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Care to do more with Google Analytics code than just cut and paste a snippet in your website code? Well, you’re in luck. Google Analytics has been added to Google Code.

Now you can do marvelous things like manipulate the length of marketing campaigns and add search engines to be tracked.

If you want more control but don’t have a Google Code monkey on your team, then you can always try one of their Authorized consultants. Of course, Google provides plenty of documentation for Google Code.

Feel like discussing this? Leave a comment!

Related Reading:
Google Analytics Now Shows When a Visitor Uses Chrome
Does Google Analytics Share Data with Google Trends and Ad Planner?
Google Analytics Adds Adwords TV Campaign Reporting
Google Analytics Launches “Urchin 6″
Video Interview with Avinash Kaushik of Google Analytics

SES San Jose 2008 was held just a couple of weeks back, but still gives us enough time to find out what topics the top 10 videos on YouTube from the event were about.

Okay, so I only looked at the YouTube videos posted on the SESConferenceExpo’s channel — but that provides an apples to apples comparison. Besides, this is more about the topics discussed at the show than the popularity of the one channel versus another.

So, what are the topics covered in the top 10 videos from SES San Jose 2008?

1. (with 251 views) Avinash’s Long Tail Terms, Bouncy Icebergs, and Analytics

Avinash Kaushik of Google and Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now, Inc., talk about goals, bounce rates, and all sorts of important topics for marketers interested in measuring their campaigns, especially with Google Analytics. Later on in the video, Avinash talks about new features in Google Analytics like the partner program and data visualizations to help marketers understand what works and what doesn’t. He moves on to testing at the end, and plugs Bryan’s new Google Website Optimizer book, Always Be Testing.

2. (with 128 views) Small Business Viral Marketing Tips, SES San Jose 2008

Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide and Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media follow up their SES San Jose 2008 “Igniting Viral Campaigns” session with a discussion of the best tips on viral campaigns and social media marketing, especially for small business who want to make the most of their business online without spending too much money. The two talk about using social media sites like Linkedin and Twitter to communicate one’s marketing message to a dedicated and enthusiastic audience.

3. (with 121 views in 1 week) Mobile Search Lazarus, Mobi Job with Rebecca Lieb

Rebecca Lieb of ClickZ opines that mobile search is back and in a strong way, of course as a result of better smart phones and with what she and others see as the death of mobi. I interview Rebecca on her Death of .mobi panel at SES San Jose 2008 to learn more about the changing mobile search landscape.

4. (with 121 views in 2 weeks) Social Responsibility & SEM for Nonprofits with Jamie Welsh

Jamie Welsh of 10 Percent Solution talks with Byron Gordon of SEO-PR about her organization’s work to certify companies with respect to three categories: philanthropy, as defined through the donation of five percent of pre-tax profits or one percent of sales; volunteerism through individual employees; and green sustainability.

5. (with 80 views) Measuring Web 2.0 with Star Trek & SiteLogic’s Matt Bailey

Matt Bailey of SiteLogic Marketing talks Trekkie lore and web analytics with Jamie O’Donnell of SEO-PR about his SES San Jose 2008 panel on Web 2.0 measurement. Matt’s famous Star Trek/Web Analytics mashup played well at the show as he explained the increasing likelihood of Enterprise ensigns’ chances of survival given various circumstance, including the color of their shirts, shuttlecraft landings, and the captain’s amorous liaisons.

6. (with 78 views) Johanna Wright of Google on Google Universal Search

Johanna Wright of Google talks with me about Google’s Universal Search platform, which integrates various online media in its search results page to offer searchers a wider selection of relevant results. Johanna gives some insight for SEO (search engine optimization) pro’s into how the vertical backends are put together and advocates a thoughtful approach to making information accessible to Google through use of sitemaps and detailed descriptions.

7. (with 76 views) Lee Siegel Punches the Internet

Lee Siegel, author of Against the Machine, talks with Kevin Ryan of Search Engine Strategies and me about why the internet is an abuse — and not a use of the internet for human life. Well, that’s the big-picture idea, at least. Mostly he just beats up on Gawker. No objections here…?

