Pankaj Borana

Google Analytics Hacks-II (Adding Regional Search Engines)

Apart from adding additional search engines to the existing list provided by Google Analytics, you could also use this method to create more regional lists of the main players. For example, if you are based in the India., being able to differentiate google.co.in from google.com may be of importance. You might think adding the following to the GATC of your pages would provide this:

pageTracker._addOrganic(“google.co.in”,”q”);

However, this won’t work, because when adding regional variations to the search engine list, the order becomes important. Defining the custom addOrganic variable in your GATC appends google.co.in (or any other variation) to the end of the default search engine array list, but the default list is already assigning any google.*domain as “google”; therefore, appending is too late to change this. The answer is to first clear the default search engine list from the GATC and then redefine all search engines using your custom list, as shown in this example:

pageTracker._clearOrganic() // clears the default list of search engines

// Define new search domains

pageTracker._addOrganic(“google.com”,”q”);

pageTracker._addOrganic(“google.co.uk”,”q”);

pageTracker._addOrganic(“google.es”,”q”);

pageTracker._addOrganic(“google.pt”,”q”);

pageTracker._addOrganic(“google.it”,”q”);etc.

Rather than define a long list of search engines in your GATC, it is better to place these in a separate JavaScript file—named, for example, custom_se.js. Place this file in the root of your web hosting account. Then call the file in all your web pages by adding the following line to your GATC:

<script type=”text/javascript”>

var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.”

: “http://www.”);

document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src=’” + gaJsHost + “googleanalytics.

com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”));

</script>

<script src=”custom_se.js” type=”text/javascript”></script>

<script type=”text/javascript”>

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12345-1”);

pageTracker._initData();

pageTracker._trackPageview();

</script>

Google Analytics Hacks-I (Adding More Search Engines)

Out of the box, Google Analytics is a powerful tool to add to your armory of search marketing, customer relationship, and other business management tools. With only a single page tag required to collect data, it is straightforward to set up; and with the addition of some filters, you can really gain an insight into your website performance.

You may get all the answers on the Website traffic patterns but your mind may develop a new set of questions which are unanswered by Google Analytics-Yes, You can do it with little lateral thinking and google analytics is very flexibe in its approach before you go ahead i must tell you that you must be familiar with JavaScript-

Customizing the List of Recognized Search Engines

Google Analytics currently identifies organic referrals from the following search
engines in your reports:

• AOL
• About
• Alice
• Alltheweb
• AltaVista
• Ask
• Baidu
• CNN
• Clubinternet
• Gigablast
• Google
• Google.interia
• Live
• LookSmart
• Lycos
• MSN
• Mama
• Mamma
• Najdi
• Netscape
• Netsprint
• Onet
• Pchome
• Search
• Seznam
• Szukacz
• Virgilio
• Voila
• Wp
• Yahoo!
• Yam
• Yandex
 

Although Google Analytics adds new recognized search engines to this list regularly, there are of course a great many more search engines in the world—language and region-specific as well as niche search engines such as price comparison and vertical portals. It is therefore possible to modify and append to the list of recognized search engines.

For example, suppose you wanted the BBC search engine to be listed as such in your reports, along with the search terms used by those visitors. First, conduct a search on the BBC website and view the resultant URL. For example, searching for motorcycle produces the following search result URL: http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi- in/search/results.pl?q=motorcycle

To capture this URL and recognize it as a search engine, add the following code to your page GATC:

<script type=”text/javascript”>

var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.”

: “http://www.”);

document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src=’” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”));

</script>

<script type=”text/javascript”>

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12345-1”);

pageTracker._addOrganic(“bbc.co.uk”, “q”);

pageTracker._initData();

pageTracker._trackPageview();

</script>

The line pageTracker._addOrganic(“bbc.co.uk”, “q”) simply appends this search engine to the default list of search engines contained in the GATC. As you can see, the format is:

pageTracker._addOrganic(“search_engine_domain”, “query_parameter_name”);

You can continue to add other search engines as needed by creating additional addOrganic lines. For example, to add the price comparison engine IndiaTimes as a regular search engine, add the following:

<script type=”text/javascript”>

var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.”

: “http://www.”);

document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src=’” + gaJsHost + “googleanalytics.

com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”));

</script>

<script type=”text/javascript”>

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12345-1”);

pageTracker._addOrganic(“bbc.co.uk”, “q”);

pageTracker._addOrganic(“Indiatimes”, “siteSearchQuery”);

pageTracker._initData();

pageTracker._trackPageview();

</script>

Using this method, IndiaTimes would be listed in the Search Engine report along with other search engines. That is useful in itself, but what provides more insight is that the  corresponding IndiaTimes search terms used by visitors would be listed in the Keywords report. Without this little hack, IndiaTimes would simply be listed as a standard referrer with no search terms logged.

