Name: IndexTools a Yahoo! service

And the name is... IndexTools, a Yahoo! service. But I am quite sure that with Y! Californication :-) - and our strategy taken into consideration, that one might see something more integrated later.

On another note, for those interested, all previous IndexTools direct clients and partners are now transferred to our FREE model under the new Y! terms and conditions, which essentially (in legal flimflam wording) indicate that we will not use the data for behavioral targeting purposes and that Data ownership will not change as a result of this acquisition.

So for now, it is business as usual, but this is however likely to change; don’t you think?
(Find the "new" logo below)



Cheers :-)
Dennis

5 minute introduction to IndexTools (Yahoo!) Web Analytics

There’s a lot of positive talk about what IndexTools (Yahoo!) Web Analytics is capable of. I created a 5 minute introduction into the features of IndexTools as an appetizer of the look and feel and some of the basic features - for those who do not yet have an account. This is not comprehensive and I will endeavour to create more detailed videos later.

This is NOT a video in which you as a web analysts should expect to get new insight, but a video that demonstrates and somewhat educates on some of the technical features within IndexTools (Yahoo!) Web Analytics.

You will see features like:

• Control Panel
• Dashboards
• Last Visitor Details (including mark on 7 second latency only)
• First time vs. Returning visitors
• Time Zones (including real-time filtering)
• Search (including real-time dimension and metric customization, through our Custom Report Wizard)
• Search (including real-time filtering on customized report)
• Alerts
• Scenario Analysis (including real-time creation without tagging and on data in retrospective)
• Date Comparison (including dual funnel visualization)
• Path Analysis
• Campaign Summary
• Merchandizing
• Visits (including real-time segmentation with multiple overlapping segments at the same time)
• Notes (he he... a short story by Dennis)

There is a whole lot more to show, but this is what I could pack into a 5 minutes introduction. :-)

Download high quality version (where you can actually see what's going on):
http://visualrevenue.com/blog/video/5-minute-introduction-to-IndexTools-(Yahoo!)-Web-Analytics.wmv



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yelzmWK64z0

IndexTools Parting :-)

Low priority (very low actually). I was seriously thinking about how we, post closure, should amalgamate IndexTools and Yahoo from a product marketing point of view. Not necessarily an easy thing to do. However; with an image from ad:tech San Francisco and a Twitter message from Jim Sterne – transitioning becomes crystal clear! :-)

Farewell
John from Viant Capital holds up an energy drink (they were out of Red Bull’s) in front of the empty IndexTools booth at San Francisco ad:tech last week.

Salutation
Jim tweets a greeting invitation for the NEW me at Emetrics San Francisco - shows up in the next couple of weeks.



Besides those two splendid (and one really hilarious) inputs – what more do we need?

See you all at Emetrics San Francisco, and if Jim isn’t applying enough persuasion for you to go... Red Bull’s are on me! :-)

Cheers
Dennis, COOish at IndexTools

IndexTools (Yahoo!) Web Analytics goes FREE!

Hi there, a bit of news for you who follow the Yahoo! IndexTools integration steps. But first, THANK YOU very much for all the positive feedback I received in blog comments, separate blog posts, emails, phone calls etc. I truly appreciate that.

Summary:
Yahoo! currently intends to provide the IndexTools Web Analytics service FREE of charge to clients and partners who accept the standard Yahoo! agreement.

Today we will communicate that we’ll require our partners and clients to accept a new standard Yahoo! agreement and that Yahoo! (we) currently intends to provide the service FREE of charge to clients and partners who accept the Yahoo! Agreement. It is however important to note that our clients and partners must accept this agreement to continue using the service.

I think this is a fair tradeoff for an Enterprise class Web Analytics system?

Further to this, it should be noted that Yahoo! (I should probably teach myself to say - we - at some point) does not intend to add any new partnerships or direct clients in the short to midterm, while we prepare for the next rollout wave. This means that our current partners and clients will be in a unique position to either provide a service or use a service to which the rest of the market will not have ready or immediate access.

Very exciting isn’t it? .. :-)

For those of you who know me or heard me evangelize IndexTools as essentially 80% of the functionality of Omniture for a fraction of the cost – have to get used to the NEW NEW; 80% of the functionality of Omniture for FREE! ;-) he he...

Cheers
Dennis R. Mortensen

Yahoo! acquires web analytics company IndexTools

Over the past almost 4 years, I have been fortunate enough to be able to make a lifetime's worth of announcements for IndexTools... Today however, is probably the most exciting of them all.

