3 benefits of applying Google Analytics to your AdWords efforts

Many companies simply use Google Analytics as a tool for measuring traffic on their websites – but as illustrated by Sean Quadlin, Google Inc.’s search engine marketing (SEM) best practices marketing manager, it can also augment their efforts to increase said traffic.

In the video below, Quadlin shares three ways you can apply Analytics data to AdWords – and hopefully increase the conversion numbers for your next campaign.

Smarter goals

AdWords usually defines a conversion as a completed purchase, but many other goals can be equally valuable, such as page visits or the amount of time spent on a site, and these can be imported from Google Analytics to create goals that can be used to define specific audiences. For example:

  • Defining Destination as a conversion lets you check if someone has visited an important page on your website;
  • Duration measurements can let you know whether users are deeply engaged by your content or simply checking something quickly before checking themselves out;
  • Pages or screens per session can be used to let you know how many pages each user visits;
  • Event measurements let you know when someone watches a video, adds a product to their cart, or shares a page through a social media button.

Analytics for AdWords 1 - Import goal completions and ecommerce transactions

By linking these goals to AdWords, you can better measure your ads’ impact, Quadlin says.

Better-defined audiences

Analytics can also be used to build smarter remarketing list for your campaigns – segments such as pages viewed, location, onsite activity, and goal completions represent users who have expressed interest in what your organization offers, and this data can be used to create groups that you can target more effectively in the future.

Analytics for AdWords 3 - Audience builder

Smart lists

And rather than tasking you with building audience lists yourself, Analytics can automatically build them for you, based on users that are most likely to convert.

Analytics for AdWords 2 - Using smart lists

How users reach out to your organization should dictate how you speak to them, Quadlin says. For example, by using Analytics to measure your site’s unpaid traffic numbers and combining them with other segments, you can create a campaign expressly designed for your company’s biggest fans.

And we all know how much users love having an experience tailored to their needs.

Watch the entire three-minute video below.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Eric Emin Wood
Eric Emin Wood
Former editor of ITBusiness.ca turned consultant with public relations firm Porter Novelli. When not writing for the tech industry enjoys photography, movies, travelling, the Oxford comma, and will talk your ear off about animation if you give him an opening.

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