Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Finding Your Competitors in Upstream and Downstream Visits
i recommend that you look at upstream visitors (visits to other websites prior to yours)
and downstream visitors (visits to other websites subsequent to yours).
remember that exit tracking is not the same as downstream traffic. exit links
are links on your website that, by design, send people somewhere else. downstream
traffic is simply where people go after visiting your site by typing in a new Url in the
address bar.
in regard to upstream traffic, you again have some of this information in your
referring Url report, when it is a link sending you the traffic. But i am sure that
prada.com does not link to Gucci.com, and you will never be able to get a look into
the visitor's intentions without using competitive intelligence.
there is all sorts of great information, such as yahoo! web analytics showing
that your serp is an exit page, but your competitive tool showing that the downstream
site is Google search, providing you with a different story about the visitor not being
able to find what he is looking for on your site.
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Comparing Traffic from Search Engines
you can compare other information, such as the influx of traffic from search engines,
against your direct competitors. there are again a number of stories you can learn
from this, information such as brand loyalty. remember, it is not a competition about
getting the most traffic from search engines; it is about getting the most traffic com-
ing to your site directly. the search engine should always be seen as an intermediary
element.
if you engage in seo, the information you get from yahoo! web analytics and
other website analytics tools is an absolute set of numbers (and metrics) about the actual
incoming traffic. it is difficult to say if your seo agency and in-house efforts are suc-
cessful when a 5 percent increase is measured. what if the market grew 8 percent over
the measured period, or what if your main competitor grew 15 percent?
the report in Figure 13.23 shows the market share of a given term, such as
“dubai,” so you can measure yourself against the competition.
a report like this also provides you with information on where the most
traffic volume related to this term goes. you would want to compete on some
of the terms, whereas others you have no interest in competing on at all. the
terms you typically would not want to compete on are those related to items
outside your industry.
