Bragging rights go to marketers who can assess keyword value based on visitor volume, revenue, conversion and perhaps the most important Web marketing metric: time on site. Here's a look at the criteria and limitations of some of these most common metrics to measure keyword success.

Five years ago, extra doughnuts and rich coffee were bestowed on anyone who could provide the top 10 keywords that brought visitors to the company Web site. Two years ago, it was hip to show which keywords generated the most revenue—and the worthy marketer might earn some bran muffins and a chai. Today, bragging rights go to marketers who can assess keyword value based on visitor volume, revenue, conversion and perhaps the most important Web marketing metric: time on site.

Here's a look at the criteria and limitations of some of these most common metrics to measure keyword success, and a look at one keyword selection strategy that I've found to be particularly effective.

Volume Isn't Enough

Most online marketers rely on Web analytics tools and use Web log files or "JavaScript page tagging" to report the keywords that brought the most visitors to the Web site. Volume keyword lists can be very long, and as it turns out, not very helpful. They're not the best way to decide which keywords to invest in. Marketers may love high volume, but in the online marketing world, volume has little value if there isn't a subsequent interest in your Web site's content. Anyone can post an over-promising ad and bring unqualified—and slightly gullible—visitors to their site. After seeing the irrelevant homepage, the visitor who was "duped" into coming to the site simply will leave. If you're going to put some marketing dollars behind your top keywords, you've got to measure the volume, not of all visitors, but of engaged visitors.

Revenue Isn't Enough

I'll admit it. My first attempt at generating a keyword list was an effort that was bran muffin-worthy: I based all my keyword suggestions solely on revenue. After all, revenue is the ultimate measurement of any campaign, right? Well, not really. Let's take a look at why that is.

First, while we'd like to think that a Web analytics tool can account for all revenue, the reality is that it can't. Certainly, it catches enough of the online sales to see some trends, but not enough to be the sole basis on which to make keyword decisions. Second, a long sales cycle might disassociate revenue from current valuable visitors. In this situation, too, we have holes in the reliability of ROI on its own. Also, these factors don't take into account the visitors that almost bought—you know, the ones who came to the site, added items to their cart and then seemingly disappeared into thin air. Suffice it to say that while revenue is the measurement of my marketing, Web site and product value, it really shouldn't be the sole indicator of keyword value.

Look to Conversions

If your site doesn't sell online, you want visitors to convert—whether it's a completed lead form or a newsletter signup. Conversions happen in a shorter time span than most revenue events—often in a single visit—so the degree of accuracy is higher. Also, it's a pretty good bet that more visitors convert than buy, so by counting converted visitors per keyword, we move closer to a measurement of the keywords that bring engaged visitors.

Time on Site is Your MVP

Conversion and revenue numbers show you the overall effectiveness of your marketing and sales efforts. In comparison, time on site measures your Web site's ability to successfully retain each visitor's interest. It's also a good indicator of the synergy between the expectations visitors had before clicking to your site, and what they found once they arrived. For example, if your highest volume keyword is "pomegranate" and your landing page has no mention of pomegranates, then you'll probably have a relatively high number of visitors with short times on site.

Combining Volume, ROI, Conversion and Time

So let's say you learn your lesson from the situation above and finally update that landing page to actually mention pomegranates--yet the prices are absolutely outrageous. Checking out Web metrics, you may see that you now have a high volume of visitors with a long time on site, but no conversion or revenue events. If you used the time-on-site metric alone, you'd have an accurate picture of the value of each keyword, but a big waste of pay-per-click (PPC) and SEO dollars until you update your site, product or message to influence visitors to convert or buy.

PPC and Natural Search

PPC ad providers are supposed to review each ad for relevance to the keyword used, the message in the ad and the content on the site. But guess what? Sometimes they don't, and suffice it to say that marketers inadvertently can buy inappropriate keywords, over-promise in their ad messaging, and under-deliver on their landing page. Even if you have your act together, you'll want to measure PPC ad effectiveness for each keyword separately from natural search listings. A good Web analytics tool will show these side-by-side for all measurements. It's a sign of effective PPC advertising if your PPC ads deliver visitors with more time on site than your natural search engine listings deliver.

In the example above, ClickTracks Search Report shows that the keyword "pomegranate" generated higher than average time on site for both PPC and regular search. This indicates an excellent match between visitors' expectations and the content of the site.

A Strategic Option

Given the limits and benefits of the aforementioned keyword metrics, here's a look at a formula I've found to work when it comes to keyword selection. Remember, this works for me, but you may want to tweak this formula or come up with one all your own.

1. Start by getting the top 40 search keywords—and keyword phrases—that drive traffic to your site, listed by number of visitors.
2. Show average time on site using only the 40 top-volume keywords from the previous step.
3. Next, export the list to Excel for easy sorting, and tweak the view so that the longer time on site (better) appears on top. (When measuring natural search results, remove any phrases and keywords from the list that contain your company name.) Now you'll have a list of the keywords most effective at keeping visitors on your site.
4. Next, look at the top 10 to 15 keywords on the list and do a conversion rate "reality check." This involves looking for conversion rates at or over your average visitor conversion rate. If visitor conversion for a keyword falls below the threshold, consider updating the site for better conversion before investing in this keyword.
5. If you're working with a site that captures online sales, I also recommend a reality check on the top 10 keywords in terms of revenue generation. If there's a keyword that doesn't generate revenue during a time period that encompasses eight to 10 sales cycles, consider updating the site for better sales conversion before investing in this keyword.
6. What you're left with—meaning the top terms that passed both the conversion and revenue reality checks—are the top keywords and phrases for PPC advertising, SEO and other SEM investments.
7. Repeat steps one through six to check PPC campaign keywords.
8. Finally, compare natural search and PPC time-on-site results to confirm that PPC performance is, well, worth paying for. If PPC ads generate the same or better time on site as natural search, then you know the PPC ads are doing what you want them to do.

Additionally, marketers can make the most of their keyword analysis by measuring keywords against numerous visitor behavior profiles. For example, you can reveal the worst PPC keywords by taking a look at particularly short visits, or those conversions with a higher cost of sale. Advanced Web analytics tools support spur-of-the-moment visitor labeling for behaviors like repeat visitors who made multiple online orders, or visitors who touched certain goal pages yet exited on the shipping page. And analyzing internal search terms reveals visitor intent once on your Web site. As Web analytics tools evolve, so do Web metrics. Perhaps next year, my formula will need revamping. But for today's online marketer, the combination of volume, revenue, conversion and time on site will yield a set of keywords that are well worth your investment.

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