Getting Back to Basics: Reports

Hey to all those eager advertisers out there! I’m back with our continuing series on the features of 7search’s system. The one question I hear more than which niche converts the best on 7search is how do I figure out what’s going on with my campaign. That’s the key, isn’t it? We’re both running a business, so progress can’t be this nebulous concept.

Well my next blog subject should help you get you the data you are looking for. Under your Advertiser page, look for the Reports tab. Under this tab, you have a series of reports that will help you to assess your activity, determine what kind of traffic you’re getting, what types of searches are connected to your site, your billing history, as well as what clicks are going to which URL’s on your site.

Click on Reports, and you will be taken to our Reports page. You’ll see on the left hand side the reports to choose from are in blue.

Here’s an example:

The first report I’d like to point out is right above: our Keywords Report. This is a really valuable tool. This report will show you which of your keywords received clicks, as well as the searched terms that were connected to that keyword. The reason you could use this data is that you can determine which keywords are effective for you.

Effective keywords help to being you clicks that can lead to conversion. However, certain choices of keywords may be too broad, or miss the mark on what you’re trying to promote. Reports like these help you decide if keywords are bringing you searched terms that are relevant to your products, or if they are irrelevant, and causing you to waste money on clicks. From there I advise you to decide if your current strategy is working, or if you need to adjust your keywords and bids.

This is also a resource for creating a negative keyword list. These help to filter away irrelevant searches from reaching your site. Looking at the searched terms, you can see which terms have nothing to do with your content. Take the word that makes that term irrelevant and add it to your list. For example, an advertiser with a website selling batting cages receives a search for “UFC cage match.” He could add “UFC” to his negative keyword list. (I will be speaking more on negative keywords on my next blog!)

In order to find this feature, click on each keyword receiving clicks, and a Detailed Keyword Report will appear, with a column heading for “Searched Term.”

Here's an example:

Click on “baseball.” Then this report will appear:

As you can see, there is a column for the keyword, and then the searched phrase.

Take a look some time. You will be amazed by some of the searches you’ll receive. An advertiser who is selling baby blankets chose “baby” as a keyword, and received searches for “Justin Bieber Baby lyrics,” and “adult baby diaper.”

And lastly, this is where information about conversions will appear if you add our Conversion Tracking Code. This is a code available on your Dashboard that once embedded into your website will track your conversion and cost per conversion (CPC). The data will appear alongside the keyword that receives clicks, which makes sense. Clicks can become conversions.

Other reports we offer include a daily/weekly/monthly report, which will show the number of clicks received and fluctuation of clicks; a campaign report, which can shows conversion and click data by campaign; a billing history report which show when and how you funded your account.

Another good report is our Destination URLs report, which shows which URLs on your site received clicks. This can be illuminating because if you attach custom URLs to your keywords you can determine which pages are most attractive and are possibly helping you convert.

So that is our Reports tool. Use it, folks. This can really help steer your campaign towards a more effective 7search experience. Next time we meet, I’ll be speaking on negative keywords. Cheers!