UNIT V SEARCH ANALYTICS

Search engine optimization (SEO), non-linear media consumption, user engagement,

user generated content, web traffic analysis, navigation, usability, eye tracking, online
security, online ethics, content management system, data visualization, RSS feeds,
Mobile platforms, User centered design, Understanding search behaviors.

What is a search engine?

A search engine is software designed to retrieve specific information. The type of search
engine most of us are familiar with is the internet search engine, which is a web service that
finds information on the internet (sometimes called the ―world wide web‖) based on a user‘s
query, which is typically a set of words.
Today, many people think search engines are synonymous with internet browsers—thanks in
part to the Google Chrome browser building search engine functionality into the web address
bar. But search engines are web services specifically built to retrieve information. They can
be accessed easily from a browser, but they‘re different technologies.

A brief history of search engines

During the early days of the internet, there were so few web servers (basically, computers
that host websites) that Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, kept them all on
one list. Using this Berners-Lee‘s list, you could easily access every single web page in
existence—mostly informational sites run by universities or government organizations.
Today, there are billions of web pages and no central system for keeping track of them, which
is why we rely on search engines to find information online.

• 1989: While a grad student at McGill University, Alan Emtage built the first public
search engine, ARCHIE (archive without the ―V‖) in 1989, he launched it to the public a year
later. Emtage‘s program allowed him to more easily find files on FTP (File Transfer
Protocol) sites, which predated the web.
• 1994: David Filo and Jerry Yang founded Yahoo! as a web directory of their favorite
sites. By the late 1990s, Yahoo! operated as both a web portal—a landing page for accessing
different features of the internet—and web search engine.
• 1995: AltaVista launched as the first natural language search engine, meaning that it
accepted queries written in spoken language, not just keywords. At the time, the web was
home to at least 30 million pages, about 20 million of which were indexed by AltaVista.
• 1996: Ask Jeeves, which encouraged users to pose their queries as a question,
launched. Ask Jeeves used human editors to match results to the most popular queries.
Today, about 8 percent of searches are written as questions, and Ask Jeeves (now Ask.com)
is no longer considered a major search engine.
• 1998: Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google, based on their 1996 search
engine, Backrub, which used backlinks as a way to rank search results. At the time, Google
had a very simple, ad-free interface of blue links followed by a two-line description of each
site. (Ads would come later, in 2000.)
• 2009: Microsoft Bing was launched as a rebrand of MSN/Live search, which
originally launched in 1998. Shortly after its launch, Bing began powering the Yahoo! search
engine
https://neeva.com/learn/what-is-a-search-engine

How do search engines work?

Although search engines have gotten more complex over the years, they still follow a pretty
basic formula: Crawl and index all the data on the web so that when you search for
something, it can present you with a set of results, ranked by relevance. Here‘s how they do
it.
Crawl. Web crawlers, also known as spiders, are programs that constantly search the
internet, finding new sites and identifying new links. Crawlers also send text from every
website to an index to be analyzed. Crawlers may even store all or part of a web page, called
a cache. Webmasters (the people who run websites) can add a file called robots.txt to their
sites, which tells a crawler which pages to look at or ignore.
Index. The data that crawlers gather is analyzed, organized, and stored in an index so that the
engine can find information quickly. Like the index found in the back of a book—but far
more detailed—a search engine index includes an entry for every word on every indexed web
page.
Search. When you query a search engine, the search engine must first translate your words
into terms that relate to its index. This is done via a host of techniques including natural
language processing (NLP which uses machine learning to understand what you‘re looking
for). The output of this initial translation process is a rewritten query that identifies the
important parts of your query, corrects misspellings, and adds on synonyms. The search
engine then consults its index to find web pages that match the rewritten query.
Rank. Search engines use algorithms to present you with a list of results prioritized by what
it thinks will best answer your query. For vague searches, like ―ramen,‖ your search engine
may provide a range of answers to cover its bases, such as general information about what
ramen is, along with other popular results like recipes, local ramen shops, and even a ―people
also ask‖ section to help you narrow down your search.
How do search engines rank results?
A single search may turn up billions of relevant web pages, so part of the job of a search
engine is to sort these listings using ranking algorithms. And although these algorithms are
designed to provide you with the best answers to your questions, they are biased towards
certain factors. Search engines want to show you results that you‘ll click on, and they use a
variety of factors to rank results according to what they think you‘ll engage with. These
include but aren‘t limited to:

Use of keywords. Your search results should match at least some of the words in your query.
Search engines prioritize pages on which those keywords appear in a prominent position,
such as the title of the page, or often throughout the page.
Page content. Search engines prioritize high-quality content by analyzing the length, depth,
and breadth of web pages.
Backlinks. Backlinks, or mentions of one website on another website, can be seen as a vote
towards that site‘s authority. Pioneered by Google PageRank, backlink ranking rates pages
based on how many other sites link back to that site, and how highly those sites rank.
User information. Search engines like Google use your personal information, such as search
history and location, to serve results that are uniquely relevant to you.
Search Engines Analytics
Search engines are the gateways to social media and help users search for and find
information. To be more precise, a search engine is an Internet service or software designed
to search information on the web that corresponds to a request (e.g., keywords) specified by
the user. Considering that there are billions of websites over the web, search engines play a
crucial role in helping us find the right information in a limited amount of time.

