I’ve been a fan of Google for a long time. Here’s why:
1. They are better at search than any other search engine.
2. They have the best PPC advertising platform (Adwords).
3. And they offer all kinds of useful tools for free — Google Analytics, Website Optimizer, Google Docs, Gmail, etc.
But even with all this, I’m not as enamored as I used to be. Two things have happened in the last year that have concerned me:
- On a personal level: Google said I could no longer send PPC traffic to the page that promotes my copywriting services. I assume it was because of the testimonials or the form at the bottom, which they might have classified as “data collection.”
- On a global level: Google has begun to penalize direct marketers and favor big brands.
They’re doing this because big brands will spend millions of dollars with Google for branding campaigns. In most cases, the advertisers won’t collect any prospect or customer data, so they will be forced to keep spending those millions with Google indefinitely.
Direct marketers, on the other hand, try to capture prospect information. They track their numbers. They know which sources of traffic convert and which ones don’t.
This is just good business, but Google doesn’t like it. Because this means the smart direct marketer will, at some point, no longer be dependent on Google.
But Google Wants You to Be Dependent!
One of the biggest advantages that Google has is instant access to all of your data. If you’re using Adwords and Analytics, and you’ve tied the two together, Google can see all the key metrics of your site.
They don’t need to lift your kilt to take a peek — because you’re lifting your kilt for them!
Obviously, the more data Google knows about your site, the more influence they have over you. They can slap you, throttle your organic traffic, whatever they want, whenever they want…
And There’s Almost Nothing You Can Do About It!
Check this out…
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that Google sends more organic traffic to my site on days I email my list than on days I don’t. This pattern is consistent.
The Search Engine That Knew Too Much
Although I’m using a small sample, I can tell you this pattern holds true nearly 100% of the time.
When Google notices a general rise in traffic on my site, they assume there must be a reason for that. So Google increases organic traffic as well.
The next day, if I don’t email my list, organic search traffic is usually throttled back again.
To me, this is a clear case of Google knowing too much.
Is It Time to Leave Google in the Dark?
One thing I’ve been considering is switching my stats tracking to a different solution. By abandoning Google Analytics, I’ll remove some of Google’s power to see what’s happening on my web site, which may be a good thing.
That’s why I want to tell you about iTrackerPro, a new stats tracking service that does everything that Google Analytics does… and more.
Full Disclosure: I haven’t fully switched all my sites to iTrackerPro yet, but I’m running it on a new site to put it through the paces. I’m also an affiliate.
Here’s What I Like about iTrackerPro:
- It keeps your private data private, out of the hands of Google.
- It provides full stats tracking, including all the reports you’re accustomed to in Google, plus some (like hottest days of the week, hottest times of day, leads by geolocation, sales by geolocation, etc.).
- Statistics are REAL-TIME. No long 2-4 hour delays. (You’ll be able to make changes faster based on what is — or isn’t — working.)
- Conversion tracking and link tracking so you can measure effectiveness of various advertising sources, including PPC.
- An easy A/B split-test module to improve conversion rates of key landing pages.
- Heat maps of where visitors click on your page. (What page elements are getting the most attention? Which ones are hijacking sales?)
From what I can tell, iTrackerPro is about as complete a stats tracking service as any I’ve seen. (And it doesn’t crash my browser like ClickTale does.)
iTrackerPro is a new service. They plan to start accepting new subscriptions starting on Tuesday, March 1. In the mean time, if you’re interested, you can get on the priority notification list here:
>> Click here to learn more about iTrackerPro
-Ryan M. Healy
About Ryan M. Healy
Ryan Healy is a direct response copywriter. Since 2002, he has worked with scores of clients, including BoostCTR, Alex Mandossian, Terry Dean, and Pulte Homes. He writes a popular blog about copywriting, advertising, and business growth, has been featured in publications like Feed Front magazine, and is a regular contributor to WordStream.com, BoostCTR.com, and MarketingForSuccess.com.
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Thanks for the alternative Ryan. I feel the same way about Google’s analytics and optimizer.
