8 Google Analytics Conversions Segments You Must Use
Of late on LinkedIn I was asked this question
“How I can measure the influence of PPC on organic search in Google Analytics?”
I think it is an excellent question and I am sure every marketer would like to know the answer to this question and much more like ‘how I can determine the influence of Organic Search on PPC, email, social media, direct traffic etc.
The answers to such questions can help you a lot in justifying the ad spend to the senior management /client.
I am going to answer the eight most important attribution questions for any marketer through Google Analytics Conversion Segments:
- Effect of PPC on Organic Search Traffic
- Effect of Organic Search on PPC Traffic
- Effect of Organic search on Direct Traffic
- Effect of Display on Organic search Traffic
- Effect of Social Media on Organic Search
- Effect of PPC on Direct Traffic
- Effect of Social Media on Direct Traffic
- Effect of Email on Direct Traffic
Get the FREE E-Book (52 Pages)
Measuring the impact of PPC on Organic Search Traffic
Every marketer wants to know which marketing channel has the bigger impact in their organization: SEO or PPC.
The following conversion segment will tell you how PPC is helping the conversions completed/closed by SEO.
Step-1: Navigate to ‘Top Conversions Path’ Report (under Conversions > ‘Multi Channel Funnel’ Report) in Google Analytics.
Step-2: Click on ‘Conversion Segments’ button:
Step-3: Click on the link ‘Create New Conversion Segment‘ as shown below:
Step-4: Name the new conversion segment as ‘Effect of PPC on organic search Traffic’ and then define the segment as shown in the screenshot below:
Here I am telling Google Analytics to include all those conversion paths which contains ‘Paid Search’ as interaction anywhere in the ‘MCF Channel Grouping’ and ‘organic search’ as a last interaction.
Step-5: Once you have defined the segment then click on the ‘Save Segment’ button. This action will not only create a new conversion segment but also apply the conversion segment to the ‘top conversions path’ report:
Note: Make sure that you sort the ‘conversion value’ column in decreasing order before you interpret this report.
From the report above, we can conclude that Paid Search assisted 1,344 conversions in the first row, 304 conversions in the second row, 308 conversions in third row and so on.
In total, Paid search assisted in 4,589 conversions of worth $272k
Without the assistance of ‘Paid Search’, these conversions would not have occurred in the first place.
You can similarly define and apply conversion segments to determine the influence of other marketing channels.
Get the E-book (52 Pages)
Get the E-Book (37 Pages)
Measuring the impact of Organic Search on PPC Traffic
Now it is the turn of SEOs to show their strength. This conversion segment will tell you how SEO is helping the PPC campaigns’ conversions.
Create and apply the conversion segment named ‘Effect of Organic Search on PPC Traffic’:
Measuring the impact of Organic search on Direct Traffic
Direct traffic is a SEO killer.
So this segment is very important.
This conversion segment will tell you how organic traffic is helping direct traffic’s conversions.
Create and apply the conversion segment named ‘Effect of Organic search on Direct Traffic’:
Note how Direct traffic is stealing your SEO efforts.
You need to show this report to your client/boss.
Get my best selling books on Attribution Modelling
- Learn to implement attribution modelling in your organisation
- Understand the customer purchase journey across devices
- Determine the most effective marketing channels for investment
Click book covers to find out more
Measuring the impact of Display Ads Campaigns on Organic Search Traffic
Poor Display ads, no one like them.
There are in fact the poorest of all marketing channels as they rarely complete conversions or close sales.
So it is really important to know what role Display ads are playing in the overall conversion process and whether it is worth investing in them.
Create a new conversion segment: ‘Effect of Display on organic search Traffic’ and then define the segment as shown in the screenshot below:
Measuring the impact of Social Media on Organic Search
Social media is an underdog in the world of inbound marketing.
Sure it brings lot of sharing and branding.
But is it really impacting the bottomline?
