eCommerce business looking to increase online purchases will have different goals than a service-based business that relies on form submissions to generate leads. 

2. Learn What Search Queries Drive Traffic

Knowing what search queries your visitors used to land on your website is crucial for driving more traffic. With the Search Queries report (under Acquisition > Search Console), you’ll be able to create content and optimize pages for popular keywords which will help your site rank higher in search results, increasing organic traffic. It can also help you identify keywords for pay-per-click advertising.

3. Understand What Content Performs Well

The Landing Pages report (under Behavior > Site Content) allows you to see what content visitors land on and how they interact with it. You can determine which content performs well for achieving your goals and use that information to create similar content. Alternatively, you can identify ineffective content and update it to improve performance.  

4. See How Long Visitors Stay

Keeping visitors on your website increases the chances of a conversion which can be a purchase, form submission, event registration, etc. Seeing how long visitors stay is important for determining what works. In the Overview report under Audience, you can get a high-level picture of how long visitors stay (‘Avg. Session Duration’) as well as a variety of other metrics such as new users, sessions, bounce rate, and more. If you want to see the average time on a particular page, head over to the All Pages report (under Behavior > Site Content). 

5. Determine Why Visitors Bounce

Multiple reports show ‘bounce rate’ which is the percentage of visitors that leave your website without taking any further action. If you have a high bounce rate, then you’re probably not getting the conversions you want because visitors aren’t staying long enough to engage. Determine why visitors are bouncing and fix the issue which can be a negative user experience, low-quality content, irrelevant keywords, etc.  

Improve Digital Marketing with Google Analytics

It’s essential that you use Analytics to better understand your website and improve it so your business can grow. There are many ways you can leverage Analytics in your digital marketing beyond what we discussed in this article but with these tips, you can start taking advantage of it rather than letting it go untapped. Online technology is constantly evolving which is why your digital marketing needs to stay ahead by using innovative and responsive products.

See how SEO Ranker improves digital marketing’s effectiveness to scale your business.

Depositphotos_19566949_s-2019-1

Metrics in Google Analytics You Should Be Tracking

by AnalyticsGoogleMetrics

Tracking metrics in Google Analytics is crucial for seeing what is and isn’t working with your digital marketing. Without that information, you’re pretty much flying blind rather than making informed decisions based on real data. These metrics are particularly helpful for measuring the effectiveness of your search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. See which metrics in Google Analytics you should track so it’ll be easier to monitor and improve your digital marketing.   

6 Key Metrics in Analytics to Track

Google Analytics provides an assortment of metrics and depending on your business, there may be other metrics besides those listed below that you should be tracking. However, the metrics outlined in this article are universal as they provide a solid starting point for understanding your website’s performance and digital marketing’s effectiveness.

Users

The total number of users who have initiated at least one session in a time frame. This metric is particularly important for better understanding dimensions like traffic source/medium (e.g. google/organic, facebook/cpc) as well as landing pages.

Sessions

A session is a group of user interactions with your website that happen within a time frame. Consider a session like a container for the actions a user takes on your site. Examples of interactions included in a session are multiple page views, events, and transactions. 

Bounce Rate

A ‘bounce rate’ is the percentage of single-page sessions that had no further interaction with the page. If a page’s bounce rate is 60%, it means that 60% of users left the page without taking any further action. Reasons for a high bounce rate can be due to the page having irrelevant keywords or low-quality content.

Pages / Session  

The average number of pages viewed during a session. When there are more pages per session, it indicates a higher level of engagement since users are exploring your site and learning about your products or services.

Average Session Duration

The average length of a session. Keeping visitors on your site longer is beneficial as it increases the chances of a user interacting with your website which can range from making a purchase to commenting on a blog post.

Conversions and Conversion Rate

Site traffic won’t matter much if you’re not getting any conversions, hence the importance of setting goals in Analytics to track ‘conversions’ and ‘conversion rates.’ You can track a variety of goals like transactions, form submissions, reservations, downloads, and more. 

Improve Digital Marketing with Real Data

Tracking metrics in Google Analytics allows you to better understand your digital marketing, monitor progress, and identify opportunities. Using real data is crucial for making better decisions whether it’s finding pages to optimize or determining the ROI on your Google Ads campaigns. Internet technology changes quickly and as data privacy changes are implemented, it’s critical for brands to take advantage of tools like Google Analytics to create innovative and responsive solutions.

