• Future Now , Wednesday, July 30, 2008 3:15 PM

Going past the top-level "dashboard" data in Google Analytics can yield tons of "juicy moneymaking data" according to Brendan Regan. But many search marketers avoid digging deeper into the numbers for fear of getting "buried in minutia," he says. So he offers some tips for digging deeper into the stats without getting bogged down.

First, try exploring extended date ranges. Go beyond the "last 30 days" view and compare traffic over the past three months. Regan also suggests looking at a particular date range from the previous year (if the data's available) to gauge growth (or deceleration).

Meanwhile, try the Traffic Sources reports to better understand the plethora of places your visitors are coming from. "Segmenting by traffic source can often yield quick, actionable insights," Regan says. "Try looking at your organic traffic over the last 6 months, or your referral traffic over the last 3 months. What does the traffic graph look like? How well or poorly are they converting? Has that KPI remained consistent?"

Lastly, dig into your site search data, if possible. Finding out which keywords visitors are searching for after they've arrived can yield fodder for new PPC campaigns. You can also figure out how valuable site searchers are when compared to non-searchers. For example, are they more likely to convert? Do they spend more per transaction?

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