Zero visits from keyword in Google Analytics
-
The keyword "business engagement in outsourcing" shows 0 visits. I have a look at Seomoz post at - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/advanced-google-analytics. According to it,
"If someone makes more than one visit to a site within the same "session" and each visit comes from a search but on different keywords, then both keywords will be included in the keywords report - the first with 0 visits and the second with 1 visit"
In my GA report, i could only see 0 visit for the above keyword. Why is 1 visit not being shown ?
On reading the blog, http://webanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/04/google-analytics-tips-and-tricks-why-do.html#axzz1UPqhMV7o
i am more confused, as it says "Google Analytics, assigns the visitors activity to the first keyword " . which is NOT what seomoz suggests
-
Thanks for following up Will.
-
Thanks for checking this out and not just taking it at face value guys. I have to admit I didn't test it in detail. It seemed plausible because GA is generally last touch, but I'm glad to see someone testing it. I have updated the post.
-
Yes.
In this instance the testing I performed this week and the testing Anil performed in 2008 showed consistent results, and are in alignment with Google's explanation of how their sessions work.
A session begins when a user first visits your site. That session is maintained for 30 minutes even if the user leaves your site and returns to Google. Everything makes sense and synchs perfectly with the results.
If you wish to pursue this any further I can only suggest either repeating the test yourself, or contacting Will or Avinash concerning the prior article. I can only presume there was a misunderstanding in Will's article.
-
Thanks a lot Ryan. So, we can discount seomozz post ?
-
My test results support the first article you shared.
I duplicated Anil's test. I searched three times for the same site only using a long tail phrase with four words. I altered the 4th term each time.
The first phrase showed "1" visit, the other two phrases appeared in the report but showed "0" visits.
The other results were combined. Even though I did bounce on my first visit the Bounce Rate showed 0%. My bounce on the first visit was immediate but the Average Time on Site was 1:12 which is clearly the average of my three visits.
You can easily perform this test and have the results the next day. Choose a key phrase where you perform well in SERPs but is unlikely to be used in a search. Alter the last term a repeat the steps in Anil's test. The next day, check your GA.
-
Thanks Devin.
If i understood you correctly, GA is attributing the visit to a different keyword ( other than "business engagement in outsourcing" )
-
Thanks Devin.
If i understood you correctly, GA is attributing the visit to a different keyword ( other than "business engagement in outsourcing" )
-
Thanks Ryan. I would also go with the second article. But as you mentioned, its difficult to trust one source over another. I will be waiting for the results of your test. Here is another link.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Analytics/thread?tid=0d04370f123bc16c&hl=en on the same topic, which suggests that first keyword will show 1 visit, and the second keyword 0 visits. ( Again contradicting seomoz post )
-
The SEOmoz article you linked was published more recently (2009) than the other blog post (2008), so if you have to choose I would go with that one, since Google is constantly updating.
It might help to look at it as the number of 'unique visits'. You got a visit for "business engagement in outsourcing", but that same visitor subsequently did another search and came to your site from a different keyword. As a result, you got several visits for different keywords, but only one unique visit. GA attributed this visit to a different keyword, so "business engagement in outsourcing" is listed as drawing 0 visits.
..if that makes any sense?
-
Hi Atul.
What you have is common in the SEO world: two different SEOs who offer opposing explanations on the same topic. In this case they cannot both be correct. Some things to consider:
The first article was written by Anil Batra. I have never heard of him, but that's OK! He's probably never heard of me either. He lists his credentials at the top of the page which seem satisfactory.
Anil's article was well presented and he offered a screenshot of his results along with a meaningful description of the test he performed to draw the conclusion he ultimately made. The article was written in April 2008.
The second article was written by Will Critchlow of Distilled. Will has written other articles I have read and I find him to be a credible source of SEO information.
Will's article is also well presented. Will specifically shared he contacted Avinash Kaushik from Google who would be considered an expert on the topic. Will's article was written in Jan 2009.
Personally I would choose to accept Will's response being that it is more recent and I offer higher credibility to his Google contact. BUT, I am also hesitant to discount anyone's ideas, especially when they are well presented such as Anil's article.
The great news: we can easily try a new test and find the answer! It's been over 2 1/2 years since the most recent article. I'll go ahead and try some tests and share the results.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What to do when on your keyword there are no questions ?