TYPES OF SEARCH ENGINES

Based on the mechanisms they operate, search engine can be divided into three types:
1) Crawler-based, 2) Directories, and 3) Metasearch engines.
CRAWLER-BASED
As the name suggests, crawler-based search engines create their databases or lists
automatically, without any human intervention. Examples of crawler-based search engine are
Google.com and Bing.com. Crawler-based search engines are widely used to find and access
content over the Internet. They operate in three steps: 1) web crawling, 2) indexing, and 3)
searching.
Web crawling—Search engines start by collecting and storing information about web pages.
This mechanism is termed web crawling. A web crawler (also known as web spider or bot) is
a computer program or software specifically designed to collect and store data about websites
for indexing.\
Indexing—Indexing helps classify a website correctly for searching purposes. The data
crawled or extracted is then indexed and stored in a database for quick access. Every search
engine may follow different techniques for indexing web page data. Common indexing
techniques include storing meta tags (which are used in the header of a web page and provide
descriptions of the website) and keywords related to a website.
Searching—Searching is the final step in search engine operations. When a user requests
specific information by entering keywords in a search engine, the search engine queries the
index and provides a list of the most relevant web pages by matching it with the indexed
keywords. However, it may not be that simple; search engines use a variety of factors to rank
and provide a list of matching websites.
A takeaway here is that in order to achieve good search results an organization must place
keywords in section titles, images, and in the general content of its website. A keyword
density of 5–8 percent (i.e., five to eight keywords per one hundred words) is an optimal
number. Having important keywords embedded in a website enables a search engine robot to
evaluate the website as being the most suitable site for the searched word. However, if one
repeatedly uses the same keywords or definitions in page content, it may be perceived by a
robot to be spamming (Yalçin and Köse 2010). Research has shown that the position of key
words in a website, as well as their duplication, layout, and combination, impact web page
visibility in a search engine, which can be improved by increasing the frequency of keywords
in the title, the full text, and in both the title and full-text. In conjunction with key words, the
overall design of a website is an important factor that must be taken into consideration when
discussing search engine optimization. For example, flash animations, while aesthetically
appealing, can negatively impact the SEO evaluation results because they cannot be indexed
as easily by bots as more simply structured HTML content (Yalçin and Köse 2010).
For a corporation to better understand its Internet presence, its website statistics should also
be checked on a regular basis so as to understand both how users access and utilize the site
and also what impact site changes may have on these behaviors.
DIRECTORIES
The listings in directories are manually compiled and created by human editors. People who
want to be listed in a directory submit an address, title, and brief description of their website,
which is then reviewed by the editor and included in it. Some good examples of human-
created directories are Yahoo Directory, Open Directory, and LookSmart.

METASEARCH ENGINES
Metasearch engines compiles and display results from other search engines. When a user
enters a query, the metasearch engine submits the query to several individual search engines,
and results returned from all the search engines are integrated, ranked, and displayed to the
user. Examples of meta–search engines include Metacrawler, Mamma, and Dogpile. By
integrating results from several search engines, metasearch engines are capable of handling
large amounts of data and can help us save time by focusing on one search engine. Based on
their scope, search engines can be divided into two types: 1) local and 2) global.
LOCAL SEARCH ENGINES
A search engine is local in the sense that it is embedded within a website and only indexes
and searches the content of that website. Amazon‘s CloudSearch or any other search engine
embedded within a website is an example of local search engine.
GLOBAL SEARCH ENGINES
Global search engines are used to search for content on the web. Google.com and Bing. com
are examples of global search engines. However, note that global search engines can be
localized. Google search, for example, can also embed within your website to help users find
information on your website.
SEARCH ENGINE ANALYTICS
Generally, when we talk about search engine analytics, we mean two things,:
1) Search engine optimization and 2) Search engine trend analysis.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization or simply SEO is the process of optimizing websites to obtain
higher rankings in search engines with specific keywords and phrases, and getting ―free‖
organic traffic. Search engine optimization (SEO) are the techniques used to improve a
website‘s ranking in a search engine result page (SERP) (Pan 2015). A SERP is the list of the
results returned by a search engine in response to a user‘s query. SERPs generally have two
types of results: organic and nonorganic search results. Organic results appear mainly
because of their relevance to the user‘s query. Nonorganic search results include paid
advertisements. A study tested the effect of sponsored ad ranks on the click-through and
conversion rates for an online retailer and found that top positions usually had higher click
through rates, but not necessarily higher conversion rates (Agarwal, Hosanagar et al. 2011).
The largest search engines being: Google, Bing, Yahoo. Discover more alternative search
engines. To be found in Google today and in the future is a critical element of building a
successful business online. Every company should be utilizing it the best it can, in its
marketing strategy. Search engine optimization is one of the best methods in gaining organic
traffic to your website, business, and content in search engines. The effects of search engines
can be felt in every business online and offline, and its effects are still growing. Search
engine optimization can be divided into three groups, technical SEO, content optimization,
and keyword research. Every group is essential for a good SEO strategy. Technical SEO is
the practice of optimizing websites. For example, to have better user experience, faster
loading speeds, and its security. In content optimization, the goal is to create content that
serves readers and their search queries.

The goal of keyword analysis and research is to create a strategy, where the most profitable
keywords are found and are implemented through content creation and technical SEO to the
website itself. The very definition of search engine optimization is to be as relevant as
possible to the search queries we are targeting. It‘s highly essential to serve your customers
by providing the right content that equals their searches. The search engines reward websites
with higher rankings when customers are kept longer and engaged on the site.

The Influence of Social Media on Search Behavior & Search Marketing

People no longer have the sole expectation of searching to find information for a specific
outcome. As internet users spend more and more time connecting, sharing and interacting
with the social web, they now often expect to interact with what they find in the search
results.
Consumers search social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo Answers, MySpace) to a
small degree, as an alternative to standard search engines, for references and
recommendations. People don‘t trust formal marketing messages and there is something
inherently more trustworthy about recommendations made by others who take the time to
review and give opinions of products and services.
How SEO Can Better Meet Social Savvy Searcher Needs:

Keywords and links aren‘t the only tactics search engine optimization consultants employ.
Usability comes into play as well and making it easy for consumers of a web site‘s content to
socially save, share, submit and interact with that content helps meet increasing social
expectations.