Following conversion segment can tell you how social media is helping the organic search campaigns’ conversions.
Create and apply the conversion segment named ‘Effect of Social Media on Organic Search’:
Measuring the impact of PPC on Direct Traffic
Direct traffic is also a PPC killer.
PPC guys will love this conversion segment.
Through this segment you can determine how PPC is impacting the conversions through direct traffic.
Create and apply the conversion segment named ‘Effect of PPC on Direct Traffic’:
Measuring the impact of Social Media on Direct Traffic
Direct traffic is really really bad.
It also eats up lot of social media efforts.
Following segment can tell you how social media is impacting the conversions through direct traffic.
Create and apply the conversion segment named ‘Effect of Social Media on Direct Traffic’:
Measuring the impact of Email on Direct Traffic
Create and apply the conversion segment named ‘Effect of Email on Direct Traffic’:
Similarly you can create and measure the influence of any combination of marketing channels (like impact of facebook on organic search, impact of email on PPC etc) according to your business needs.
Other articles on Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics
- Touch Point Analysis in Google Analytics Attribution Modelling
- 8 Google Analytics Conversions Segments You Must Use
- Default and Custom Attribution Models in Google Analytics
- Attribution Model Comparison Tool in Google Analytics
- Which Attribution Model to use in Google Analytics?
- How to create Custom Attribution Model in Google Analytics
- How to do ROI Analysis in Google Analytics
- Google Analytics Attribution Modelling – Complete Guide
- Guide to Data Driven Attribution Model in Google Analytics
- Conversion Credit distribution for Attribution Models in Google Analytics
- You are doing Google Analytics all wrong. Here is why
- Marketing Mix Modelling or Attribution Modelling. Which one is for you?
- Introduction to Nonline Analytics – True Multi Channel Analytics
- How to set up Data driven attribution model in Google Analytics
- How to valuate Display Advertising through Attribution Modelling
- Understanding Shopping Carts for Analytics and Conversion Optimization
- View-through conversion tracking in Google Analytics
- Understanding Missing Touch Points in Attribution Modelling
- Guide to Offline Conversion Tracking in Google Analytics
- How to explain attribution modelling to your clients
- 6 Keys to Digital Success in Attribution Modelling
- How to use ZMOT to increase Conversions and Sales exponentially
- How to Measure and Improve the Quality of SEO Traffic through Google Analytics
- How to analyse and report the true value of your SEO Campaign
- How to allocate Budgets in Multi Channel Marketing
- What You Should Know about Historical Data in Web Analytics
- Google Analytics Not Provided Keywords and how to unlock and analyze them
- Selecting the Best Attribution Model for Inbound Marketing
- Introduction to TV attribution in Google Analytics Attribution 360
- Cross Device Reports in Google Analytics via Google Signals
- Data-Driven Attribution Model Explorer in Google Analytics
Do you know the difference between Web Analytics and Google Analytics?
99.99% of course creators themselves don’t know the difference between Web analytics, Google Analytics (GA) and Google Tag Manager (GTM).
So they are teaching GA and GTM in the name of teaching Web analytics.
They just copy each other. Monkey see, monkey do.
But Web analytics is not about GA, GTM.
It is about analyzing and interpreting data, setting up goals, strategies and KPIs.
It’s about creating strategic roadmap for your business.
Web Analytics is the core skill. Google Analytics is just a tool used to implement ‘Web Analytics’.
You can also implement ‘Web analytics’ via other tools like ‘adobe analytics’, ‘kissmetrics’ etc.
Using Google Analytics without the good understanding of ‘Web analytics’ is like driving around in a car, in a big city without understanding the traffic rules and road signs.
You are either likely to end up somewhere other than your destination or you get involved in an accident.
You learn data analysis and interpretation from Web analytics and not from Google Analytics.
The direction in which your analysis will move, will determine the direction in which your marketing campaigns and eventually your company will move to get the highest possible return on investment.
