WebSideStory Incorporates Behavioral Targeting In Search

Further melding search and analytics technology, WebSideStory today is announcing the launch of "Active Ranking" technology, which factors a range of behavioral metrics into a site's search ranking equation. Simply put, when consumers search a participating marketer's Web site, their search results are directly influenced by other consumers' search behavior on that site.

Active Ranking is part of WebSideStory's broader "Search 4.0" initiative--which uses entry pages, conversion rates, and most requested pages and visits, among other visitor metrics, to boost the relevancy of every visitor's search. Search 4.0's driving principal is that greater relevancy for shoppers equals more completed transactions.

In early tests of the new technology, Brooks Brothers' Web site saw "at least" a 25 percent increase in sales, according to Lillian Posner, the clothing retailer's director of e-commerce.

Leading the Search 4.0 charge is Steve Kusmer, who WebSideStory brought onboard last year when it acquired his company, Atomz, for $40 million. As WebSideStory's senior vice president and general manager of its search and content solutions division, it is Kusmer's job to bring Atomz's site search and content manager to existing and potential users of the WebSideStory's HBX Analytics product through its Stream Reporting API.

"The actions taken by visitors on e-commerce sites are immensely valuable to marketers if they properly aggregate and mine them for insights," said Kusmer.

Patricia Seybold Group analyst Susan Aldrich on Friday noted the advantages that online marketers can reap from better site analytics. "The site analytics ecommerce sites have had access to can be pretty useless when it comes to improving conversions," said Aldrich. "Does it help L.L.Bean to know that a million people went to their site in a month? Not really. But when you know what those people are looking at and you can use those metrics to improve search results, it's very helpful."

Amid rabid industry consolidation, WebSideStory has sought a leadership role among its rivals--often by acquiring them and their technology. There is Atomz. And in February, WebSideStory announced the acquisition of the privately held Visual Sciences, LLC for $57.3 million. Visual Sciences--which concentrates on streaming data analysis and visualization software--now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of WebSideStory.

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