With PPC and landing pages it‘s the same thing, but not to the degree that it takes away from
the objective of the conversion of course. The objective for a landing page is to motivate a
specific action, not bookmark the landing page – but why not make it easy if customers
choose to do so?

With online advertising, there are increasing numbers of companies enabling rich media ads
with social features. Links are added so that viewers of the ad can share, rare or comment.
This isn‘t practical with text based PPC ads but with video or graphical ads used in search, it
might be something to consider.

The Differences in Consumer Use of Search and Social Media:

It‘s important to understand the difference in how/why people spend time searching
compared to time spent with social media. Fundamentally, a searcher has a question, unmet
need or pain point to be solved and initiates action through a query on a search engine. The
result is being presented with matching search results & ads. Depending on the searcher‘s
stage in the research process or buying cycle, they‘ll drill down to a solution or continue
searching. Time spent with the social web involves many types of interactions with
likeminded individuals in a community or network, one of which is looking for and sharing
recommendations. The investment in time with a social community, whether it‘s Twitter,
Facebook or LinkedIn, along with the quality of interactions builds trust that‘s difficult to
duplicate in online advertising as we know it.

Many Optimization Weapons In digital analytics:

A/B testing,

click mapping,

user testing

Eye-Tracking And Visual Engagement Analytics

Eye-Tracking will increase your understanding of user behavior as well as the usability of
web site. Visual Engagement Analysis is essentially a visual display of the user experience at
a scale large enough to infer trends and insights.

Eye-tracking offers the most accurate picture of how users actually interact with your
site.

Hover maps – heat maps that analyze where users hover their mouse on a page – were
actually modeled after the classical usability testing technique known as eye-tracking.

How Marketers Can Improve Their Social Media Marketing:

Social media marketing is where the ―give to get‖ principle comes into play. Effective social
advertising is less about attaching marketing messages to content and more about being the
content. Marketing online is so ingrained with advertisers and marketers as a direct marketing
channel, they don‘t yet understand the opportunities from building community, creating
something of value that persists and not just as a campaign, as a way to communicate their
message. Rather than looking at social media sharing sites as just another place to dump
existing advertising media, online marketers should understanding what is important to social
communities through content, link and tag analysis (a keyword based listening exercise) and
create/promote content that meets those needs. The content created can also add to the SEO
efforts for search based discovery.

The Ying and Yang Effect of Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing efforts that create conversations and buzz can influence queries on
keywords used in search the same way advertising and the result of public relations through
media coverage can drive search traffic.

In social web situations, a great idea can spread quickly, driving people to search for more
formal information. The push is the instigation of a new concept in social media situations,
providing useful information and provoking discussions about it. The pull (searching for)
comes from the idea catching fire and people searching for more information on it.

Another aspect to the push and pull effect involves content that is created by marketers and/or
discussions that come out of a social media marketing effort that can also rank in the search
results. Creating socially enabled content that is optimized for keywords phrases with
established demand allows a brand, product or company to occupy multiple positions on the
same search query. By socially enabling that content with save/share/comment features,
marketers facilitate distribution within social communities. This is especially true when
digital asset optimization tactics are employed.

Here, the push is the creation of optimized content that includes features to make it easier to
travel within social communities. So many people are empowered to link to content on the
web through blogging, commenting on blogs, user generated content and reviews that the
optimized content can achieve desired visibility within standard search engines. The pull
comes from people searching standard search engines for things they need and finding the
optimized content.

Understanding the difference in context and user expectations for search and social
networking will give small business marketers a distinct advantage. Implementing SEO savvy
social media marketing tactics allows marketing messages to reach consumers socially as
well as increasing visibility for discovery through search.

Cybersecurity for Social Networking Sites Issues, Challenges, and Solutions

The main purpose of social networking sites is to connect people and organizations. It has
also developed many business opportunities for companies and firms. Social media has
introduced significant changes in the way people communicate. Social networking sites bring
out a specific concern related to the privacy and security of the user. The security and privacy
of these sites mainly focuses on malware detection as it appears to come from a trusted
contact, users are more likely to click on the link. The social networking sites have formed
applications in many areas like-

Social e-commerce: social networking sites can be used for promotions and advertisements
for e-commerce portal owners.

Branding: The social media provides a better platform for companies to attract customers for
more business opportunities.

A. Issues

As the growth of social networking sites has brought various benefits it also has brought
various security concerns. It also provides a vulnerable platform to be exploited by the
attackers. Some issues associated are as follows.

1) Misusing Identity: The attacker impersonates the identity of any user results in misusing
identity. The attackers attack through the applications in which they ask for granting
permission for accessing the information provided in Social Networking Sites. When a user
allows doing so, they will gain access to all the information and that information can be
misused without the knowledge of the user.

2) Threats from using 3rd Party Applications: These applications seek permission from the
user to access personal information for all the various games and apps. The user grants the
app a certain level of permission concerning the user‘s information. And some of these
applications which are playing at the foreground may download a malware on the user‘s
computer or phone without their consent.

3) Trusting Social Networking Sites Operators: The contents that user uploads or posts on
social networking sites, the information are available with the networking operators. The
operators can save account data even after deletion.

4) Viruses, Phishing Attacks and Malwares: Viruses and malware often find their way onto
your computer through those annoying ads. After gaining access to the network, the attacker
can access or steal confidential data by spreading spam mails.

5) Legal Issues: Posting contents that are offensive to any individual or community or
country. There are legal risks associated with the use of social networking sites like leaking
confidential information on sites or invading someone‘s privacy.

