Goodbye Universal Analytics, Hello Google Analytics 4: The Future of Analytics

Goodbye Universal Analytics, Hello Google Analytics 4: The Future of Analytics

You might have heard that Google Analytics Universal, the trusty tool that we’ve been using for over a decade, is finally sunsetting, the official date given by Google is July 1, 2023. It’s a bittersweet moment, but don’t fret! Google Analytics 4 is here to save the day.

First, let’s take a moment to appreciate Universal Analytics. It was the go-to analytics tool for website owners and marketers, allowing us to track website visitors’ behavior, including pageviews, clicks, and time on site. It helped us measure the success of our websites and marketing campaigns, but it’s time to move on.

Google Analytics 4 is a new approach to analytics that focuses on the user journey across multiple devices and platforms. It’s like a superhero that can track user behavior and provide more comprehensive and accurate data than Universal Analytics. It uses machine learning to analyze data and provide insights to marketers.

So, why is Google Analytics 4 so important? For starters, it offers improved cross-device tracking, better data accuracy, enhanced privacy, and actionable insights. It uses machine learning to track user behavior across multiple devices and platforms, which is crucial in today’s digital landscape. And, with the cookieless era upon us, Google Analytics 4 is designed to meet the privacy challenges of the future.

But, let’s face it, migrating to Google Analytics 4 it’s not a walk in the park and can represent a technical challenge. It requires careful planning and execution to ensure that all data from Universal Analytics is transferred without any loss or corruption. And, it needs to be integrated with existing systems (website, CRM and others), which can be time-consuming and complicated.

That’s where we come in. As a marketing agency, we’re dedicated to providing our clients with the most advanced analytics tools and helping them achieve their business goals. We offer a comprehensive Google Analytics 4 migration service to help businesses transition smoothly to the new platform.

Our team of experts has extensive experience in Google Analytics and digital marketing. We have the expertise to help you migrate to Google Analytics 4 seamlessly. We work closely with our clients to understand their business goals and help them leverage Google Analytics 4 to achieve their objectives.

We understand that every business is unique, and that’s why we offer a customized migration plan tailored to your specific needs. We ensure that your data remains intact during the migration process, and the integration with your website and other systems is seamless. Plus, we provide comprehensive training to your team on how to use Google Analytics 4 effectively, ensuring that your team has the knowledge and skills to make data-driven decisions and optimize your website and marketing campaigns.

In conclusion, the sunset of Google Analytics Universal marks the end of an era. But, it’s a necessary step for Google to meet the challenges of the cookieless era and provide better analytics to marketers. Google Analytics 4 is the future of analytics, and it provides more comprehensive and accurate data than Universal Analytics. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level and make the transition to Google Analytics 4, contact us today to learn more about our Google Analytics 4 migration service. We’ll help you navigate the migration process and unleash the full potential of this superhero of analytics!

Domain Authority, Why Does It Matter?

Domain Authority, Why Does It Matter?

Who doesn’t want to make the podium after participating in a contest? Do you hate feeling like a champion? For most of us, we love to come out on top, but the podium can’t accommodate all the participants… Can it? 

Competing for a place on a podium is similar to competition between websites. In the digital world, having top Domain Authority means you’re on top of the food chain. You get a lion’s share of visitors – a mouthful of high-quality traffic, and above all, a rock-solid Domain Authority. Your site is respected, easy to find and lucrative. 

But how do we know if a website is a winner? 

Domain Authority predicts how a website will rank and perform on search engines for various keywords. 

To begin with, Domain Authority (DA) is like a grade that every website gets. Primarily, it’s based on the quality of the content on the website. Other factors that influence your authority include:

  • Number of visits
  • Quality of visits
  • Relevancy of the content
  • User experience
  • Length of visit etc. 

How and Why was Domain Authority Coined?

tablet with trafic graphics

DA’s Launch

Domain Authority is a term first coined by Moz that has become the industry standard. It’s an assessment scale that gauges the quality and relevancy of a website against Google’s (seemingly complicated) ranking metrics, and gives it a numerical score. There’s a simple tool that evaluates every website, observing how these sites perform on search engines.

What it is

In simple words, Domain Authority is a grading scale with quality scores ranging from 1 to 100. Sites with the highest domain authorities have a numerical score close to 100. The higher the score, the better the website ranks on Google.  

For perspective, those nearing 100 are the big giants, Fortune 100, heck even Top Ten. We’re talking Facebook (DA 96), Amazon (DA 96), and Wikipedia (DA 86). 

New websites

One thing is clear; you can’t create a website from scratch thinking that it’ll get full marks as soon as you launch it. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily an uphill struggle though.

Yes, new websites will most likely start with the lowest grade. But raising their Domain Authority is achievable for every site, and if done smartly may not be as difficult as it seems. All it takes is some consistency, adaptability and time. These are key. Another thing to note is that aiming for 100 isn’t always necessary!