We (IndexTools) agreed to be acquired by Yahoo!. Wonderful news! :-)

A very big thank you to everybody who believed in us along the way, I honestly appreciate the trust and I am truly in debt (I will pay that back in free Red Bull’s when we meet up around the world)... and now it is obvious why we’ve looked a tad stressed lately.

I am personally VERY excited about our next steps and have positively agreed to stay onboard as the Director of Data Insights at Yahoo! – so there is no escaping me. My new function will very much be around driving and evangelizing the Analytics strategy for Y!, so envision a more commercial version of Avinash or a less British version of Ian or the nemesis of Omniture if you will... ha ha.

I will also keep blogging on this VisualRevenue blog (feed) and will return with more information on Analytics under Y! auspices as soon as the storm settles, but you are most welcome to leave me a comment, write me an email or give me a call if you want to chat.

AND finally - so that we all agree, this is definitely not a farewell, but an aggressive HELLO. However; the blue company colour is likely to change to purple though ;-)

Cheers ...

Dennis R. Mortensen
COO “IndexTools” ...


Links:

• How Yahoo! buying IndexTools changes Web Analytics (Eric Peterson, April 9th)
• The official Press Release

Web Analytics Definitions - WAA - IndexTools Compliance

Summary:
IndexTools Web Analytics offer 23 of the 26 metrics defined in the WAA Web Analytics Definitions document - and comply directly with 20 of them.

All major Web Analytics vendors are members of the Web Analytics Association, because that is what we are supposed to! BUT if it really meant anything, we (the vendors) would make an effort to adhere to the standards we (as participants and members of the WAA) set ourselves. Find a first - vendor commentary – to the 26 standard web analytics definitions. :-)

