icrossing Finds Search Intelligence: "According to icrossing CEO Jeffrey Herzog, there's much more to search measurement than which keywords attract the most clicks (how much more may amaze you; find out in the interview below). Yet a WebTrends/iProspect study from June 2003 cited in eMarketer's new Search Engine Marketing report shows that 3 in 10 marketers aren't measuring search campaigns at all, while another 40% are sticking to bare bones stats such as click-throughs."

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it."

What to measure:It's very important to quantify not just those who went to the checkout lane but to understand:

what the visitor did in terms of what aisle they walked down

what products they looked at

why they didn't purchase

where they dropped out

did someone return for a visit?

How long before they returned?

Did they return through another keyword search or did they return through the domain URL?

Did they spend 10 minutes or so on the site?

Did they have a certain number of page views for a particular search versus another?

... all equally important in understanding the big picture.All of the details really will tell you about your prospect. It's more than the keyword -- it's the action that they take after the keyword selection that will really tell you more about your audience and which will of course impact future campaigns.

If you can see what people are typing in, you can build your business around that opportunity. If we know, for example, that red leather is a hot item in the fall, we would then direct our companies that sell red leather to ensure that they have the content.

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