You get that direction from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
You learn to set up KPIs, strategies and measurement framework for your business from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
So if you are taking a course only on 'Google Analytics’, you are learning to use one of the tools of ‘Web analytics’. You are not learning the ‘Web analytics’ itself.
Since any person can learn to use Google Analytics in couple of weeks, you do no get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing GA.
You need to know lot more than GA in order to work in Web analytics and marketing field.
So what I have done, if you are interested, is I have put together a completely free training that will teach you exactly how I have been able to leverage web/digital analytics to generate floods of news sales and customers and how you can literally copy what I have done to get similar results.
Here what You'll Learn On This FREE Web Class!
1) Why digital analytics is the key to online business success
2) The number 1 reason why most marketers are not able to scale their advertising and maximize sales.
3) Why Google and Facebook ads don’t work for most businesses & how to make them work.
4) Why you won’t get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing Google Analytics.
5) The number 1 reason why conversion optimization is not working for your business.
6) How to advertise on any marketing platform for FREE with an unlimited budget.
7) How to learn and master digital analytics and conversion optimization in record time.
My best selling books on Digital Analytics and Conversion Optimization
Maths and Stats for Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization
This expert guide will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of maths and statistics in order to accurately interpret data and take actions, which can quickly improve the bottom-line of your online business.
Master the Essentials of Email Marketing Analytics
This book focuses solely on the ‘analytics’ that power your email marketing optimization program and will help you dramatically reduce your cost per acquisition and increase marketing ROI by tracking the performance of the various KPIs and metrics used for email marketing.
Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics and Beyond
Attribution modelling is the process of determining the most effective marketing channels for investment. This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling. It will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to allocate marketing budget and understand buying behaviour.
Attribution Modelling in Google Ads and Facebook
This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling in Google Ads (Google AdWords) and Facebook. It will teach you, how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to understand the customer purchasing journey and determine the most effective marketing channels for investment.
Himanshu Sharma
Digital Marketing Consultant and Founder of Optimizesmart.com
Of late on LinkedIn I was asked this question
“How I can measure the influence of PPC on organic search in Google Analytics?”
I think it is an excellent question and I am sure every marketer would like to know the answer to this question and much more like ‘how I can determine the influence of Organic Search on PPC, email, social media, direct traffic etc.
The answers to such questions can help you a lot in justifying the ad spend to the senior management /client.
I am going to answer the eight most important attribution questions for any marketer through Google Analytics Conversion Segments:
- Effect of PPC on Organic Search Traffic
- Effect of Organic Search on PPC Traffic
- Effect of Organic search on Direct Traffic
- Effect of Display on Organic search Traffic
- Effect of Social Media on Organic Search
- Effect of PPC on Direct Traffic
- Effect of Social Media on Direct Traffic
- Effect of Email on Direct Traffic
Get the FREE E-Book (52 Pages)
Measuring the impact of PPC on Organic Search Traffic
Every marketer wants to know which marketing channel has the bigger impact in their organization: SEO or PPC.
The following conversion segment will tell you how PPC is helping the conversions completed/closed by SEO.
Step-1: Navigate to ‘Top Conversions Path’ Report (under Conversions > ‘Multi Channel Funnel’ Report) in Google Analytics.
Step-2: Click on ‘Conversion Segments’ button:
Step-3: Click on the link ‘Create New Conversion Segment‘ as shown below:
Step-4: Name the new conversion segment as ‘Effect of PPC on organic search Traffic’ and then define the segment as shown in the screenshot below:
Here I am telling Google Analytics to include all those conversion paths which contains ‘Paid Search’ as interaction anywhere in the ‘MCF Channel Grouping’ and ‘organic search’ as a last interaction.
Step-5: Once you have defined the segment then click on the ‘Save Segment’ button. This action will not only create a new conversion segment but also apply the conversion segment to the ‘top conversions path’ report:
Note: Make sure that you sort the ‘conversion value’ column in decreasing order before you interpret this report.
