Category: Analytics

Analytics Data Industry Marketing Tactics

Where Web Users Spend Time vs. Where Traffic Referrals Originate

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
“Most of our site’s traffic comes from Google, so most of our digital marketing efforts and spending should be on Google, too.” – An absolutely terrible way to invest in marketing On Monday of this week, I published a comprehensive look at how traffic flows on the American web. Unfortunately, some folks in the social feeds where this research was…
Analytics Data

Who Sends Traffic on the Web and How Much? New Research from Datos & SparkToro

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
In the era of zero-click platforms, native content, and walled gardens, does anyone still send meaningful traffic to the open web? Is Google responsible for 50% of all traffic referrals? 75%? Is social media sending half what search does? A quarter? Less? Are the major platforms sending less traffic overall than they did a year ago? These are frustrating, hard-to-solve…
5-Minute Whiteboards Advertising Analytics

Why the Least Measurable Marketing Channels Tend to Perform Best: 5-Minute Whiteboard

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Content marketing, social media, events, PR, and marketing through sources-of-influence have consistently produced remarkable results for the companies I’ve run, and yet, most big businesses invest 1/1,000th the effort and dollars in these tactics that they do in digital advertising. Why? Measurability and scalability. Let’s dig into this challenge (and how you can invest better) with this week’s 5-Minute Whiteboard.…
5-Minute Whiteboards Analytics Marketing Tactics

The 3 Big Problems with Asking “How Did You Hear About Us?” | 5-Minute Whiteboard

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Marketing attribution is dying. Ad blockers. Privacy laws. The death of third-party cookies. Keyword (not provided). Dark social. It’s an attribution-trained marketer’s nightmare. Knowing which channels and tactics truly had an influence on every sale is next to impossible. Unfortunately, many folks think the remedy lies in a simple survey question at the end of a signup or checkout process.…
Analytics Data Industry

We Analyzed Millions of ChatGPT User Sessions: Visits are Down 29% since May, Programming Assistance is 30% of Use

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Generative AI, and ChatGPT in particular have been catnip to the tech press, the mainstream media, and the conversations of professionals in nearly every field. How is it going to disrupt your work?! Will AI replace you? Are Hollywood writers, real estate agents, dog walkers, and anesthesiologists even useful anymore? In concert with the fine folks at Datos, whose opt-in,…
5-Minute Whiteboards Advertising Analytics Marketing

5-Minute Whiteboard: How Obsession with Attribution Warps Marketing Investments

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Why do 90% of marketing dollars flow to paid/performance channels that provide attribution? HINT: It’s not because ads are 10X more effective than organic investments. It’s because ads aren’t just measurable, they’re attributable. Your CFO, CMO, and CEO can get in a room and look at the CAC:LTV ratio of every performance channel and feel like they know where they…
5-Minute Whiteboards Advertising Analytics Data Marketing

5-Minute Whiteboard: Measurement vs. Attribution

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Howdy SparkToro fans and welcome to the first edition of a new series we’re experimenting with—short, whiteboard style explainer videos. This inaugural video covers a concept that’s crucial to the future of marketing: measurement vs. attribution. For the last 20 years, we’ve lived in the golden age of attribution. Measuring the kinds of metrics I talk about in the video:…

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