SERP Control

Background

Google is getting quick at indexing new pages on existing domains instead of taking days, crawled pages appear in the index in minutes. This new speed has caused an interesting side effect, in the old days pages would be found and crawled you would get links to the page and it would start crawling up the SERPs. Today things are different Google “predicts potential inbound” links to the page and ranks it as if those links were already pointing at the page. This causes new pages on existing domains to rank potentially much higher then they should for a short term. After the “honeymoon” is over the pages drop back down to their natural position before rising back up the SERPs with any additional links. This boost can be used very effectively for short term SERP control and of course makes a great building block for long term control.

Factors Boosting SERP

• Domain Authority – this is a biggie how well the domain is performing is a major factor it’s also the lasting factor.
• On Page Factors – Headings, Titles, the use of keywords in URL link structure, plus page shaping and Link Flow all play their part.
• Links – In the first few hours these are actually not that important but of course for long term survivability you need links.

Of course if your SERPs are competitive in anyway you are not going to get a front page or #1 & #2 slot but you will be surprised how effective such tactics can be for short term gains. We are talking about only a few hours but depending on your goal this could be all you need.

Quick TakeAways

• Never upset SEOs who specialise in SERP control
• Never upset SEO’s who have friends who specialise in SERP control
• If you’re going to be a unethical company at least try to learn how to do it properly
• Short term domination is very simple if you have some basic authority and well optimised sites

Its worth remembering we didn’t even try to harm this company, with no effort at all we could have had 10,15,20 pages in their SERPs. Let this be a warning to any potential spammers, but also to those of you sitting at top of uncompetitive terms you could lose them very quickly if you are not careful.

Thanks to Tim Nash

Ten Killer Facebook Applications

2. Attack!
http://apps.facebook.com/attackgame
Attack! is a Facebook app that I just had to include on this list. Not only is it
a good representation of a Facebook-based game, but I am also personally
addicted to it! Attack! is an online version of the classic board game Risk. But
what makes it special is that your opponents can either be friends or other
Facebook members with actual names, rather than anonymous nicknames
like Spiraljoe3100 that you usually find with other online games. With a live
chat box, Attack! lends itself to a strong community element, playing with
friends and getting to know other Facebook members you normally would
never interact with. I’ve made friends with several people
through a good Attack! game.
If you are not a Risk player, I also recommend Scrabulous (http://apps.
facebook.com/scrabulous). Scrabulous is an online Scrabble game inside
Facebook that you can play with your friends.

3. iRead
http://apps.facebook.com/ireadit
iRead is the most popular book-focused app available on Facebook. Using
iRead you can share reading lists, recommendations, and reviews with your
friends. But you can go beyond the circles of your friends as well by finding
and interacting with other iRead users who have similar reading interests
as you do and get their recommendations.

4. Quizzes
http://apps.facebook.com/quizzes
Quizzes could be described as a “social mixer app” — it exists purely as a
vehicle for friends and others to interact with each other online. You can set
up an online quiz that your friends can take about you or whatever topic you
want. Here’s a random sampling: How well do you know Sachin Tendulkar? What type of
cheese are you? Do you know India?

5. Where I’ve Been
http://apps.facebook.com/whereivebeen
Where I’ve Been is a travel app that allows you to display a map of the world,
showing where you have lived (red), visited (blue), or would like to visit
(green). You can share your world map and travel diary entries with your
friends. The interactive world map is enjoyable to work with and can be displayed
in a profile box

6. Flixster
http://apps.facebook.com/flixster
Flixster is the movie equivalent of iLike. The heart of Flixster is the ability to
interact with your friends on movies. You can share movie lists, recommendations,
and reviews with your friends. You can also take movie quizzes and
share results with your friends. However, Flixster borders on trying too hard
by offering movie trailers, show times, and other general movie info that has
little to do with Facebook’s social network.

7. Top Friends
http://apps.facebook.com/topeight/?whoson=1&ref=sidenav
Top Friends is one of the most popular of all Facebook apps. Its purpose is
very simple — display your favorite friends in a profile box on your profile
page. In this way, you can make your best friends happy and your lesser
friends quite unhappy. Although that functionality hardly qualifies it as a
“killer app,” Top Friends also provides a practical benefit: You can quickly
poke or write a message to a friend through a single click.

8.& 9. Introplay’s Workout Olympiad
and Runlicious
http://apps.facebook.com/introplay
http://apps.facebook.com/runlicious
Introplay’s Workout Olympiad and Runlicious are two Facebook
apps that enable you to track your athletic workouts on Facebook, compare
your progress with others, and monitor the progress of your friends. Although
Introplay allows you to track workouts in dozens of activities, Runlicious is
geared only toward runners.

10. Appsaholic
http://apps.facebook.com/appsaholic
For Facebook developers, Appsaholic is a “killer app” simply because it
tracks how users are using applications. You can use it to monitor the usage
of your own app or track other third-party apps of interest. You can also buy
Facebook advertising directly from within Appsaholic.