6) Tracking Users: It can cause physical security concerns for the user, as the third parties
may access the roaming information of the user by collecting the real-time update on the
user‘s location.
7) Privacy of Data: Users share their information on social networking sites and can cause
privacy braches unless proper security measures are applied. For example, everyone can see
the information of a user if the user‘s default setting is ‗public‘.

B. Risks and Challenges

With the increase in the number of users accessing social networking sites, has opened new
routes for the attackers to gain access to the accounts of the individuals. The more
Information that is posted creates a new threat on the privacy and security of the user.

Social Sites are growing rapidly posing new risks for individuals and organizations in this
modern world of technology. And some of the challenges are as follows-

1) Phishing Attacks: It is a technique for accessing sensitive information. The attackers make
fake web pages that look like the legitimate ones and ask users to enter their credentials and
the user gets in trouble when the user enters the credentials. Kaspersky Lab‘s statistics
exposed that the fake social sites imitating Facebook user‘s accounts for nearly 22% of
phishing attacks in 2014. According to Kaspersky Lab, phishing is a major threat in Russia
and the Europe as the number of attacks has increased in this region, up 18% to 36.3 million
attacks in Q3 2015 as compared with the same time period last year. For example, A
Moldovan man ran a phishing scheme that ended in a loss of $3.5 million for a western
Pennsylvania drilling firm. A school district was almost tricked by the same scam into
sending almost a million dollars. The email contains malware in a zip file attachment.

2) Identity Federation Challenges: It is a technique used to share user credentials across

multiple domains. For example, many sites offer users to log in by their Facebook account so
that it is more convenient to the user and the user does not have to make multiple accounts
across different sites. It may seem convenient but the user does not have the knowledge about
on how and to what extent their personal information can be shared among third party
applications.

3) Malwares: Malwares are the programs that are installed in the user‘s devices without the
knowledge and consent of the user. This spreads fast and infects the devices. 390,000
malicious programs are registered every day by AV-Test Institute (AV-TEST, 2016). It
causes security defects in the software viruses, worms, and Trojan horses are examples of
malicious software. Attackers can gain access to the personal information of the user by
monitoring the activities of the computer and the computer can also be controlled or can
engage in mass attacks without the knowledge of the user as malwares can steal the identity
of the user and malwares can also crash the computers. Also, hackers can install forms of
adware that can cause endless pop-up ads on the user‘s machine such as-

a) ‘LOL’ Virus: This virus spreads through chat function of Facebook. This virus is sent to
the user stating ―lol‖ with an attachment. And when the user clicks on the link a malware is
downloaded to the user‘s system. The virus infects the system and spreads through the
network gaining access to the user‘s information.
b) Zeus: This is a Trojan that spreads by clicking on the link. And when a user clicks on the
link it scans all the files on the user‘s system and steals the important information. The
specialty of this Trojan is to steal bank credentials of the user.

4) Click Jacking Attacks: also called UI redress attacks. Where the Trojan in web pages
asks the user to click on the malicious link, and a malware is planted onto the system. This is
common in Facebook with the name like jacking that is when a user likes a page, a picture or
a video the user is trapped by the attackers. This type of attacks are done to do malicious
attack or to make some page popular.

Non-linear media is a form of audiovisual media that can be interacted with by the viewer,
such as by selecting television shows to watch through a video on demand type service, by
playing a video game, by clicking through a website, or by interacting through social media.
Non-linear media is a move away from traditional linear media, in which content is selected
by the publisher to be consumed and is then done so passively. There is no single specific
form of non-linear media; rather, what might be considered non-linear changes as technology
changes.

User-generated content (UGC) is any type of content created by users of online platforms.
It can be in the form of photos, videos, text posts, product reviews, and more. It's highly
trusted by consumers and impacts purchasing decisions.

User engagement is a term for all of the ways we can measure how a visitor is interacting
with a website‘s content. These metrics include the total amount of time they spend on the
site, how many comments they leave, and whether they choose to share it on social media.
User engagement measures whether users find value in a product or service. Engagement can
be measured by a variety or combination of activities such as downloads, clicks, shares, and
more. Highly engaged users are generally more profitable, provided that their activities are
tied to valuable outcomes such as purchases, signups, subscriptions, or clicks.

Website traffic analysis is the process of collecting and interpreting key data points that
describe web traffic to and from your site. Web traffic is information about every user that
visits your site. While the general rule of thumb is the more traffic, the better, high traffic
numbers alone don‘t always translate to increased sales or lead generation. Web traffic
analysis breaks down data using specific metrics to organize that data and help you
understand:

 Who‘s visiting your site

 How long they're on your site
 What they‘re doing while on your site
 Most-likely reasons they leave your site

When you're equipped with accurate and immediate website traffic data, it‘s possible to
develop pattern models that identify potential weak points in your web design and inform
ongoing development decisions. The good news is there are a number of resources you can
implement to help with your website traffic analysis.

Data visualization is a graphical representation of information and data. By using visual

elements like charts, graphs, and maps, data visualization tools provide an accessible way to
see and understand trends, outliers, and patterns in data. Benefits of good data visualization

Our eyes are drawn to colours and patterns. We can quickly identify red from blue, and
square from the circle. Our culture is visual, including everything from art and
advertisements to TV and movies. Data visualization is another form of visual art that grabs
our interest and keeps our eyes on the message. When we see a chart, we quickly see trends
and outliers. If we can see something, we internalize it quickly. It‘s storytelling with a
purpose. If you‘ve ever stared at a massive spreadsheet of data and couldn‘t see a trend, you
know how much more effective a visualization can be. The uses of Data Visualization as
follows.

• Powerful way to explore data with presentable results.

