Anyone Know About Site Analysis?

M

Matthew Schenker

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Joined
Jan 15, 2007
Messages
2,619
Good Morning,
In my continuous quest to optimize the Festool Owners Group, I'm always looking for functional and esthetic improvements.  Sometimes I try out various analytical tools to see what they have to say.

To date, I have not done anything in the area of "Search Engine Optimization" (SEO).  I've just let the forum naturally become as popular as possible from its discussions, without technical intervention.

I know we have a lot of knowledgeable computer people here in the FOG, so I thought I should definitely get your opinions about this.

Here are just a couple of examples of the analytical tools I used recently:
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
http://www.sitereportcard.com/result.php

The report for our forum looks very good according to these tools!

Any opinions?

Stay in touch,
Matthew
 
Matthew I have already researched the forum. Leave it alone!

You already have the best google search results you could hope for. First page over 99.9% of the time for anytime the word Festool is used in a search query.

Even though you are in the yahoo directory(non paid) You should manually add the FOG URL to Yahoo and MSN when you get a chance or I'll do it for you. Any one can. I noticed the FOG does not come up but 40% of the time on those search engines(first page) for some reason(most every time second page). It should be higher. But google is the thing that matters most.

What more could you want?

Nick

 
nickao said:
Matthew I have already researched the forum. Leave it alone!

You already have the best google search results you could hope for. First page over 99.9% of the time for anytime the word Festool is used in a search query.

Even though you are in the yahoo directory(non paid) You should manually add the FOG URL to Yahoo and MSN when you get a chance or I'll do it for you. Any one can. I noticed the FOG does not come up but 40% of the time on those search engines(first page) for some reason(most every time second page). It should be higher. But google is the thing that matters most.

What more could you want?
Click to expand...

OK, you are probably correct!  But I keep hearing about everyone doing all these complicated steps to increase their site's visibility and "page rankings," and I have never done any of it.  So it makes me wonder what I might be missing.  Then again, every time I look into it, I get the feeling it's better to earn page rankings the old-fashioned way.

Thanks,
Matthew
 
Yes, to the "old fashion way." There is way too much link exchanging...with little meaning other that the stats.
There are many services to grade a sites value. I use quantcast simply because a couple of my sources use it. Try this: http://www.quantcast.com/festoolownersgroup.com.

  Nick, what service did you use to get FOG's stats?
 
John,
Thanks for the link to Quantcast.  I spent a little time taking a look at that, and seeing what it tells me about the Festool Owners Group.

Seems like we're doing quite well (I ran some comparisons with other sites of a similar nature).  We have a good page ranking for a specialty forum, good traffic ratings, and all the rest.

Maybe I don't have to do anything extra to build the site's ratings after all!  We're moving up the ranks just by having our various discussions and generating good content.  That's what I meant by the "old-fashioned" way!

Thanks again for the link.

Stay in touch,
Matthew
 
The Bible on this topic is Avinash Kaushik?s "Web Analytics 2.0"--he's an insider at Google, and lectures widely. Nice guy and one of the smartest people on the planet.
 
David and Nickao,
This is a fascinating topic, and goes far beyond the FOG.  I've been putting together a couple of other sites -- using what I learned from my development work on this forum -- and Avinash Kaushik's work is crucial.
Thanks,
Matthew
 
Old thread, but the results speak for themselves.  Apparently the old fashioned way works.

Google "Festool" and the FOG is the 6th result... following only festoolusa, festool.com, festool.net (Germany), and two Festool dealers.

Add a tool model number and the word review (e.g. "festool ts 55 review") and FOG is regularly on the first page. Not for all tools, but most.
 
Wood_Junkie said:
Add a tool model number and the word review (e.g. "festool ts 55 review") and FOG is regularly on the first page. Not for all tools, but most.
Click to expand...

And that is where Shane's contests for Festool reviews pays off. The generation of content. Does not matter what level detail the review are. All the matters is the contest generates content. Plus it is was people are looking for during the purchasing process cycle.
 
Another aspect of search analytics is to examine searches on the site. What terms are used most frequently - perhaps "cheap used Kapex"? Seriously, you are positioned pretty well on Google, why not look at developing a deeper understanding of your users? What is important to them? Are they finding what they are looking for? Lots of data right there in your own search database.
 
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