From the report above, we can conclude that Paid Search assisted 1,344 conversions in the first row, 304 conversions in the second row, 308 conversions in third row and so on.
In total, Paid search assisted in 4,589 conversions of worth $272k
Without the assistance of ‘Paid Search’, these conversions would not have occurred in the first place.
You can similarly define and apply conversion segments to determine the influence of other marketing channels.
Get the E-book (52 Pages)
Get the E-Book (37 Pages)
Measuring the impact of Organic Search on PPC Traffic
Now it is the turn of SEOs to show their strength. This conversion segment will tell you how SEO is helping the PPC campaigns’ conversions.
Create and apply the conversion segment named ‘Effect of Organic Search on PPC Traffic’:
Measuring the impact of Organic search on Direct Traffic
Direct traffic is a SEO killer.
So this segment is very important.
This conversion segment will tell you how organic traffic is helping direct traffic’s conversions.
Create and apply the conversion segment named ‘Effect of Organic search on Direct Traffic’:
Note how Direct traffic is stealing your SEO efforts.
You need to show this report to your client/boss.
Get my best selling books on Attribution Modelling
- Learn to implement attribution modelling in your organisation
- Understand the customer purchase journey across devices
- Determine the most effective marketing channels for investment
Click book covers to find out more
Measuring the impact of Display Ads Campaigns on Organic Search Traffic
Poor Display ads, no one like them.
There are in fact the poorest of all marketing channels as they rarely complete conversions or close sales.
So it is really important to know what role Display ads are playing in the overall conversion process and whether it is worth investing in them.
Create a new conversion segment: ‘Effect of Display on organic search Traffic’ and then define the segment as shown in the screenshot below:
Measuring the impact of Social Media on Organic Search
Social media is an underdog in the world of inbound marketing.
Sure it brings lot of sharing and branding.
But is it really impacting the bottomline?
Following conversion segment can tell you how social media is helping the organic search campaigns’ conversions.
Create and apply the conversion segment named ‘Effect of Social Media on Organic Search’:
Measuring the impact of PPC on Direct Traffic
Direct traffic is also a PPC killer.
PPC guys will love this conversion segment.
Through this segment you can determine how PPC is impacting the conversions through direct traffic.
Create and apply the conversion segment named ‘Effect of PPC on Direct Traffic’:
Measuring the impact of Social Media on Direct Traffic
Direct traffic is really really bad.
It also eats up lot of social media efforts.
Following segment can tell you how social media is impacting the conversions through direct traffic.
Create and apply the conversion segment named ‘Effect of Social Media on Direct Traffic’:
Measuring the impact of Email on Direct Traffic
Create and apply the conversion segment named ‘Effect of Email on Direct Traffic’:
Similarly you can create and measure the influence of any combination of marketing channels (like impact of facebook on organic search, impact of email on PPC etc) according to your business needs.
Other articles on Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics
- Touch Point Analysis in Google Analytics Attribution Modelling
- 8 Google Analytics Conversions Segments You Must Use
- Default and Custom Attribution Models in Google Analytics
- Attribution Model Comparison Tool in Google Analytics
- Which Attribution Model to use in Google Analytics?
- How to create Custom Attribution Model in Google Analytics
- How to do ROI Analysis in Google Analytics
- Google Analytics Attribution Modelling – Complete Guide
- Guide to Data Driven Attribution Model in Google Analytics
- Conversion Credit distribution for Attribution Models in Google Analytics
- You are doing Google Analytics all wrong. Here is why
- Marketing Mix Modelling or Attribution Modelling. Which one is for you?
