October 27, 2016 \ Emma Freter
My Takeaways: Google AdWords and Google Analytics

Recently, I attended a session about “Using Google Analytics & Google AdWords” hosted by the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network. While we have a basic knowledge of Google AdWords and Google Analytics, this presentation was helpful in reminding us how marketing online is changing everyday.

Here are a few of my takeaways:

1. Google Dominates the Search Space

It’s true. Google has become such an integral part of our lives that it has its own verb. E.g. “I googled adorable puppies last night, look what came up!” Do you ever hear someone say “Oh, let me ‘Bing’ that…” Nope! So it’s a good idea to get with the Google program because it’s here to stay and keep on improving. With constant updates, it’s never too late to learn because everyone else will be continuously learning right with you.

2. Paid and Organic Search Should Work Together

This piece of advice will change depending on who you talk to, but if you’re using Google products, it’s a good idea to have Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) compliment each other. If you’re not sure what SEM is, you most likely know what it is, but this acronym isn’t tossed around as much as SEO. According to Wikipedia, “Search engine marketing is a form of Internet marketing that involved the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPS) through optimization and advertising.”

SEM includes methods like pay per click (PPC) and social media marketing is a part of this tactic. It might be beneficial to rewire our thinking so that SEM and SEO to work together in order to reach a broader audience.

3. Mobile is Growing FAST

screen-shot-2016-10-26-at-10-11-56-amIn the last few years, the amount of people using their mobile or tablet device to surf the web has increased tremendously. People still use a desktop, but as shown by the graph people in the U.S. are spending more time on their mobile phones. If you do not have a mobile site, it might be a good idea to look into creating one for your organization. Currently, Google Analytics also keeps separate statistics about desktop and mobile (phone and tablets) visitors. So you can market on all platforms to attract more people to your site. Soon, Google will improve their stats you will be able to see individual stats about who is visiting your site. This means that they will have separate stats for tablets instead of it being lumped into the “mobile” category. Then, we will have access to specific data for desktop, phone and tablets.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot going on with Google AdWords and Google Analytics and it feels like it might be hard to catch up. However, I feel it’s something to invest time into in order to keep your organization current.