8. (with 63 views) A/B Test Experts Tim Ash and Bryan Eisenberg

Tim Ash of SiteTuners and Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now, two A/B testing gurus, talk landing page testing shop on the conference floor at SES San Jose 2008. Tim and Bryan discuss the crucial nature of testing for the bottom line with the triple threat of incrased online competition, rising PPC costs, and a recession economy. Tim also talks about SiteTuners’ new self-service portal which opens up, for the first time, some of SiteTuners’ large-scale multivariate testing tools to in-house SEM’s (search engine marketers).

9. (with 57 views) How Much Search is Enough - Kevin Ryan at SES San Jose 2008

Kevin Ryan of Search Engine Strategies (SES) talks with Byron Gordon of SEO-PR at SES San Jose 2008 about his panel on holistic approaches to online marketing, in which he and the other agency panelists investigated what the appropriate mix of search and other online mediums was in properly integrated campaigns. Kevin relays some tips from the speakers regarding how to experiment in order to make the most of your online presence.

10. (with 54 views) Soothware Online Advertising Platform Intro with Tim Ogilvie

Tim Ogilvy of Soothware chats with John Mulligan of SEO-PR about his company, Soothware. Soothware helps advertisers manage their search advertising and display advertising campaigns in one place, tapping into Google and the RightMedia ad Exchange.

There are more videos on the SESConferenceExpo’s channel — and another 20+ videos from SES San Jose 2008 over on the WebProNews Video Blog. And you’ll find even more videos from the event at SEOWebTraffic’s Channel, SocialJulio’s Channel, StepForth’s Channel, HHeitzman’s Channel, SageRock’s Channel, ChrisDaviesCa’s Channel, misiggaes’ Channel, and HudsonHorizon’s Channel.

While you really had to be there to catch all the action, at least now you can get some samples of the what turned out to be the best attended SES of all time. That’s right. There were more people at SES San Jose 2008 than attended SES New York 2008 or SES San Jose 2007 — the next two biggest shows.

SpyFu, a site that allows you to see what the competition is up to online, has announced the expansion of its search engine analytics services to the UK.
SpyFu says it’s the first service to offer comprehensive data to the UK.

Here’s the data that will be available through SpyFu UK:

• Natural search competitors
• Paid search competitors
• Competitors’ Keywords
• Competitors’ Cost per click
• Rankings

SpyFu launched in May 2007 and says it already sees 1 million visitors per month.

“With our tremendous growth over the past year, we were considering several opportunities for expansion,” said Michael J. Roberts, president of Velocityscape, the creator of SpyFu. “We found that UK data was the most-requested feature in the SpyFu.com forums. Listening to our customers and addressing their needs is always our first priority.”

Related Reading:
Tools for Competitive Search Intelligence
Avinash Kaushik Talks About Competitive Intelligence Tools

The Web Analytics Association has announced a new board of directors, and here they are:

• Vicky Brock, Highland Business Research, Inverness Highlands, Scotland
• June Dershewitz, Semphonic, San Francisco, CA
• Andrea Hadley, NetSetGo Marketing, Vancouver, BC Canada
• Avinash Kaushik, Author, Analytics Evangelist — Google, Mountain View, CA
• Alex Langshur, PublicInsite, Medford, MA

Neil Mason, Applied Insights, Oxford, England

• Lauria Paxia, I.C.C. S.r.l., Catania, Italy

Seth Romanow, Microsoft, Redmond, WA

• Marshall Sponder, Monster Worldwide, New York, NY
• Robbin Steif, LunaMetrics, LLC, Pittsburgh, PA
• Jim Sterne, Target Marketing, Santa Barbara, CA
• April Wilson, The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX

WAA Chairman Jim Sterne said, “The WAA is growing and maturing, and this new Board is a wonderful mix of talent and geography. The cumulative experience of these people is exceeded only by their cumulative IQ. We have a great team for tackling our objectives for the coming year.”

