Mastering Search Analytics

Chapter 7. Correlating SEO/Paid Search and Site Search

Looking across all your search data points can provide you with perhaps the biggest insight into what customers are looking for from you.

SEO, paid search, and site search each offer a unique opportunity to understand the mind-set and the interconnected thoughts of the people who are looking for your content. The one downside to this data is that it is drawn from people who have already found you, not from people who have not found you yet. That is, in some way or another, these people have had at least one interaction with your brand.

SEO provides insights into the relevancy of your content to a specific set of terms. There really shouldn’t be many surprises when looking at what words drive people to your website if you are in a clear and defined field or if your site has a clear and defined focus. If your website is about cars, you should expect to see a great deal of car-related terms driving traffic to the site. In this case, what you are looking for is not so much themes as language and use of words, and pairings between search terms. Looking at two- or three-word search terms can give you a better idea of associations people make when looking for your type of content. This can give you insight into language use, and you may discover geographical variations as well. If your site is an exception to the rule of one thematic element—for example, if your business is involved in many disciplines or your site hosts blogs that cover ...