• Primary use is the pre-processing portion of the data mining process.

• Supports the data cleaning process by finding incorrect and missing values.

• For variable derivation and selection means to determine which variable to include
and discarded in the analysis.

• Also play a role in combining categories as part of the data reduction process.

List of Methods to Visualize Data

• Column Chart: It is also called a vertical bar chart where each category is represented
by a rectangle. The height of the rectangle is proportional to the values that are plotted.

• Bar Graph: It has rectangular bars in which the lengths are proportional to the values
which are represented.

• Stacked Bar Graph: It is a bar style graph that has various components stacked
together so that apart from the bar, the components can also be compared to each other.

• Stacked Column Chart: It is similar to a stacked bar; however, the data is stacked
horizontally.

• Area Chart: It combines the line chart and bar chart to show how the numeric values
of one or more groups change over the progress of a viable area.

• Dual Axis Chart: It combines a column chart and a line chart and then compares the
two variables.
• Line Graph: The data points are connected through a straight line; therefore, creating
a representation of the changing trend.

• Mekko Chart: It can be called a two-dimensional stacked chart with varying column
widths.

• Pie Chart: It is a chart where various components of a data set are presented in the
form of a pie which represents their proportion in the entire data set.

• Waterfall Chart: With the help of this chart, the increasing effect of sequentially
introduced positive or negative values can be understood.

• Bubble Chart: It is a multi-variable graph that is a hybrid of Scatter Plot and a

Proportional Area Chart.

• Scatter Plot Chart: It is also called a scatter chart or scatter graph. Dots are used to
denote values for two different numeric variables.

• Bullet Graph: It is a variation of a bar graph. A bullet graph is used to swap dashboard
gauges and meters.

• Funnel Chart: The chart determines the flow of users with the help of a business or
sales process.

• Heat Map: It is a technique of data visualization that shows the level of instances as
color in two dimensions.

1. Pie charts

Pie charts are one of the most common and basic data visualization techniques, used across a
wide range of applications. Pie charts are ideal for illustrating proportions, or part-to-whole
comparisons. Because pie charts are relatively simple and easy to read, they‘re best suited for
audiences who might be unfamiliar with the information or are only interested in the key
takeaways. For viewers who require a more thorough explanation of the data, pie charts fall
short in their ability to display complex information.

2. Bar Chart

The classic bar chart, or bar graph, is another common and easy-to-use method of data
visualization. In this type of visualization, one axis of the chart shows the categories being
compared, and the other, a measured value. The length of the bar indicates how each group
measures according to the value.

One drawback is that labeling and clarity can become problematic when there are too many
categories included. Like pie charts, they can also be too simple for more complex data sets.
3. Histogram

Unlike bar charts, histograms illustrate the distribution of data over a continuous interval or
defined period. These visualizations are helpful in identifying where values are concentrated,
as well as where there are gaps or unusual values. Histograms are especially useful for
showing the frequency of a particular occurrence. For instance, if you‘d like to show how
many clicks your website received each day over the last week, you can use a histogram.
From this visualization, you can quickly determine which days your website saw the greatest
and fewest number of clicks.

4. Gantt Chart

Gantt charts are particularly common in project management, as they‘re useful in illustrating
a project timeline or progression of tasks. In this type of chart, tasks to be performed are
listed on the vertical axis and time intervals on the horizontal axis. Horizontal bars in the
body of the chart represent the duration of each activity. Utilizing Gantt charts to display
timelines can be incredibly helpful, and enable team members to keep track of every aspect of
a project. Even if you‘re not a project management professional, familiarizing yourself with
Gantt charts can help you stay organized.

5. Heat Map

A heat map is a type of visualization used to show differences in data through variations in
color. These charts use color to communicate values in a way that makes it easy for the
viewer to quickly identify trends. Having a clear legend is necessary in order for a user to
successfully read and interpret a heatmap.

There are many possible applications of heat maps. For example, if you want to analyze
which time of day a retail store makes the most sales, you can use a heat map that shows the
day of the week on the vertical axis and time of day on the horizontal axis. Then, by shading
in the matrix with colors that correspond to the number of sales at each time of day, you can
identify trends in the data that allow you to determine the exact times your store experiences
the most sales.

6. A Box and Whisker Plot

A box and whisker plot, or box plot, provides a visual summary of data through its quartiles.
First, a box is drawn from the first quartile to the third of the data set. A line within the box
represents the median. ―Whiskers,‖ or lines, are then drawn extending from the box to the
minimum (lower extreme) and maximum (upper extreme). Outliers are represented by
individual points that are in-line with the whiskers. This type of chart is helpful in quickly
identifying whether or not the data is symmetrical or skewed, as well as providing a visual
summary of the data set that can be easily interpreted.

7. Waterfall Chart
 A waterfall chart is a visual representation that illustrates how a value changes as it‘s
influenced by different factors, such as time. The main goal of this chart is to show the
viewer how a value has grown or declined over a defined period. For example, waterfall
charts are popular for showing spending or earnings over time.

8. Area Chart

An area chart, or area graph, is a variation on a basic line graph in which the area underneath
the line is shaded to represent the total value of each data point. When several data series
must be compared on the same graph, stacked area charts are used. This method of data
visualization is useful for showing changes in one or more quantities over time, as well as
showing how each quantity combines to make up the whole. Stacked area charts are effective
in showing part-to-whole comparisons.

9. Scatter Plot

Another technique commonly used to display data is a scatter plot. A scatter plot displays
data for two variables as represented by points plotted against the horizontal and vertical axis.
This type of data visualization is useful in illustrating the relationships that exist between
variables and can be used to identify trends or correlations in data. Scatter plots are most
effective for fairly large data sets, since it‘s often easier to identify trends when there are
more data points present. Additionally, the closer the data points are grouped together, the
stronger the correlation or trend tends to be.