Compliant	Term	WAA Definition	IndexTools Definition
yes	Page	A page is an analyst definable unit of content.	Same definition.
yes	Page Views	The number of times a page (an analyst-definable unit of content) was viewed.	Same definition.
yes	Visits/Sessions	A visit is an interaction, by an individual, with a website consisting of one or more requests for an analyst-definable unit of content (i.e. “page view”). If an individual has not taken another action (typically additional page views) on the site within a specified time period, the visit session will terminate.	Same definition. Note: The term denotes one continuous visit to a web site. When a visitor first loads a web page, a unique visit ID is created to track that visitor’s activity. The visit ends after 30 minutes of inactivity.
yes	Unique Visitors	The number of inferred individual people (filtered for spiders and robots), within a designated reporting timeframe, with activity consisting of one or more visits to a site. Each individual is counted only once in the unique visitor measure for the reporting period.	Same definition Note: For clients using the Visitor metric the definition is the same! - There is a different definition for clients not migrated to the Visitor metric. These clients still have the following unique visitor metrics: Daily Unique Visitors: The number of separate visitors who came to a web site during a 24-hour period. The 24-hour period considered is the 24 hours before the visitor’s last visit, and is not influenced by the reporting time that is selected. Weekly Unique Visitors: The number of separate visitors who came to a web site during a 30-day period. The 30-day period considered is the 30 days before the visitor’s last visit, and is not influenced by the reporting time that is selected. Monthly Unique Visitors: The number of separate visitors who came to a web site during a 30-day period. The 30-day period considered is the 30 days before the visitor’s last visit, and is not influenced by the reporting time that is selected. Each visitor is counted only once in the Unique Visitor metrics, regardless of how many times they returned.
yes	New Visitor	The number of Unique Visitors with activity including a first-ever Visit to a site during a reporting period.	Same definition Note: Different label - "First Time" Methodology: The first time a visitor comes to a web site, IndexTools sets a one-year, first party, persistent cookie in their browser that includes a unique visitor ID number. During the first visit, IndexTools identifies them as a first time visitor. On subsequent visits, IndexTools resets the cookie life to one year beyond the date of the visit, and identifies them as a returning visitor for the duration of that visit. If IndexTools is unable to set a cookie, then it will identify the visitor as a first time visitor. If the visitor has deleted the cookie, then IndexTools will identify them as a first time visitor and re-issue a new first party cookie.
no	Repeat Visitor	The number of Unique Visitors with activity consisting of two or more Visits to a site during a reporting period.	N/A
no	Return Visitor	The number of Unique Visitors with activity consisting of a Visit to a site during a reporting period and where the Unique Visitor also Visited the site prior to the reporting period.	Note: Different definition - "Returning Visits". The number of returning visits to a web site, inferred on the basis of the visitor ID contained in the cookie.
yes	Entry Page	The first page of a visit.	Same definition
yes	Landing Page	A page intended to identify the beginning of the user experience resulting from a defined marketing effort.	Same definition Note: Different label - "Entry page". IndexTools does not distinguish between Entry Pages and Landing Pages and uses Entry Pages for both terms suggested by WAA.
yes	Exit Page	The last page on a site accessed during a visit, signifying the end of a visit/session.	Same definition.
yes	Visit Duration	The length of time in a session. Calculation is typically the timestamp of the last activity in the session minus the timestamp of the first activity of the session.	Same definition. Note: different label - "Avg. Time Per Visit". The average duration of a visit. Calculated by dividing the total time visitors spent on a web site by the number of Visits.
yes	Referrer	The referrer is the page URL that originally generated the request for the current page view or object.	Same definition. Note: Different label - "Referring URL". It shows the URLs of the domains that referred visitors to a web site.
no	Internal Referrer	The internal referrer is a page URL that is internal to the website or a web-property within the website as defined by the user.	Note: IndexTools generally do not work with a Internal referrer concept, but provide the same information in different concepts such as Internal Campaigns - to measure the effectiveness of internal advertising. Internal campaigns are identified with a unique URL string that must contain the _s_icmp variable.
no	External Referrer	The external referrer is a page URL where the traffic is external or outside of the website or a web property defined by the user.	N/A
no	Search Referrer	The search referrer is an internal or external referrer for which the URL has been generated by a search function.	Note: Different concept where IndexTools provide External Search Phrases: the keywords or phrases that visitors used to reach a web site and the name and URL of the Search Engine. Internal Search Phrases: the keywords or phrases used by visitors on a web site's internal search functionality.
yes	Visit Referrer	The visit referrer is the first referrer in a session, whether internal, external or null.	Same definition. Note: Different label - "Referring URL". It shows the URLs of the domains that referred visitors to a web site.
yes	Original Referrer	The original referrer is the first referrer in a visitor's first session, whether internal, external or null.	Same definition. Note: Different label - "Referring URL". It shows the URLs of the domains that referred visitors to a web site.
yes	Click-through	Number of times a link was clicked by a visitor.	Same definition. Note: Different label - "Campaign Clicks". The total number of clicks performed by campaign visitors.
yes	Click-through Rate/Ratio	The number of click-throughs for a specific link divided by the number of times that link was viewed.	Same definition. Note: CTR (Click Through Rate) – The average number of clicks generated by the views of online ads (Impressions). Calculated by dividing the total number of Clicks to the number of Impressions, expressed as a percentage.
yes	Page Views per Visit	The number of page views in a reporting period divided by number of visits in the same reporting period.	Same definition. Note: Page Views per Visit: The average number of pages viewed during a visit. Calculated by dividing the number of Page Views by the number of Visits
yes	Page Exit Ratio	Number of exits from a page divided by total number of page views of that page.	Same definition Note: Different label - "Exit Rate". The percentage of page views that resulted into an exit from the specified web page. Calculated by dividing the number of Exits by the number of Page Views.
no	Single-Page Visits	Visits that consist of one page regardless of the number of times the page was viewed.	N/A
yes	Single Page View Visits (Bounces)	Visits that consist of one pageview.	Same definition. Note: Bounce, The number of visits that ended without proceeding further into the web site.
yes	Bounce Rate	Single page view visits divided by entry pages.	Same definition. Note: The percentage of visits that did not proceed further into the web site after entering it. Calculated by dividing the number of Bounces by the number of Visits
yes	Event	Any logged or recorded action that has a specific date and time assigned to it by either the browser or server.	Same definition.
yes	Conversion	A visitor completing a target action.	Same definition. Note: Conversion Rate: The percentage of visits that resulted in an action out of the total number of visits. Calculated by dividing the number of unique or nonunique Actions by the number of Visits.

If anybody knows about other web analytics vendors and their compliance documents; feel free to use the content above to create a bigger industry wide conclusion.

N.B.
..And before I forget; a big thanks to Mihaela for working on all the definitions.
Cheers and see you all in New York - for Search Engine Strategies.

Avg. Time per Visit - Standard definition

The Web Analytics Association (Jason Burby and co.) recently releases 26 Standard Definitions to Promote Consistency among us Vendors (PDF) - this is GREAT news and should make it much more straightforward to communicate web metrics among not only traditional report consumers, but also more experienced analysts! However we are not there yet ...and please see this post as an inspiration to continue the splendid work. One of the standard definitions are “Visit Duration” – specifically described as follows:


WAA Standard definition: Visit Duration

Definition/Calculation
The length of time in a session. Calculation is typically the timestamp of the last activity in the session minus the timestamp of the first activity of the session.

