More Than a Search Engine

Web analytics vendors tend to treat search engines as simply that – a search engine. In reality though, search engines are becoming oh so much more than that. With search engines now offering things like email, maps, user-generated content and other things that are decidely NOT search, maybe it’s time that web analytics vendors help analysts by finding an easier way for us to report on TRUE search activity. How about it Omniture? How about not lumping all google.com traffic in your “Search Engine” bucket, just based on the domain it came from? We can tell based on the details of the URL what activity people were engaged in, so why not give us more options in our reports of what people are really doing? Our clients and my team of website analysts thanks you in advance.

Omniture Summit – Day 3

I called this day “The Maroon 5 Effect,” because everybody going to breakfast showed the effects of going to the concert and staying up late. I started noticing the effects of it right on the bus, where it was awfully quiet, even though the bus was full of people. Over at the Salt Palace, the scene looked of a zombie movie. There were only a portion of the attendees eating breakfast, but most were eating their meals. Not much was discussed during the morning session, other than key speakers selling their products to us.

The best breakout session in the event had Allan Dick, CMO of Vintage Tub & Bath. Not only was very passionate about his business and very entertaining (he gave us the story of the tub and toilet in 10 minutes). He explained how he used both SearchCenter, Data Sources & SiteCatalyst to bridge online and offline data to get a better view of what keywords are converting and generating sales. He explained that a visitor is given a unique customer ID, which can then be used when a visitor calls their call center to make the purchase. This data is then imported to SiteCatalyst using Data Sources and tied to the keyword data.

The closing session was a product road map discussion, which is precede by Brett M. Error, EVP and Chief Technology Officer. This is an interesting forum because here’s where us as clients and product users can provide comments and recommendations for improvements. Not only Mr. Error but his team of developers asses the situation and make notes, which are then reviewed and implemented. What’s different about other forums is that Mr. Error mentions which of the past year’s recommendations where implemented into production and provides with release dates. This year, the majority of the issues had to do with improvements of the Discover platform. I left the event with the same opinion that I have regarding the products: they are going in the right direction but there’s room for improvement.

That night, there was a reception, where we were given another opportunity to network with clients, as well as have some fun. The ambiance was of a winter wonderland, with a dancer dressed like a tree, moving around the bar. There was also a photographer, taking pictures behind a snowy backdrop. The party continued to a club, but I needed to pack my bags and get some rest before my return trip. So that’s Omniture Summit 09…at least from my point of view.

Omniture Summit – Day 2

Day 2 of Omniture Summit was the official kick-off of the event, and proved to be the longest day of the whole week. The event began with Josh James giving his “State of Omniture” address, where he announced the Omniture Marketing Suite, which encompassed some new products like Omniture Recommendations, which provides product recommendations based on the purchasing behavior of the visitors; Omniture DigitalPulse, which is used to verify the health of your analytics implementation by pointing out any discrepancy that might impede the tracking code from fully tracking each visitor behavior and CMO Dashboards. Mr. James also mentioned the integration of Test&Target with SearchCenter, which is the first step in integrating all Omniture products. Mr. James interviewed the CEO of WPP, Sir Martin Sorrell, discussing the advances in mobile tracking and the need to “get on the mobile tracking bandwagon.” Interesting enough, not enough emphasis is being given to the Social Media trend that is currently dominating how we interact with the Internet and each other. One case study that was impressive was given by Fred Kleisner, CEO of The Morgan Hotel Group, who presented a comparison between site road maps when their first one was launched (2001) and their new site (2009). It was interesting to see the attention to detail in all aspects of optimizing the site, mimicking the experience that a visitor would have when visiting one of their properties on the web.

The rest of the day was going to different breakout session, where a client would give a case study of how they used Omniture products to increase their revenue and better track visitor behavior. I attended the Financial vertical, in which the Omniture consultant mentioned the need to use internal search and mobile media. The next session that I attended talked about APIs. Omniture announced new APIs like SAINT and Discover. They also announced that our entry for Omniture’s Developer Challenge came in second place and our own John Nguyen presented the project and answered many questions. There was also a presentation by Martin Lindstrom, the author of Buy*ology. In his session, he talked about brand awareness and what make us purchase the things that we have. The best thing about the session is that everybody got a free copy of Buy*ology.

That’s the end of the first part of the day…the second part started as soon as the sessions where over. After a not-so-quick meal, where Kim, John and I discussed everything from analytics, to sports, to why our dinner was taking so long (seriously, I think they went to the market to get the products,) John and I went back to the Grand America Hotel for the Maroon 5 concert. There where a number of themed rooms, where you could get a bite to eat, as well as a drink. John and I decided to go to a room where a piano man was taking recommendations. He sang everything from Abba’s “Dancing Queen,” to Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places,” to Flo Rida’s “Low (yeah, you heard it right and it was funny too.)” I must say that the Maroon 5 performance was better than expected. They played for an hour and a half (because they have only 2 CDs.) As far as the experience, they sounded phenomenal, better than the CD. Surprisingly enough, the Boston Celtics stayed in the hotel because they played the Utah Jazz on Thursday and some of them where seen among the analytics geeks in the crowd, clearly showing that Omniture knows how to throw a party. For an after-party, we got invited to a suite on the 23^th floor, where Omniture hosted a bar and food for us attending the party. John and I got the opportunity to network with some of the attendees (although I doubt that some will remember.) Personally, it was super fun, but going to bed at 2am was not as easy, especially since we needed to be at the Salt Palace at 8am.

Omniture Development Challenge

The Omniture Development Challenge results are in and our Page Ranking entry came in second place. Our John Nguyen made a demo of the entry and although a little nervous, he demonstrated the qualities of what our Geary family. Good job to everybody involved and let’s shoot for #1 next year.

Omniture Summit: Geary Interactive is There

Geary Interactive is one of 2 finalists in the Omniture Developer Challenge. The application we created was a plug-in that brings search keywords, search engines and keyword rankings together with landing page data. This application will help media planners be more efficient by aggregating data into one dashboard. Geary’s own John Nguyen will be presenting the application to summit goers.

If you like what you see at the conference or want to see the search web analytics application for yourself, email info@gearyi.com.

Omniture wins ClickZ Award

Andreas Roell, Geary Interactive’s Chairman and CEO, was apart of the judging committee that awarded Omniture a ClickZ Excellence Award. Winning for their analytics platform, Omniture SiteCatalyst, the industry giant was hailed as “hands down the most innovative, ever-expanding platform in the space.”

 Congratulations Omniture for your win!