10. Pictogram Chart

Pictogram charts, or pictograph charts, are particularly useful for presenting simple data in a
more visual and engaging way. These charts use icons to visualize data, with each icon
representing a different value or category. For example, data about time might be represented
by icons of clocks or watches. Each icon can correspond to either a single unit or a set
number of units (for example, each icon represents 100 units). In addition to making the data
more engaging, pictogram charts are helpful in situations where language or cultural
differences might be a barrier to the audience‘s understanding of the data.

11. Timeline

Timelines are the most effective way to visualize a sequence of events in chronological
order. They‘re typically linear, with key events outlined along the axis. Timelines are used to
communicate time-related information and display historical data. Timelines allow you to
highlight the most important events that occurred, or need to occur in the future, and make it
easy for the viewer to identify any patterns appearing within the selected time period. While
timelines are often relatively simple linear visualizations, they can be made more visually
appealing by adding images, colors, fonts, and decorative shapes.

12. Highlight Table

A highlight table is a more engaging alternative to traditional tables. By highlighting cells in
the table with color, you can make it easier for viewers to quickly spot trends and patterns in
the data. These visualizations are useful for comparing categorical data. Depending on the
data visualization tool you‘re using, you may be able to add conditional formatting rules to
the table that automatically color cells that meet specified conditions. For instance, when
using a highlight table to visualize a company‘s sales data, you may color cells red if the sales
data is below the goal, or green if sales were above the goal. Unlike a heat map, the colors in
a highlight table are discrete and represent a single meaning or value.

13. Bullet Graph

A bullet graph is a variation of a bar graph that can act as an alternative to dashboard gauges
to represent performance data. The main use for a bullet graph is to inform the viewer of how
a business is performing in comparison to benchmarks that are in place for key business
metrics. In a bullet graph, the darker horizontal bar in the middle of the chart represents the
actual value, while the vertical line represents a comparative value, or target. If the horizontal
bar passes the vertical line, the target for that metric has been surpassed. Additionally, the
segmented colored sections behind the horizontal bar represent range scores, such as ―poor,‖
―fair,‖ or ―good.‖

14. Choropleth Maps

A choropleth map uses color, shading, and other patterns to visualize numerical values
across geographic regions. These visualizations use a progression of color (or shading) on a
spectrum to distinguish high values from low. Choropleth maps allow viewers to see how a
variable changes from one region to the next. A potential downside to this type of
visualization is that the exact numerical values aren‘t easily accessible because the colors
represent a range of values. Some data visualization tools, however, allow you to add
interactivity to your map so the exact values are accessible.

15. Word Cloud

A word cloud, or tag cloud, is a visual representation of text data in which the size of the
word is proportional to its frequency. The more often a specific word appears in a dataset, the
larger it appears in the visualization. In addition to size, words often appear bolder or follow a
specific color scheme depending on their frequency. Word clouds are often used on websites
and blogs to identify significant keywords and compare differences in textual data between
two sources. They are also useful when analyzing qualitative datasets, such as the specific
words consumers used to describe a product.

16. Network Diagram

Network diagrams are a type of data visualization that represent relationships between
qualitative data points. These visualizations are composed of nodes and links, also called
edges. Nodes are singular data points that are connected to other nodes through edges, which
show the relationship between multiple nodes. There are many use cases for network
diagrams, including depicting social networks, highlighting the relationships between
employees at an organization, or visualizing product sales across geographic regions.

17. Correlation Matrix

A correlation matrix is a table that shows correlation coefficients between variables. Each
cell represents the relationship between two variables, and a color scale is used to
communicate whether the variables are correlated and to what extent. Correlation matrices
are useful to summarize and find patterns in large data sets. In business, a correlation matrix
might be used to analyze how different data points about a specific product might be related,
such as price, advertising spend, launch date, etc.

OTHER DATA VISUALIZATION OPTIONS

While the examples listed above are some of the most commonly used techniques, there are
many other ways you can visualize data to become a more effective communicator. Some
other data visualization options include:

• Bubble clouds • Ring Charts

• Cartograms • Sankey diagram
• Circle views • Span charts
• Dendrograms • Streamgraphs
• Dot distribution maps • Treemaps
• Open-high-low-close charts • Wedge stack graphs
• Polar areas • Violin plots
• Radial trees

Eye Tracking Eye tracking is a piece of technology which enables users to follow the eye
movements of an individual. This is most commonly used by online marketers to research
how successfully a piece of online content captures the attention of a viewer. This technology
enables users to track the path of the viewer‘s gaze across the content, while also detailing the
order in which they look at these elements.

This technique can assist the process of web analytics, as it provides a useful insight into
viewers‘ responses to the content. In the case of a website, eye tracking can be used to make
changes to a web page in order to create a more enjoyable experience for visitors and boost
the conversion rate that the company achieves.

Information about the eye movements of the viewer is then compiled into an eye tracking
report. Website creators and marketers often use eye tracking reports to gauge how attention-
grabbing their online materials are. Then, this report can be used to ensure that key elements
of the web page are seen by more visitors.

How to create an eye tracking report

The process of eye tracking uses a specialist piece of technology with a built-in gaze tracking
device. This monitors the position of the eye and how it moves across the screen. These
devices commonly operate by using infrared light, which the eye reflects onto a sensor. A
projector will project this light onto the viewer‘s eyes. Then, an in-built camera photographs
the viewer‘s eyes during the course of their viewing session. A computer with specialist
image processing software then analyzes these images and constructs a map of the viewing
session. The computer converts the information that it has gathered into a more accessible
format for the website developer to assess. This research tool is designed to be an unobtrusive
type of user measurement, which encourages the viewer to interact with the image in a
completely natural way.