As Hubspot quite rightly point out, it’s comparative authority to your peers that counts, and not necessarily overall, especially as the highest ranking sites can lower the scores of those lower down the list – it’s all relative, and it’s always changing.

The Scoring Criteria

Hang on! Let’s break down exactly how those ‘biggies’ have managed to score so high. Can you spot what Facebook, Amazon, and Wikipedia’s websites have in common? (Apart from enviable Domain Authority!)

Unimaginable space for content – massive content creation opportunities

  • Millions of online users and visitors
  • Loads of backlinks 

Actually, that’s not rocket science, is it? 

So, scoring depends a lot on these factors; content (& capacity), users and backlinks. But primarily, it has to do with the number and the quality of every visitor backlink connected to your domain. 

If you started your research into Domain Authority imagining a website that instantly scores 100 out of 100, the above points have dragged you back into the real world. That said, you can still get to a top position with consistent efforts. 

Basics of Getting the Best Domain Authority in Your Niche?

Content and Backlinks

For now, let’s stick to your industry, because that’ll give you a niche start. And there’s no better way to start than to align with the score of your competitors. You’ll soon find out that you can quickly improve by following the best practices:

  • Come up with high-quality content
  • Create opportunities for the users to generate backlinks

You know backlinks, don’t you? These are the links that are connected to other websites and linked to yours. No-one likes working in a silo.

Now, let’s move on to more technical aspects.

SEO, Traffic, Page Authority

Moz uses 40 factors to calculate DA – this includes SEO and the traffic that your website receives. It does so by calculating the authority of your webpages. The page authority, in turn, depends upon the quality of backlinks to a specific page on your website.

Now, let’s remove one myth right now!

If you think Domain Authority is the fix-all formula to rank your website (or webpages) on the first page of Google, well, you’re certainly optimistic! Google is known to use 200 factors to measure rank, alongside other search engines with similar approaches. However, Domain Authority is widely accepted to be a notable one.

It’s a smart – and most importantly, measurable – way to make sure you’re giving Google another good reason to rank your website. To keep tabs on your site’s DA, you can get an extension in chrome called MozBar

How to Improve Your Domain Authority

office people meeting

This is for all those website developers and owners who’ve been facing a hard time in getting quality traffic or acquiring more backlinks. Consider the following:

Your Domain’s Expiration Date

Okay, so this first one isn’t a big one, but it is a cheap and easy fix! Apart from all the other great reasons to watch your domain expiration date, the proximity of your domain to its server expiration date can affect your DA. It could be well worth the handful of dollars to make it last for the next 4-5 years and it’s arguably the least work-intensive way to improve the ranking.

Strong Link Profile

Having a high number of relevant PR links to and from your website will help you score better – it’s literally one of those 40 assessment requirements discussed earlier.

  • Adding links on a website improves it’s Domain Authority quality 
  • Make sure the website you’re linking to already has a high Domain Authority in its own right; otherwise, it won’t improve your score
  • More importantly, your website’s name should be mentioned and there must be a link at the back of it.

High-Quality Content

Content is king, and this applies within Domain Authority too. By consistently creating relevant, well-structured and thought out content on a website, the Domain Authority will rank in a higher place. 

Finally

In the end, much like SEO, Domain Authority is an ongoing practice. To be able to maintain a good DA score, ensure that:

  • Your website remains active and its domain is not expiring
  • It garners engagement, longer view times and activity through high-quality content
  • Visitors coming from other sites have sufficient backlinking opportunities
  • Above all, there should be a foolproof SEO strategy to keep supplying you with quality traffic every moment. 

If it sounds difficult, don’t panic. Buzz Factory can help you score better and keep performing well on SERP, making your site a high-ranking Domain Authority.

SEO, is it worth the cost?

SEO, is it worth the cost?

SEO Basics – why does your site need it?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is used to improve a Website’s ranking on search engines like Google or Bing – and up to 93% of online experiences begin with searches on sites like these! (Search Engine Journal)

The better the SEO, the higher up the list of search results the site will come. 

Why does this matter? Well, according to Hubspot 75% of users never even scroll past the first page of those results.

So yes, having a compelling SEO strategy is absolutely crucial for any business Website to improve visibility, leads and sales.

SEO acts like a map

When a company’s Webseite is more visible on the internet, it’ll obviously improve the number of site visitors. This quality traffic, in turn, should help the business in several ways:

  • With lots of visitors coming to the Webseite, there are more chances of getting leads.
  • This gives an opportunity to convert those leads into customers. 
  • More customers means more sales!

Can you connect the dots now? SEO = Traffic = Leads = Customers = Sales!

SEO rings like a bell

At every stage of a customer’s journey, you’re going to need relevant content – this is a whole topic in and of itself, discussed in our other blogs. 

But did you know, great content also can support your SEO? In fact, it’s one of the top 3 ranking factors used by Google!

Putting these together, SEO works like a bell that draws your customer’s attention to your domain. Then, it’s up to your content to entice them enough to engage with – and buy – your product or services. 

