Who cares about what? Search Analytics for Content Strategists

Search Analytics forContent StrategistsLouis Rosenfeld • Rosenfeld Medialou@louisrosenfeld.com • @louisrosenfeldNYC Content Strategy Meetup • September 27, 2012

Hello, my name is Lou www.louisrosenfeld.com | www.rosenfeldmedia.com

Let’s look at the data

No, let’s really look at the dataCritical elements in bold: IP address, time/date stamp, query, and # of results:XXX.XXX.X.104 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:25:46 -0800] "GET /search?access=p&entqr=0 &output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL %3Ad1&ud=1&site=AllSites&ie=UTF-8 &client=www&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www& q=lincense+plate&ip=XXX.XXX.X.104 HTTP/1.1" 200 971 0 0.02XXX.XXX.X.104 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:25:48 -0800] "GET /searchaccess=p&entqr=0 &output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL %3Ad1&ie=UTF-8&client=www& q=license+plate&ud=1&site=AllSites &spell=1&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www& ip=XXX.XXX.X.104 HTTP/1.1" 200 8283 146 0.16

No, let’s really look at the dataCritical elements in bold: IP address, time/date stamp, query, and # of results: What are usersXXX.XXX.X.104 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:25:46 -0800] "GET /search?access=p&entqr=0 searching? &output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL %3Ad1&ud=1&site=AllSites&ie=UTF-8 &client=www&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www& q=lincense+plate&ip=XXX.XXX.X.104 HTTP/1.1" 200 971 0 0.02XXX.XXX.X.104 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:25:48 -0800] "GET /searchaccess=p&entqr=0 &output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL %3Ad1&ie=UTF-8&client=www& q=license+plate&ud=1&site=AllSites &spell=1&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www& ip=XXX.XXX.X.104 HTTP/1.1" 200 8283 146 0.16

No, let’s really look at the dataCritical elements in bold: IP address, time/date stamp, query, and # of results: What are usersXXX.XXX.X.104 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:25:46 -0800] "GET /search?access=p&entqr=0 searching? &output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL %3Ad1&ud=1&site=AllSites&ie=UTF-8 &client=www&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www& q=lincense+plate&ip=XXX.XXX.X.104 HTTP/1.1" 200 971 0 0.02XXX.XXX.X.104 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:25:48 -0800] "GET /searchaccess=p&entqr=0 &output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL How often are %3Ad1&ie=UTF-8&client=www& users failing? q=license+plate&ud=1&site=AllSites &spell=1&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www& ip=XXX.XXX.X.104 HTTP/1.1" 200 8283 146 0.16

SSA is semantically rich data, and...

SSA is semantically rich data, and... Queries sorted by frequency

...what users want in their own words

A handful of queries/tasks/ways to navigate/features/ documents A little goes a long waymeet the needs of your most important audiences

A handful of queries/tasks/ways to navigate/features/ documents A little goes a long waymeet the needs of your most important audiences Not all queries are distributed equally

A handful of queries/tasks/ways to navigate/features/ documents A little goes a long waymeet the needs of your most important audiences Nor do they diminish gradually

A handful of queries/tasks/ways to navigate/features/ documents A little goes a long waymeet the needs of your most important audiences 80/20 rule isn’t quite accurate

(and the tail is quite long)

The Zipf Curve, textually

Hey content strategists:ever heard this one?

Hey content strategists:ever heard this one? unveriﬁed rumor alert

Hey content strategists:ever heard this one? unveriﬁed rumor alert 90% of Microsoft.com content

Hey content strategists:ever heard this one? unveriﬁed rumor alert 90% of Microsoft.com content has never been accessed...

Hey content strategists:ever heard this one? unveriﬁed rumor alert 90% of Microsoft.com content has never been accessed... not even once

7 ways SSA helps content strategists 1.Determine logical content types 2.Develop contextual navigation 3.Detect failed content 4.Reduce jargon 5.Learn how audiences differ 6.Develop a publishing schedule 7.Predict the future

#1Determine logical content types

Start with basic SSA data:queries and query frequency Percent: volume of search activity for a unique query during a particular time period Cumulative Percent: running sum of percentages

“What types of content areusers seeking?”