For an eye tracking test, the user will need to be present in person and specialist equipment
will be required. This equipment can be purchased online and used in-house by the company.
However, the required equipment is often expensive.Eye tracking systems can operate in a
number of different ways, including embedded display systems, specialist computer software,
or specialist glasses for the viewer to wear. An eye tracking test could also be combined with
other user behavior measurement tools, such as tracking the use of the keyboard, mouse
tracking or voice monitoring.

What can eye tracking be used for?

Eye tracking is used across a range of research fields and applications, including psychology,
healthcare, neuromarketing and aviation, to name a few. It is also commonly used to provide
valuable information for online marketers, which helps them to assess the success of their
online offerings.

Eye tracking can provide marketers with information regarding a wide variety of user
metrics, including:

• What elements of the content are being viewed

• Which elements of the content are the most visually engaging
• How long a user views a particular element of the content
• The order in which different elements of the content are viewed
• How clear the content is for the viewer to follow
• The success of different elements of the content in relation to each other
• See how much attention a viewer places on the content
• What areas of the content are being ignored
• The patterns of usage and the behavior of different users

It is important to note that the main issue with eye tracking is that it provides you with a
breakdown of these viewer trends, but the data is objective - as a result, it is up to the owner
of the website to assess why these trends may exist.

Interpreting an eye tracking report

After a research sesion, the eye tracking data is compiled into a report. The report of the eye
tracking session could be displayed in the form of either a video recording of the user‘s
journey through the webpage, a heat map or a saccade pathway diagram. A heat map acts as a
colour-coded data visualization technique. For this, a warm to cold colour scale is used to
indicate volume. The warmer the colour on the image, the more often it has been viewed. It
also displays information pertaining to how long a viewer looked at a particular point on the
image. This is shown by a red to blue colour scale, with a red dot on a point indicating that
this point was focused on for more time than other areas of the image.

A saccade pathway illustrates this pattern as a series of red dots and lines. The red dots are
numbered in the order that they were viewed, and red lines connecting these dots represent
the path which the eye took to reach this point.

Importance for Online Marketing

This type of tracking enables marketers to gain a clearer understanding of how users interact
with online content. It provides a more detailed understanding of user behavior, which can
help marketers optimize their content. By understanding what areas of an image the audience
did and did not engage with, changes can be made accordingly, in order to create visual
materials which are more engaging, intuitive and easy-to-follow.

Eye tracking can be used to assist with a wide variety of different online marketing functions,
including improving the user experience and the user interface of a website.

A/B testing can also be combined with eye tracking in order to gauge the impact of different
changes to the web page to this effect. For example, eye tracking could be used to improve a
landing page, optimize a call to action, reduce the exit rate of a page, redesign a web page, or
undertake a process of mobile optimization.

https://www.mygreatlearning.com/blog/understanding-data-visualization-techniques/

https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/data-visualization-techniques

https://www.seobility.net/en/wiki/Eye_Tracking#:~:text=7%20Similar%20articles-
,Definition,the%20attention%20of%20a%20viewer

https://vwo.com/blog/eye-tracking-website-optimization

https://neilpatel.com/blog/eye-tracking-studies

Content Management System (CMS)

A content management system (CMS) is a piece of software or a group of related software

applications that lets you create and manage digital content. CMSs are used for enterprise
content management (ECM) and web content management (WCM). An enterprise content
management system simplifies collaboration within organizations by integrating document
management, digital asset management, and data storage capabilities, and offers role-based
access to the organization's digital resources. Web content management systems help with the
collaborative creation, publishing, and maintenance of a website.

How content management systems work

Both ECM and WCM systems consist of two components. A content management
application (CMA) and a content delivery application (CDA) form the software's basis. The
CMA is a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows you to create websites and to create,
update, and maintain content without programming knowledge. It allows all authorized
persons to edit the content. The CDA then updates the website so visitors can access the new
content. Content management systems separate the content and layout of a website, which
allows you to change them independently of each other. You can implement, change, and
extend different content types such as texts, images, or videos without the need for a
programmer to redesign or update the website. The data entered through the UI is stored in a
database. When visitors access the website, this data is retrieved from the database and
displayed in your selected template.

Advantages of content management systems

The big advantages of content management systems compared to static HTML web pages are
usability and easy maintenance. CMSs offer simplicity, flexibility, and scalability and are a
cost-effective solution for individuals, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) ,as well as large
corporations. They simplify the distribution, deletion, modification, retrieval, and reuse of
content. A CMS allows you to control, manage, and structure your content in real-time
without the need for a programmer, HTML knowledge, or programming languages.

Example of creating content with WordPress

Content management systems also help organizations to automate data, accelerate workflow,
simplify process management, and improve communication by providing a collaborative
environment for content sharing. A CMS enables access to web page content from anywhere
via any device connected to the internet. The selection of a CMS, therefore, depends
primarily on the individual requirements and the scope of the web project.

The most popular CMS for dynamic websites

There are several free and paid CMS available on the web for creating dynamic websites. The
five most popular and free CMS are:

WordPress

WordPress was originally developed as a simple open-source software for blogs and was
released in 2003. Today WordPress is the world's leading free CMS for creating dynamic
websites. With about 50,000 plugins, the system can be customized individually. WordPress
is easy to use even for beginners after a short training period.

Joomla!

Following WordPress, Joomla! is the second most frequently used content management
system worldwide. The software is easy to use, modern, and with around 8,000 partially free
extensions, it can be adapted to individual requirements.

