Keyword Bounce Rate Through Omniture SiteCatalyst

If, like just about everyone else I've spoken to, a large part of your site strategy is based around keyword strategy and some search engine marketing, you may want to take some time to think about measuring your keywords by their bounce rate. Keyword bounce is a valuable measure of engagement which will allow for the efficient trimming of fat from your keyword campaigns. Here is how its done in Omniture's SiteCatalyst suite...

SiteCatalyst allows for 'Custom Events' and eVars in the newly named Conversion third of the reporting suite in version 13.5. You will need to use three Custom Events (named Total Click Throughs, Click-Past and Click Through Flag) These, on their own determine the bounce. It takes some inversion of the impression which the terms give to understand how. The first event, of the click-through (as one part of the Total Click Throughs) is the raw number of entrances collected on a keyword. The second event, is a Click-Past, which I think needs to be renamed, but produces a trip in the formula which shows that on the occassion within the path that the user or customer came in on this keyword, they clicked beyond this page and deeper into the site. Thus, you have a non-bounce or an engaged visit. Through a simple operation in a calculated metric, expressed as (1-[click past]/[total click throughs]) you have a solid formula for bounce which can be used in any keyword report inside of the conversion reports (formerly called commerce).

The last event is the Click Through Flag. This is set in place for the purpose of pointing out keywords at a glance which have produced a number at or above a user-defined threshold of success. In other words, I could say, if I have a keyword that does not bounce at least three times, that shows a certain level of promise which I wish to be informed of. In doing so, you may be able to weed out winners from losers in a quick report.

Bonus Materials Packaged with the Click Quality Plug-In
Two additional parts of this operation which, one of which I can actually attest to, are called Time Parting and GeoLocation. The time parting is used in an eVar which is attached to the script at the Click Through. This gives an indication of which half-hour period these click throughs are occuring in. This is helpful because it creates the ability to more precisely identify if a keyword has more weight within a certain timeframe. It also helps to flag and rectify click-fraud should that ever occur (jeez, I wonder if that ever happens).

GeoLocation, I have yet to see work in our conversion suite. When it does work, I'll be happy to share my thoughts on it and what it has provided us with.

If you have an interest in getting this set up in your suites, you should probably contact your rep at Omniture to discuss it. I highly recommend using it, or some similar operation to get an idea of how engaged incoming searches are. The reasoning is this: If you measure everything by the final conversion result, you become too reactive. Its like going deep sea fishing and bringing your Ugly Stik and a can of worms. If your scope is too narrow, you'll never be able to adapt.

If you have any comments or questions about what I've discussed, please feel free to contact me. I'll help where I can within a timeframe that allows for my duties to my employer to be fulfilled first.