Comments
When there is only one piece of activity in a session (a single-page visit or singleevent visit), no visit duration is typically reported.


This is a fine definition and one that I certainly agree on. BUT then comes questions on the subsequent metric that we could call “Visit Duration Average” – first question is what to name the metric and second question is on how to calculate the metric. Before concluding anything. Let us take a look at Google Analytics and IndexTools (because that is funny enough what I use here on my blog – still waiting for those Omniture blokes to call me ;-)

- Avg. Time per Visit 4m 46s (IndexTools)
- 00:07:09 Avg. Time on Site (Google Analytics)

Two different naming conventions and two different calculations (assuming we both collect and accurately calculate the metric). *send me your definition from Omniture, Visual Sciences or other decent Web Analytics vendor and we might be able to help out our good friend Jason. I searched through my WebTrends Marketing Lab account and could not find anything. Anybody?

So first (and I am completely biased here) – I do not really think the Google Analytics “Avg. Time on Site” naming convention is clear enough confirming that we talk about a Visit (session).

But more importantly - WHY do the numbers differ?

Google Analytics discounts Bounces (or Single Page View Visits as the new WAA standard definitions calls it) and IndexTools includes ALL visits into the calculation. So to be clear, if we have:

1000 visits
300 bounces
2300 minutes spent on site

Remember that page tagging solutions like IndexTools and Google Analytics do not count time spent on site for bounces (Single Page View Visits). Thus in the above example the 2300 minutes are spent on 1000-300 = 700 visits. Even though we know for a fact that those 300 bounces (Single Page View Visits) in fact did spend time on the site.

1. IndexTools = 2300 minutes / 1000 visits = A Visit Duration Average on 2.30 minute. (or Avg. Time per Visit 2m 30s as we would write it)
2. Google Analytics = 2300 minutes / 700 visits = A Visit Duration Average on 3.29 minute. (or 00:03:29 Avg. Time on Site as my friends at Google write it)

So NOW the questions goes, who is right and who is wrong? :-)

In point of fact, I think both calculations are justified and I see a reason to include both of them. It might be a bit clumsy to start pre-segmenting visits (visits with MORE than 1 page view) as our friends from Google Analytics have done (sorry Avinash and Brian). Looking at a calculation where we discount bounces, we are actually just saying that we want to look at the, to some extent, more engaged users (those who decided to dig further into the site). I therefore prefer the original calculation (as Google Analytics used to have it as well) where we look at ALL visits. Then one can always segment to separate more or less engaged users from the others, whether that is page views or not.

As an example. Let us look at May 2007 (I can of course recreate these results with on the fly segments):

1 page views or more segment = 04.11 (the complete data set)
2 page views or more segment = 10.54
3 page views or more segment = 17.38
4 page views or more segment = 22.30

As you can see the more page views people look at the more time they spend on the site. And all of a sudden starting on 2 page views or more seems awkward.

Conclusion (this is for you guys at the WAA):
If you add another definition to your standard set about visit duration, I suggest you call it: “Visit Duration Average” and the calculation is the total length of time spent in all visits (sessions) divided by the total number of visits (session). Hereafter one can segment on page views or more intelligent engagement metrics.

Further fine comments on the subject:

• Google Analytics changes tack (iMEDIA connection)
• Google analytics- average time on site (leapfrogg)
• Google Analytics: Bounce Visits are excluded for Avg. Time On Site (Things and stuff)

ad:tech Chicago 2007 – Web Analytics vendors

I attended ad:tech Chicago over the last few days and I am of course cheerful (being a great fan of the long tail concept in general) – that I at long last got to see Chris Anderson. Almost worth the 17 hour trip there! :-)

The following Web Analytics Vendors attended ad:tech Chicago 2007:
(Which is not a bad view of who matters)

• Webtrends
• IndexTools
• Omniture (OMTR)
• Visual Sciences (VSCN)
• Google Analytics

And I finally had the opportunity to meet up with Josh Manion from Stratigent - the CEO of one of the bigger dedicated Web Analytics consultancies around.

Cheers.. and back home to Buda tomorrow.

N.B.
I am sorry to find out NOW, when I am back at the hotel, that Manoj Jasra from Web Analytics World attended without me knowing it. Being an avid reader of his blog it would have been nice to say hi and hello.