Let me give me you an example. For example for the keyword title tag (let's imagine) I would want to rank on that. I go to the keyword explorer or related searches at the bottom of google there are many questions people have.. I find expressions (with the same user intent) such as "title tag length", "title tags generator", " "why are title tag importants" (I found this one using the are questions drop down menu of the keyword explorer). With this in hand I can create a page where I answer all those questions. I would have all those expressions being an H2 and answer the questions using related phrases and context word that I will find with the keyword explorer in my paragraph below. Let now take one of my keyword "Sicily bike tours". If I type this expression int he keyword explorer...the only related phrases (with the same user intent) that I find are "Sicily bike tour", "Sicily cycling tours", "Sicily bike trips"... (first thing I noticed is that it is just variation of my main expression not really question...). If I look at questions I find "what is the highest elevation in Sicily" or "How safe is Sicily for tourists". I don't imagine on a page that sells bikes tours in Sicily having h2 tags that answers those questions... and this is not what people that rank do, they describe their tour and this is what is confusing to me. Let's now take a secondary related keyword to main keyword. Let' s take "Sicily cycling tours" (it is a secondary related keyword to "Sicily bike tours". Based on the keyword explorer, the secondary related phrases to "Sicily cycling tours" are "tour of Sicily". "trips to Sicily".... ( isn't that going to be boring and look unnatural to use all those expressions ? ). There are all synonyms of my expression but not really different which is my worry ? Or can I use an expression such as "Sicilian villages" or "Sicily maps" even though they don't have the same user intent) as my secondary related keyword "Sicily cycling tours". Thank you,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
I think Google Analytics is mis-reporting organic landing pages.
I have multiple clients whose Google Analytics accounts are showing me that some of the top performing organic landing pages (in terms of highest conversion rates) look like this: /cart.php /quote /checkout.php /finishorder.php /login.php In some cases, these pages are blocked by Robots.txt. In other cases they are not even indexed at all in Google. These pages are clearly part of the conversion process. A couple of them are links sent out when a cart is abandoned, etc. - is it possible they actually came in organically but then re-entered via one of these links which is what Google is calling the organic landing page? How is it possible that these pages would be the top performing landing pages for organic visitors?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | FPD_NYC0 -
Keyword Stuffing because of the product names
Hi Moz community, Since I have many products in most of my pages which have the targeted keyword in the product name I get the "Keyword Stuffing" error. Is it really considered as "Keyword Stuffing" by Google? In addition to the products, I have some texts containing the targeted keyword for the page and this makes the number of keywords used in a page even higher. Thank you for your answers.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | onurcan-ikiz0 -
Does having all client websites on same server/same Google Analytics red flag Google?
If you have several clients, and they are all on the same server, and also under ONE Google Analytics account, will that negatively impact with Google? They all have different content and addresses, some have the same template, but with different images.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BBuck1 -
Why Keyword Ranking Fluctuate?
Hi All, I have a shoes website and I am working on it from last four months. I am targeting four main keywords but I have some issues with ranking. First one is that keywords ranking fluctuate many time a day but they remain on the same page. Second one is that these keywords remain on the same page for 2 to 3 week and than suddenly they drop down in the ranking. Please help me regarding these issue. Waiting for replies. Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Cuttingseo0 -
Google Reviews
I have a couple of reviews from clients on Google that seem to have just disappeared. What gives?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bronxpad0 -
Will Google Visit Non-Canonicalized Page Again and Return Its Page's Original Ranking?
I have 2 questions about canonicalization. 1. Will Google ever visit Page A again if after it has been canonicalized to Page B? 2. If Google will still visit Page A and found that it is not canonicalizing to Page B already, will the original rankings and traffic of Page A returned to the way before it's canonicalized? Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | globalsources.com0 -
Keyword Ranking Question
I have recently hired a SEO company to help with our keyword. My question is what are the best tools to use to verify what that are reporting. I can do an unpersonalized search, but I am likely still getting the my local results. I have been using the SEOmoz rank tracker in the past but for some reason it is not able to retrieve results over the past day or so. Are there any other good tools to check ranking for an exact url at the for non-localized, non personalized results? Thanks for the suggestions.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | fertilityhealth0