- Introduction to Nonline Analytics – True Multi Channel Analytics
- How to set up Data driven attribution model in Google Analytics
- How to valuate Display Advertising through Attribution Modelling
- Understanding Shopping Carts for Analytics and Conversion Optimization
- View-through conversion tracking in Google Analytics
- Understanding Missing Touch Points in Attribution Modelling
- Guide to Offline Conversion Tracking in Google Analytics
- How to explain attribution modelling to your clients
- 6 Keys to Digital Success in Attribution Modelling
- How to use ZMOT to increase Conversions and Sales exponentially
- How to Measure and Improve the Quality of SEO Traffic through Google Analytics
- How to analyse and report the true value of your SEO Campaign
- How to allocate Budgets in Multi Channel Marketing
- What You Should Know about Historical Data in Web Analytics
- Google Analytics Not Provided Keywords and how to unlock and analyze them
- Selecting the Best Attribution Model for Inbound Marketing
- Introduction to TV attribution in Google Analytics Attribution 360
- Cross Device Reports in Google Analytics via Google Signals
- Data-Driven Attribution Model Explorer in Google Analytics
Do you know the difference between Web Analytics and Google Analytics?
99.99% of course creators themselves don’t know the difference between Web analytics, Google Analytics (GA) and Google Tag Manager (GTM).So they are teaching GA and GTM in the name of teaching Web analytics.
They just copy each other. Monkey see, monkey do.
But Web analytics is not about GA, GTM.
It is about analyzing and interpreting data, setting up goals, strategies and KPIs.
It’s about creating strategic roadmap for your business.
Web Analytics is the core skill. Google Analytics is just a tool used to implement ‘Web Analytics’.You can also implement ‘Web analytics’ via other tools like ‘adobe analytics’, ‘kissmetrics’ etc.
Using Google Analytics without the good understanding of ‘Web analytics’ is like driving around in a car, in a big city without understanding the traffic rules and road signs.
You are either likely to end up somewhere other than your destination or you get involved in an accident.
You learn data analysis and interpretation from Web analytics and not from Google Analytics.The direction in which your analysis will move, will determine the direction in which your marketing campaigns and eventually your company will move to get the highest possible return on investment.
You get that direction from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
You learn to set up KPIs, strategies and measurement framework for your business from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.So if you are taking a course only on 'Google Analytics’, you are learning to use one of the tools of ‘Web analytics’. You are not learning the ‘Web analytics’ itself.
Since any person can learn to use Google Analytics in couple of weeks, you do no get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing GA.
You need to know lot more than GA in order to work in Web analytics and marketing field.
So what I have done, if you are interested, is I have put together a completely free training that will teach you exactly how I have been able to leverage web/digital analytics to generate floods of news sales and customers and how you can literally copy what I have done to get similar results.
Here what You'll Learn On This FREE Web Class!
1) Why digital analytics is the key to online business success
2) The number 1 reason why most marketers are not able to scale their advertising and maximize sales.
3) Why Google and Facebook ads don’t work for most businesses & how to make them work.
4) Why you won’t get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing Google Analytics.
5) The number 1 reason why conversion optimization is not working for your business.
6) How to advertise on any marketing platform for FREE with an unlimited budget.
7) How to learn and master digital analytics and conversion optimization in record time.
My best selling books on Digital Analytics and Conversion Optimization
Maths and Stats for Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization
This expert guide will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of maths and statistics in order to accurately interpret data and take actions, which can quickly improve the bottom-line of your online business.
Master the Essentials of Email Marketing Analytics
This book focuses solely on the ‘analytics’ that power your email marketing optimization program and will help you dramatically reduce your cost per acquisition and increase marketing ROI by tracking the performance of the various KPIs and metrics used for email marketing.
Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics and Beyond
Attribution modelling is the process of determining the most effective marketing channels for investment. This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling. It will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to allocate marketing budget and understand buying behaviour.
Attribution Modelling in Google Ads and Facebook
This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling in Google Ads (Google AdWords) and Facebook. It will teach you, how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to understand the customer purchasing journey and determine the most effective marketing channels for investment.
Himanshu Sharma
Digital Marketing Consultant and Founder of Optimizesmart.com