(After trying out both optimizer and Muvar, I’m not sure what I like best. I like Muvar’s algorithm better but I have witnessed errors in the data. Tis a shame.)
What kind of errors Stephen?
I’ll email you!
You’re welcome, Stephen. I figured there would at least be a few who’d agree that we’re giving Google too much information. :-)
I’ve thought the big G had too much info on my sites a long time ago.
I’ve been willing to have broader stats collected via WP plugins like StatPress just to keep it in-house.
With Google’s new acquisition of re-captcha, I’m going to be changing my anti-spam tool too. (Just another kick in the pants, since I was already planning to build my own.)
Is there anything missing from iTrackerPro? There’s no perfect tool, but theirs sounds pretty good!
@Wayne… I am the founder of iTrackerPro. I have been building this thing for the past 6 months based on years of marketing experience. Although you are right there is no perfect tool out there. We have done our best to provide a good solid platform. Have been testing and tweaking for the last 2 months with beta testers and our own tests.
We have plans to continue to expand on the features and do everything we can to make it even more awesome than it already is.
What we have is a great base to our bigger plans with the goal to make this the best all in one tracking solution.
There’s no multivariate testing right now, just A/B. But for most people, A/B testing is better anyway. If I notice anything else, I’ll let you know.
What kind of errors Stephen?
I think I’ve heard that song before because your quote sounded vaguely familiar. Either way, made me laugh. :-)
I would bet that google will be part of the one world Marxist government which is almost in place now through the UN, IMF, OECD.
Find any and all alternatives to google, the world needs to boycott the google overlords and any other online company who uses their world control / anti privacy agendas.
I’m not sure if Microsoft is any better than Google, but this article makes a good case for using Bing.
http://seoblackhat.com/2011/02/01/bing-is-just-better/
Interesting, Ryan. But a few questions–one of them being a kind of comment. So I’ll start with the “comment question.”
Why do so many marketers–including Justin Christianson of iTrackerPro–feel the need to force us to listen to them read their scripts? I *hate* this kind of time-wasting! At least the guys at Agora Publishing let you read their scripts (once you figure it out) if you threaten to close their web page. But Justin forces you either to listen to him . . . or nothing. Aaagh!!!!
But more to the point of your post: You say, “Google sends more organic traffic to my site on days I email my list than on days I don’t. This pattern is consistent.” –And I say, “Okay. So . . . ???” What’s your point?
And more: What do you mean, and how do you know it’s true, that they are sending you organic traffic? And how can you be sure that they are doing anything unusual to push (or throttle) traffic to your site? Is it possible, for example, that you are getting more traffic to your site ostensibly from Google, but not “really” (because it’s coming not through organic searches but, rather, through (for example) Google Alerts to which some of your site visitors have subscribed)?
Beyond that: If Google “knows too much” and, you figure, it is sending you traffic on days when you are being a more proactive marketer because it somehow knows (too much) that you are being a proactive marketer that day . . . –Supposing your analysis is correct and it is because Google “knows too much” that they are, indeed, sending you all that “extra” traffic, then are you actually hurting yourself by attempting to cut them off from knowing so much about you?
. . . I guess when all is said and done, what I’m trying to say is this: I agree that it is worthwhile not to be dependent on Google; therefore, it is a good idea to look to alternative purveyors of similar information. But–again, assuming your analysis is correct–why not use Google to your advantage? If they are going to send extra traffic your way for letting them know what you’re doing, what’s the harm?
Good questions, John.
In Google Analytics, you can view traffic by source, including “Google Organic.” This traffic is from Google Organic searches only (not Adwords).
So, for the above chart, I first took a screen shot of total traffic for the dates in question. Then I took a screen shot of Google organic traffic for the same dates.
While my theory hasn’t been proven, by replacing Google Analytics with another stats solution, I *think* Google may be forced to send me traffic based more on my site’s reputation than on daily traffic patterns.
Because while Google may be sending me extra traffic for what I’m doing, they may also be withholding traffic based on what I’m not doing (e.g., taking a day off from writing a new blog post).