Related Reading:
Bryan Eisenberg Talks about Persuasion Architecture
Interview of Analytics Expert, Eric T. Peterson

When you have a page that is bringing in a lot of eyeballs, it may be tempting to just leave it alone. Cliches become mantras. “There’s no need to stir the pot.” “Let sleeping cats lie.” “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

The problem is that if your traffic isn’t converting, then your landing page is, in fact, broken.

Thankfully, the Google Website Optimizer team is serving up tips on knowing which pages to tweak via a post on their blog.

First up are Landing Pages. Go to the “Content” section of Google Analytics and check out the “Top Landing Pages.” The pages you need to focus on have high bounce rates and high entrance rates. The blog recounted a scenario Avinash Kaushik spoke about at SES. He said he was searching for faucets and the top sponsored result led him to a sinks page. Perhaps the site is experiencing large numbers of site visitors, but they’re just throwing money away if they’re not giving the people what they want.

Secondly, check out funnel pages. These are pages that a visitor arrives at after performing an action such as a purchase, registration or download. In Google Analytics, you can set up a funnel which contains 10 pages pertaining to a goal. Then, you’ll be able to view “funnel visualization” reports that can show you where your site visitors get stuck in the process.

Remember, it’s the conversions that matter the most. Not the clicks or the referrals or the number of eyeballs. If your site visitors are not engaging in the actionable goal you’ve set for them, then it’s time to tweak.

Related Reading:
Your Baby’s Ugly - Why You Need Landing Page Optimization Now
PPC Triage Now! Emergency Action Steps for Dying AdWords

Avinash Kaushik is one of the most knowledgeable people in the analytics space, but his newest venture 4Q with iPerceptions may have a problem. One of the pet peeves of Web users is that popups suck.

The idea of a survey to find out what people thought of your site is a good one, especially in a world where site owners are just starting to understand the need for analytics. The survey goes back to the old direct marketing system where restaurants and other brick and mortar services would poll their customers.

But while the information may be invaluable the bad taste exit popups leave in a visitor’s mouth is something iPerceptions may have wanted to survey first. The few people discussing the product on the site’s forum mention this problem and the drop in conversions the popup may be causing.

True, the message is not a pitch for a sale (well not directly), and many large companies still use the feature (log out of any travel booking site and you will see what I am talking about).

The feature itself can be written with a simple javascript and a landing page, so the outsourcing of it may be more for the novice. But it does give some aggregated information to 4Q and I have yet to read through the privacy policy to see how that may be used in the future.

There are a few features to this that make it a little different. You can actually set the percentage that see it - so you are not pushing it to everyone and could test it on say 10% of your exiting traffic.

I am on the fence right now but still remember how effective those exit popups used to be in grabbing email addresses when I used them a few years ago. One warning, don’t put them on any of your pages where you are using AdWords… it is against the T&Cs.

At Search Engine Strategies New York this week, some of the best-attended sessions are about Web analytics. Two sessions I sat in on yesterday had standing-room only crowds. It’s clear that search marketers – like all online marketers – are finally realizing that it’s not all about getting people to your site. The volume game is fine when driving volume is cheap, but with concerns about rising keyword prices and a looming recession, it’s only natural that there’s a new round of belt-tightening going on.

Smart online marketers have been using analytics to squeeze better performance from the traffic they already have, instead of looking for new ways to drive low-converting traffic. From the looks of things, the idea is catching on, with the desire to learn about Web analytics spreading to the masses.

Google Analytics Evangelist Avinash Kaushik noted in his presentation that there are four keys to Web analytics success:
1. Integrate or Die – Measuring basic metrics are the price of entry. To succeed, you need to apply those measurements to other events beyond your Web site, and see what’s making or costing you money.
2. Measure Bounce Rate – Bounce rate is your Web site visitor saying to you, “I came, I saw, I puked.” If they come to one page and leave right away, you’re not giving visitors what they’re looking for. Figure that out and fix it.
3. Go Beyond Ego Bidding – The definition of success for one site will be different than success for another. The key is to find your own success metric, such as conversions, or time on site, and measure your performance against that metric.
4. Experiment or Go Home – Most sites are designed by “HiPPOs”: The Highest Paid Person’s Opinion. That often means the site is not designed around what users are searching for. You could be sending people to a less relevant page than you could or should be doing, or offering something different than what was promised in your search ads. Avinash calls this “Writing a check on a search engine that your site can’t cash.” Both are bad for the user.