Logical content types out ofsite search analytics Take an hour to... • Cluster and analyze top 50 queries (20% of all search activity) • Ask and iterate: “what types of content would users be looking for when searching these queries?” • Add cumulative percentages Result: prioritized list of potential content types #1) application: 11.77% #2) reference: 10.5% #3) instructions: 8.6% #4) main/navigation pages: 5.91% #5) contact info: 5.79% #6) news/announcements: 4.27%

#2Develop contextual navigation

1.Choose acontent type (e.g.,events)  2.Ask: “Whereshould users gofrom here?”  3.Analyze thefrequent queriesfrom this contenttype from aiga.org  

           Analyze frequent queries generated from each content sample

Hello, desire lines...

Content types + contextual navigation= content models album pages artist descriptions TV listingsalbum reviews discography artist bios

Content models also improvesearch performance

Content models also improvesearch performance Content objects related to products

Content models also improvesearch performance Content objects related to products Raw, crappy search results

(Pssst. User studies are anotherway to get at content models)

#3Detect failed content

Unexpected searchingmay indicate failed content Look for critical pages (beyond main page) that generate lots of search trafﬁc What’s going on?

Where navigation is failing (“Professional Resources” page)Do users andAIGA meandifferentthings by“ProfessionalResources”?

Comparing what users ﬁndand what they want

#4Reduce jargon

Saving the brand by killing jargonat a community collegeJargon related to online education: FlexEd, COD, College on DemandMarketing’s solution: expensive campaign to educate public (via posters, brochures)The Numbers query rank query (from SSA): #22 online* #101 COD #259 College on Demand #389 FlexTrack * “online” part of 213 queriesResult: content relabeled, money saved

#5Learn how audiences differ

Who cares about what? (AIGA.org)

Who cares about what?

Why analyze queries by audience?Fortify your personas with dataLearn about differences--including tone and voice--between audiences • Open University “Enquirers”: 16 of 25 queries are for subjects not taught at OU • Open University Students: search for course codes, topics dealing with completing programDetermine what’s commonly important to all audiences (these queries better work well)

#6Develop a publishing schedule

Interest in the football team: going...

Interest in the football team: going... ...going...

Interest in the football team: going... ...going... gone

Time toInterest in the study! football team: going... ...going... gone

BeforeTax Day

AfterTax Day

#7Predict the future

Shaping theFinancial Times’ editorial agendaFT compares these • Spiking queries for proper nouns (i.e., people and companies) • Recent editorial coverage of people and companiesDiscrepancy? • Breaking story?! • Let the editors know!

Again: 7 ways SSA helps you guys1.Determine logical content types2.Develop contextual navigation3.Detect failed content4.Reduce jargon5.Learn how audiences differ6.Develop a publishing schedule7.Predict the future

Some things you can do right away

Some things you can do right away1.Set up SSA in Google Analytics

Some things you can do right away1.Set up SSA in Google Analytics2.Query your queries

Some things you can do right away1.Set up SSA in Google Analytics2.Query your queries3.Start developing a site report card

Turn on SSA in Google AnalyticsSet up GA for your site if you haven’t alreadyThen teach it to parse and capture your search engine’s queries (not set by default)References • http://is.gd/cR0qr • http://is.gd/cR0qP

Seed your analysis byquerying your queriesStarter questions 1. What are the most frequent unique queries? 2. Are frequent queries retrieving quality results? 3. Click-through rates per frequent query? 4. Most frequently clicked result per query? 5. Which frequent queries retrieve zero results? 6. What are the referrer pages for frequent queries? 7. Which queries retrieve popular documents? 8. What interesting patterns emerge in general?

Use SSA to start workon a site report card

Use SSA to start work SSA helps determine commonon a site report card information needs

Read this Search Analytics for Your Site: Conversations with Your Customers by Louis Rosenfeld (Rosenfeld Media, 2011) www.rosenfeldmedia.com Use code FOLBR2020 for 20% off all Rosenfeld Media products

Say helloLouis Rosenfeldlou@louisrosenfeld.comwww.louisrosenfeld.comwww.rosenfeldmedia.com@louisrosenfeld@rosenfeldmedia