An effective way to improve your digital marketing with real data is by using Ad Verification and Content Catcher. Contact us to schedule a free demo and trial to explore their unique features and benefits!

The Importance of Ad Verification

by AnalyticsBusinessDigitalMarketingUncategorized

Have you ever wondered if the ads you see online are legitimate or if they’re just another scam? With the rise of digital advertising, it’s becoming increasingly important to ensure that the ads we see are authentic and trustworthy.

Digital advertising has revolutionized the way businesses reach their target audience, however, it comes with challenges and risks, such as ad fraud, that costs companies billions of dollars every year. This is where ad verification comes in.

Ad verification in digital advertising has become vital for preventing fraud and confirming that ads are displayed in brand-safe environments. Discover the advantages of ad verification and how using an advanced verification solution can improve ROI while safeguarding your business.

What is Ad Verification?

Ad verification is the process of ensuring that a digital ad has been served in an accurate, secure, and cost-efficient manner. It’s used to shield advertisers from fraud, false reporting, account hijacking, low-quality sites, bots (programs designed to replicate user behavior), as well as inappropriate content and location targeting.

Advanced ad verification solutions help assess whether ads have been correctly placed on high-quality sites as per a brand’s preferences. They also can give insight into the performance of campaigns in terms of frequency capping and TTL (time to live) to help control costs.

By verifying ad placements, brands can confidently run digital advertising campaigns and protect copyrighted content without worrying about wasted budgets or placement errors.

How Ad Verification Works

Ad verification works by deploying tags, or beacons, alongside ads to analyze the publisher’s page to make sure that all of the designated attributes for a served ad match the campaign criteria specified.

For example, Adretreaver’s auditing tool automatically reports back information like screen captures and placement performance data to the advertiser. From there, the advertiser validates whether or not their campaigns have been properly deployed.

Having a third-party ad verification helps create security and trust for both advertisers and publishers. It verifies placed ads are accurately matched to the advertiser’s campaigns and prevents suspicious ads from appearing on the publisher’s website.

Why Ad Verification in Digital Advertising is Important

Delivering the right ads to the right people, in the right places, at the right times is key for successful digital advertising. Without ad verification, however, it’s impossible to know for sure if that’s really happening. Here are the top reasons why you should verify ad placements:

Ad Fraud Prevention

Ad fraud occurs when fraudulent activities are carried out to manipulate ad metrics or generate fake clicks or impressions. Ad verification tools help identify and prevent fraud by detecting invalid traffic, bots, and other fraudulent activities.

Ad verification tools can also monitor ad placement to ensure that ads are displayed on legitimate websites and prevent ads from being shown on fake or malicious sites. Plus, they can confirm whether an ad was successfully shown to the desired audience.

Brand Safety

Another crucial aspect of digital advertising is brand safety. Ad verification tools can help guarantee that ads are displayed in a brand-safe environment. They can monitor ad placement and identify websites with inappropriate or harmful content. This helps prevent ads from being displayed on websites that could harm the brand’s reputation.

Campaign Optimization

Ad verification can help optimize campaigns by providing real-time feedback on ad performance. Seamlessly track metrics, such as viewability, engagement, and conversion rates, and gain valuable insights that can be used to optimize campaigns. Rather than flying blind, you can ensure campaigns are performing at their best and generating maximum ROI.

Compliance Management

Bolster your compliance strategy with ad verification technology. Audit tools can monitor ad placement and confirm that ads are displayed in compliance with industry standards and regulations, which helps protect your brand from legal or regulatory issues.

Ensure Accuracy and Authenticity in Your Digital Advertising

Ad verification in digital advertising offers a wide range of benefits, from advertisers and publishers to consumers. It helps prevent ad fraud, strengthen brand safety, and improve compliance with industry standards and regulations. 

Furthermore, ad verification tools can provide valuable insights that can be used to optimize campaigns and generate maximum ROI. As digital advertising continues to grow, verifying ad placements is critical for ensuring that brands get the most out of their advertising efforts.