If you missed the analytics sessions yesterday, there are still plenty of options. This afternoon, Google is putting on a session about Google Analytics and Website Optimizer, and Omniture is doing one on optimizing SEM campaigns. Later, Tim Ash will show you how to test and tune your landing page. For a deep dive into analytics, Matt Bailey is leading a four-hour training session on Web analytics on Friday.

It’s only Day 1 at SES New York 2008 and the folks from Pan Communications have already found more than 40 stories that have been written about the Search Engine Strategies conference. If you want a comprehensive list, Matt McGowan, the Global Vice President of Marketing for Incisive Media, will be posting one later this evening (or early tomorrow morning) on the Search Engine Strategies Blog – when he gets back from the Saint Patrick’s Day pub crawl.

In the meantime, I’ve looked through the news articles and blog posts from Monday, March 17, 2008, to try to identify the top ten stories on Day 1 of the event. While this list is no substitute for actually attending SES New York 2008, it will give you a quick summary of some of the highlights.

1. Yahoo! Cozies Up To Its Click-Fraud Critics
Andy Greenberg of Forbes.com says, “At Monday’s Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference in New York, Yahoo! announced a partnership with click-fraud auditing firm Click Forensics to share pay-per-click advertising data and work together to identify fraudulent clicks–those designed to pump a Web publisher’s advertising revenue or drain a competing advertiser’s budget.”

2. Search Spend Seems Healthy Despite Slowing Economy
Kevin Newcomb of Search Engine Watch says, “Despite an increasingly gloomy economic forecast, spending on search engine marketing continues to grow beyond expectations. Preliminary results of the 2007 State of the Market Survey were released today at Search Engine Strategies New York by SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization.”

3. Kicking Off SES New York 2008
Mike McDonald of WebProNews interviewed Matt McGowan about Search Engine Strategies New York 2008, which kicked off today with about 8,000 attendees. Matt explained what can be expected in the week ahead.

4. Orion Panel: Getting Vertical Search Right
Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable covered the Orion Panel: Getting Vertical Search Right. Barry says, “Jason Finger talks about his online food service. They link people with local restaurants and caterers. Steven Krein is from a human powered health search service. Bill Tancer gives the Hitwise line, love this guy. Josh Stylman from Reprise Media. Paul Forster from Indeed.com a Job Search site.” Barry adds, “This is a unique session.”

5. Analytics: Data Into Action
Lisa Barone of the Bruce Clay Blog covered the Analytics: Data Into Action session. Lisa says, “Kevin Ryan gets things started and says next time he’ll get a bigger room. Hee, seriously. And it’s not that the room is even small, it’s just there are about a gazillion people trying to get in. The SES conference series is alive and well, people.”

6. Neil Patel interviews Jason Calacanis, SES NY 2008

Neil Patel of Pronet Advertising interviewed Jason Calacanis, founder and CEO of Mahalo.com, who will be the afternoon keynote speaker on Wednesday, March 19, 2008. The two discuss issues such as spam, the search engine optimization (seo) philosophy as a whole and its problematic frictions between publishers and users in the battles for visibility and search relevance.

7. Avinash Kaushik, Web Analytics at SES NY 2008

I interviewed Avinash Kaushik, author, blogger, and Analytics Evangelist at Google about the standing-room-only-crowd at the Web Analytics: Measuring Succession session, where he spoke. He also talked about trends in web analytics over the next 24 to 36 months, his highly-rated blog, Occam’s Razor, and his recently published book, Web Analytics: An Hour A Day.

8. Session: Organic Listings Forum
Lee Odden of the Online Marketing Blog covered the Organic Listings Forum. Lee says, “Organic Listings Forum with Mike Grehan moderating and Jill Whalen, Dave Naylor and Greg Boser on the panel. Here we have an all star SEO cast available to answer questions about organic SEO.”