Therefore, anybody attending SES in San Jose - COMMENT - so we can meet up. Red Bull’s are on me! :-)

Disrupting Web Analytics

I was recently quoted over at the Alarm Clock (inside new technology ventures) – and I absolutely love their blog post title of “Disrupting Web Analytics From Budapest” – there is NO DOUBT that I am going to “steal” that phrase and re-use it over and over and over till Omniture or one of the other “big four” send a check - to make me quiet.. and that just for a while :-)

Another great (for ME) quote was their comment on our official press releases: “Accompanied by the ballsy move of listing four of its competitors, Webtrends, WebSideStory, Omniture and CoreMetrics, in all its press releases”

For a second there, I felt just like Janus and Niklas! Ha ha..

Digital Marketing Event 2007 (DME) – Amsterdam

I just returned from another trip to Amsterdam, this time participating and exhibiting at the event: Digital Marketing Event 2007 (DME) - and I must say that I am once again stunned by the level of local knowledge!

I was speaking both days on the subject:

“Web Reporting vs. Web Analysis - Getting to understand that reporting on any metric at pure face value within a very limited context is unsound and should not be confused with actionable insight from analysis”.

But more about this in another post.

Tv4b interviewed me as well. It’s actually more like an infomercial when I see it again.. ha ha. But do go have a look :-)

Link: http://www.tv4b.com/index.php?page=watch&f_videoid=253
Length: 4.07 min.

N.B.
I think the VIDEO is only live and streamable for a week - so do let me know if it does not work anymore!

Interview with Dennis R. Mortensen, COO of IndexTools – by Lars

Lars is somehow the de-facto European president of the WAA – or at least the one European WAA voice I hear the most :-) .. nevertheless; he has done some tremendous work in setting up Web Analytics Wednesdays in Stockholm (I attended a Web Analytics Wednesday in Stockholm – which had a whooping 70 something attendees)

I did an interview over at his blog the other day and you can find it here:
Interview with Dennis R. Mortensen, COO of IndexTools

About the following subjects:

• What makes IndexTools unique?
• Do you think the new release of Google Analytics increases your need to be innovative? If so, how?
• What share of your clients are located in Europe?
• If IndexTools didn’t exist, which tool would you use and why?
• What is your biggest challenge in 2007 and how will you overcome it?

And I think I conclude it perfectly and to an absolute A – answering: “Finally, we are really a bunch of exceptionally nice people” – I love the fact that we do not have five full time communication "experts" on board, that would delete comments like that... ha ha.

Comments from Search Engine Strategies - Munich 2007

I just returned from SES in Munich; and from an Exhibitor point of view – it was not that bad! :-)

I was sitting in on Rand Fishkin’s presentation yesterday and beyond the usual fantastic show, he gave one memorable quote about how you could “easily” manage your online reputation - agreeing that SERP results is a major part in that.

TIP: Use Social Network Profile pages to control your online reputation.

Checking for “Dennis R. Mortensen” – you will find:

• LinkedIN (Profile Page)
• SEOmoz (Profile Page)
• Ecademy (Profile Page)
• Blogger (Profile Page)
• eMarketing (Profile Page)

Discounting my own blog and a Webmasterworld comment – there is nothing but profile pages on the first page of the SERP. Amazing; perhaps I should sign up for a couple other social networks and get “control” over the last couple of results and own the first page :-) – A super tip Rand. Thanks. As always Rand was pouring out his love for Action Tracking Action Tracking (a.k.a. Conversion Tracking) – and I absolutely think he is true. That it simply the first thing you have to get in control of, in any online venture! - find Rand’s post about SES Munich here: ses-munich-linkbait-truffles-more-insomnia.

Friends and Contacts from the show:
It was a pleasure to meet up with: Steve Johnston at lunch - still pitching his brilliant business card with NO information, but his name – you guessed it, he is in SEO. Sara Andersson (we need more blond good looking Swedish girls in the SEM industry – and what was up with the moderator at your session?? :-). And I would like to Welcome Timo Aden to the blogosphere – and that said from a newbie like me – by the way, will you be at Emetrics Germany?. Markus Reif, Patrick Ludolph, Andreas Vogt, Mark Kofahl. Udayan, I do hope I will be able to meet up with you at New York SES – do let me know when you are there. Sebastien Doyen – PLEASE, with sugar on top; I need those 10 minutes to pitch to your team that Omniture is but the same as IndexTools, just in a green interface. I of course forgot to thanks Matthew Finlay for a great German show, but it was indeed from a exhibitor point of view worth going there, I of course have the same high expectations to Emetrics now (as Matthew runs as well). Oliver and Felix and the nice people from Webtrends – I still think we are a cooler tool.. ha ha. And it was of course great to meet up with Michael Buchheit from ISA again!

Roger over! :-)