Interesting, Ryan. But a few questions–one of them being a kind of comment. So I’ll start with the “comment question.”
Why do so many marketers–including Justin Christianson of iTrackerPro–feel the need to force us to listen to them read their scripts? I *hate* this kind of time-wasting! At least the guys at Agora Publishing let you read their scripts (once you figure it out) if you threaten to close their web page. But Justin forces you either to listen to him . . . or nothing. Aaagh!!!!
But more to the point of your post: You say, “Google sends more organic traffic to my site on days I email my list than on days I don’t. This pattern is consistent.” –And I say, “Okay. So . . . ???” What’s your point?
And more: What do you mean, and how do you know it’s true, that they are sending you organic traffic? And how can you be sure that they are doing anything unusual to push (or throttle) traffic to your site? Is it possible, for example, that you are getting more traffic to your site ostensibly from Google, but not “really” (because it’s coming not through organic searches but, rather, through (for example) Google Alerts to which some of your site visitors have subscribed)?
Beyond that: If Google “knows too much” and, you figure, it is sending you traffic on days when you are being a more proactive marketer because it somehow knows (too much) that you are being a proactive marketer that day . . . –Supposing your analysis is correct and it is because Google “knows too much” that they are, indeed, sending you all that “extra” traffic, then are you actually hurting yourself by attempting to cut them off from knowing so much about you?
. . . I guess when all is said and done, what I’m trying to say is this: I agree that it is worthwhile not to be dependent on Google; therefore, it is a good idea to look to alternative purveyors of similar information. But–again, assuming your analysis is correct–why not use Google to your advantage? If they are going to send extra traffic your way for letting them know what you’re doing, what’s the harm?
Well, the harm is: in the end, your business can be killed by Google in an instant. All they need to do is “switch your traffic off”.
For whatever obscure reason, they can decide they no longer want your PPC money. For whatever the reason, they can change their algorithm. And you disappear from natural search results.
And when that happens, when traffic comes to a full stop—if you had an online-only operation, with no offline activities, then you’re out of business, for all practical purposes.
And as Ryan pointed, Google wants marketers to be dependent on them for traffic. If a marketer can’t collect the names of visitors—in exchange of valuable information to the visitor, then this marketer will have to pay Google for “eyeballs” each and every time someone clicks on that marketer’s link on Google.
This way, Google gets paid. But the marketer has no way of knowing whether or not his marketing is working.
Speaking of Google pulling the plug, this blog post just came out:
My Gmail account got deleted!
http://www.jonasblog.com/2011/02/my-gmail-account-got-deleted.html
Thanks Ryan! Great post as always. I will be checking iTrackerPro shortly. peace
Thanks, man!
Thanks Ryan! Great post as always. I will be checking iTrackerPro shortly. peace
Ryan;
I’ve noticed something like that too at the company I’ve been working for over the past year.. in fact the head marketing guy there would constantly tell me that the traffic generated from PPC would boost my SEO efforts and I’d tell him he was nuts. Now for the funny part – for the last few PPC spends, I saw the same thing you’re seeing. But, I also tracked rankings for a lot of keyword phrases and also watched the keywords that Google Analytics reported… I did not see any increase in rankings, but saw higher counts in keywords showing up in the organic traffic source in Google Analytics… those two don’t add up to me… I suspect it’s something funny going on – like a bug.
I would be very interested ot see if your results show up using the new analytics package, or, an analytics package that works from the server logs.
Fred – I’ll definitely be watching traffic patterns to see if anything changes.
Perhaps the PPC spend with Google caused them to send more long tail traffic? Or perhaps the same is true when they see traffic rising on a site — they send more long tail traffic (instead of bumping you up in the results for major keyword phrases)?
Just a thought.
I was also reading that using URL shorts Bit.ly is not good that we should no longer be doing it.
What specifically did you read about it?
I used it in this case to track # of clicks. Plus, it was a lot shorter than the crazy long affiliate link.
Just toss Google
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