SEO increases your brand awareness 

Believe it or not, SEO often facilitates the first point of contact for a user with your site. If they become aware you have what they’re looking for, the purpose of SEO is achieved… even if they don’t necessarily engage there and then. 

They will associate their search term, let’s say “Best Marketing Agency in Switzerland right now,” with your brand, and come back to you when a need for your offering arises.

If you understand the concept of SEO, let’s move on.

How much should SEO cost?

SEO written with scrabble pieces

OK, so we’ve established having a Search Engine Optimization strategy is important – but how much does SEO actually cost? What are the industry standards for SEO pricing? Let’s break it down:

Factors Determining the Price of SEO

The price for SEO varies from one business to another, depending on their needs and objectives. There are, however, essential elements of a good SEO strategy that don’t require paying a fortune. 

The main question here is: What exactly do you want to achieve through SEO? The answer is based on two factors: 

  • Duration
  • Challenges 

If you want to achieve challenging goals in a short time span, it will, unsurprisingly, cost more. Lower budgets = longer time to reach the targets- SEO is not a one-time effort. It needs to be sustained and nurtured over time. Any good SEO package worth it’s mettle will be a monthly – or at least an ongoing – package that updates with trends and the constant flow of new content.

Generally a minimum of four months is suggested, with an ideal package lasting 12. This gives time to test and tweak a strategy and establish lifetime value.

Freelance vs. Professional (or agency) SEO

people in marketing office

Frankly, if you find a freelancer who offers to carry out SEO tasks for a low price point (anything under $100 a month is a big no-no according to SEJ) chances are, you won’t get the desired results. Even worse, bad SEO practices can cause Google penalties to be applied to your site, totally wiping out online visibility and ultimately having the opposite to your desired effect.

Hourly fees charged by some freelancers may also cause a simple package to quickly spiral into higher price points with no definitive outcome.

On the other hand, a professional SEO campaign is usually based on different services, trickier to translate in terms of hours. It may seem initially expensive… BUT results are often solid, and as close to guaranteed as you can get in the Digital Marketing sphere. Services offered vary according to elements like the size of the Website, keyword competitiveness, third party partners and so forth.

Does a Higher Price Mean Better SEO?

Good news – not necessarily! Especially with Moz finding most SEO packages range between $1100 all the way up to $7500. Instead, depth of research, skill and clear objectives are a much better indication of a good value SEO package. Look for specialists with experience, who can show you which keywords they are ranking and how your competitors fare in comparison. Make sure they’re up-to-date with the latest trends. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. The best service would estimate the cost of SEO after coming up with the right proposal. 

An SEO proposal should provide the following:

  • Complete assessment of the strategy; it’s weaknesses as well as it’s strengths
  • How it can meet the company’s objectives 

Factors Affecting the Price of SEO

What are you actually paying for with SEO? The price generally includes: 

  • Planning
  • Strategy development
  • Management of the project
  • Monthly implementation
  • Performance tracking

Location can also influence the pricing for SEO. Depending on where the Digital Marketing Agency is located the company will have passive outgoing costs like taxes and salaries which will affect the price of their SEO services. However, the main influencers for SEO pricing are still the business objectives and the timeframe fixed for the strategy. 

Is it Worth Paying For?

To see if an SEO service is worth the price, there is a little tool Small and Medium Enterprises can use. 

  • Firstly, look for quotes that will estimate how many hours the agency will put in to implement an efficient SEO strategy.
  • Secondly, consider how the SEO agency will go about improving the strategy over time, not just as a one-time deal.

Limited-time Packages

To be consistently top-ranking, Website content needs to be updated regularly. This is a near sure-fire way to stay looking fresh to search engines! However, the best solution is to invest in ‘SEO packages’ that digital agencies have on offer. 

For instance, Buzz Factory recommends considering packages of at least 10 hours/month for a period of at least six months. You can also select smaller packages, but the results will take significantly longer to be seen. 

Conclusion

Opened laptop with Google search page

What we have learned about the value of SEO so far:

  • With a compelling SEO strategy, the company will improve its visibility and authority 
  • SEO is an efficient way to generate more traffic to a Webseite and reach a relevant audience
  • By enhancing SEO, a business will rank higher on search engines, and it will be easier for customers to find your products or services and you have a better opportunity to convert to sales.

Thinking About SEO? 

We established that SEO is not cheap. However, it’s value is proven again and again as it is often shown to be more effective than PPC in increasing the revenues of a company. 

  • You can’t get a successful lead generation process in place for your Webseite without investing in digital SEO tools. 
  • However, in isolation it’s not enough – other factors to consider in tandem with SEO are: building a brand, gaining customer loyalty, increasing engagement, growing customer base and more.

At Buzz Factory Agency, we don’t just offer effective SEO packages. Based on your objectives, we make customized SEO packages that align with your budget and needs whilst offering the assurance that you reap the benefits of your SEO investment in all aspects of your digital marketing.