9. SES New York: Video Made the SMB Star (Kelsey Group Track)
Li Evans of Search Marketing Gurus covered the Video Made the SMB Star session. Li says that Mike Boland of the Kelsey Group, who moderated the session, said, “Users are coming to expect Video as part of their search results.”

10. Ad Exchanges - What You Need to Know
Mona Elesseily of Traffick wrote a preview of the Ad Exchanges are Everything session, which will be held at SES New York 2008 on March 19 2008 (Day 3). Mona says, “To learn more about the changes in ad exchanges, I interviewed both Ramsey McGrory, VP of Exchange Development, Right Media and Jay Sears, SVP of Strategic products and business development, ContextWeb.”

Want a snapshot of the day’s search marketing news? Here we’ve collected today’s top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

• Israeli Town Suing Google
  Google is being sued by a northern Israeli town because Google Maps claims it was built on an old Arab village.
• What’s it Really Like to Work at Google?
  Google Analytics Evangelist Avinash Kaushik shares what it’s like to work at Google, hang out with the beautiful people, dream in color, and manufacture atomic-powered ideas from intellectual metal.
• Another AOL Exec Leaves
  AOL says aloha to strategic ad exec Dave Morgan, founder of AOL-acquired Tacoda.
• The adventure of going to SES London for the first time
  About half of the attendees at the Search Engine Strategies 2008 Conference & Expo in London will be going to the event for the first time.
• Yahoo Formally Rejects Microsoft Bid
  The board believes that Microsoft’s proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo.
• SEW Experts: Google AdWords Targeting: Expect More, Pay Less
  Google AdWords placement-targeted campaigns on the content network can be a useful tool, if you can find the sites that support it.
• AOL Yahoo Talk Merger - Microsoft Rebuked
  The i-banks are advising Yahoo on mergers with media and technology firms that might snatch Yang & Co. from the jaws of Microsoft.
• Yahoo Board Escapes MS Bear Hug: Yahoo Jitsu!
  Rumors are rife that Yahoo may tag out in search, tapping its former tag team partner, Google, to crush Microsoft.

Click to read the rest of this post…

Many of us have have heard tales about Google’s storied culture, lifestyle, and talented employees. Yes, we’ve also heard about the food! Take a moment and dig into the details with Avinash Kaushik. He shares what it’s truly like to work at Google, hang out with the beautiful people, dream in color, create, and manufacture atomic powered ideas from intellectual metal.

He’s just published an emotionally introspective post, 10 Insights From 11 Months Of Working At Google, in which he freely shares specifics as concern day to day life among Googlers.

Who Is Avinash Anyway?
In the world of search marketing there are precious few true analytics luminaries. Avinash Kaushik is a consensus master in taking analytics to the “actionable” level.   He also happens to work at the Googleplex making his creative wit extremely influential. His personal blog, Occam’s razor, is nearly universally respected by SEM professionals, revered by some.

Google’s Analytics Evangelist
Many readers know that Google Analytics is an powerful (and free) analytics package offered by Google to it’s users. Used effectively in tandem with AdWords PPC, rudimentary (albeit powerful) conversion tracking can be set up.  Avinash is currently contracted as Google’s in-house Analytics Evangelist, rolling up his pragmatic/esoteric sleeves.

Here are the categories by which the analytics master segments the blessed Google life. Avinash says "ten insights from / cool things about / reasons for / delightful surprises from almost a year of working at Google."

#10 The amazingly fantastic food and impressive digs.
# 9: “Micro Efficiencies”
# 8: A company that truly cares.
# 7: Brain expansion opportunities.
# 6: The sheer amount of brilliant Google employees.
# 5: Empowerment (The big small company).
# 4: The scale of your impact.
# 3: Doing Good: Green & .org
# 2: It’s a happening place. The energy, the vibe, the passion.
# 1: The brand."

No doubt the matrix outlined above has been given due thought by Avinash. The post is worth a read for the pictures alone. Thanks for the terrific insight  Avinash.