Drupal

Drupal is an open-source content management framework developed in the Netherlands. It

offers a wide range of features and is used for complex corporate websites, private blogs, and
government websites. Around 40,000 free modules and more than 2,500 free themes are
available for customization.

TYPO3

TYPO3 is an open-source content management system available in more than 50 languages

with numerous extension options. TYPO3 is very flexible and can be used from small
websites to complex, multilingual solutions for internationally operating companies.
However, due to the system's wide range of features, TYPO3 requires a long training period.

Contao

Contao is a browser-based content management system first published in 2006 under the
name TYPOLight. It offers a simple template system, powerful document management,
news, event, and newsletter modules, a form generator, and a convenient user and
authorization management.

Search engine friendly CMS

Basically, all CMSs are designed to be search engine friendly. In addition, all of them have
large and active communities, ensuring prompt implementation of new web technologies and
making sure that constantly changing search engine requirements are met. This means that
websites created with modern CMS are often well optimized for search engines, without you
having to do anything yourself.

If you want to further optimize a CMS for search engines, especially for Google, you can use
several extensions, plugins, and modules. Numerous SEO plugins are available for
WordPress, allowing you to adapt the CMS to search engines‘ requirements. The most
popular SEO plugins for WordPress are Yoast SEO, SEMrush, Open Site Explorer,
LinkPatrol, and SEOquake. Typo3, Drupal, and Joomla! also have a large number of
extensions you can choose from.
RSS Feeds

RSS stands for "really simple syndication" or "rich site summary," depending on who you
talk to. An RSS feed is a web feed that allows applications and their users to access automatic
website or content updates. RSS feeds rely on simple text files, extracting important
information from XML (extensible markup language). Simplified, streamlined content is then
input into an RSS reader, which converts text files into digital updates. Through this process,
an RSS feed makes it possible to turn simple information, like a site name or a content‘s title
description, into a steady stream of news articles and new content pieces. This helps readers
stay up to date with the latest online developments.

To keep up with advancing digital capabilities, RSS files are becoming more complex too.
An RSS feed can now handle images, video, and other non-text content, simplifying all
information to improve organization, loading speed, and RSS reader compatibility. As
internet content became more complex, so did RSS files, quickly adopting images, video, and
more, but still in a stripped-down format for more effortless loading and compatibility across
all feed readers. Readers usually automatically update to deliver the newest content right to
your device. This approach allows internet users to create their online feeds filled with
custom updates from the sites they regularly visit.

Purpose of an RSS feed

Using RSS technology, it's easy to stay on track of new developments online. RSS feeds
make it easy for sites to offer personalized search and viewing experiences in a way that just
isn't possible on other platforms, like social media sites. With RSS, new content can be
categorized and compartmentalized, allowing users to access regular updates without fear of
missing out on important information. For many users, relying on RSS is considered a
popular alternative to maintaining a social media account.

Do RSS Feeds help your SEO?

According to SEO industry experts (Google, Moz and other Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
authorities etc.), RSS feeds do not help your site's SEO or ranking. Though an RSS Feed can
help Google discover new content that comes from a frequently updated site faster (and
therefore index that content faster), these feeds won‘t give your site an SEO boost simply by
having them. For example, if there‘s something new on your site (like new posts, pages and
so forth), the RSS helps search engines find that new content quickly, prompting them to
show it in search faster.

If a site has thousands of updates each day, an RSS feed might be the best solution for search
engines to keep up with these changes. RSS feeds also also help with URL discovery (like
Sitemaps do) and assist in your site reaching new visitors, viewers, etc. However, again, RSS
feeds do not guarantee better indexing or increased rankings.

The working mechanism behind RSS is pretty straightforward.

1. A website willing to publish its content using RSS creates an RSS Feed for it, either
manually or with software.
2. When you subscribe to their RSS feed, you can get all the new content that‘s posted on the
website in an RSS reader – presented in chronological order of newest to oldest.
3. To subscribe to your favorite website‘s RSS feed, click on the RSS icon and obtain the
URL.
4. Simply copy and paste that URL in your RSS reader, and you‘ll become a subscriber to
that particular RSS feed.
5. With an RSS reader, you can subscribe to multiple feed sources, which are the sites that
you‘d like to pull content from.
6. Once you have everything set up, all of your feeds will appear in one location. The RSS
reader will keep checking your feed sources for new content and update you when it finds
something.
7. Your RSS reader will show these essential components: a title, a summary of the article,
and a direct link to the article or post. If a particular title catches your eye, simply click on it
and go to the relevant site.

Search engine marketing

Search engine marketing, or SEM, is one of the most effective ways to grow your business in
an increasingly competitive marketplace. Search engine marketing is the practice of
marketing a business using paid advertisements that appear on search engine results pages (or
SERPs). Advertisers bid on keywords that users of services such as Google and Bing might
enter when looking for certain products or services, which gives the advertiser the
opportunity for their ads to appear alongside results for those search queries.

These ads, often known by the term pay-per-click ads, come in a variety of formats. Some are
small, text-based ads, whereas others, such as product listing ads (PLAs, also known as
Shopping ads) are more visual, product-based advertisements that allow consumers to see
important information at-a-glance, such as price and reviews. Search engine marketing‘s
greatest strength is that it offers advertisers the opportunity to put their ads in front of
motivated customers who are ready to buy at the precise moment they‘re ready to make a
purchase. No other advertising medium can do this, which is why search engine marketing is
so effective and such an amazingly powerful way to grow your business.

SEM vs. SEO

Generally, ―search engine marketing‖ refers to paid search marketing, a system where
businesses pay Google to show their ads in the search results.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is different because businesses don‘t pay Google for
traffic and clicks; rather, they earn a free spot in in the search results by having the most
relevant content for a given keyword search.

Both SEO and SEM should be fundamental parts of your online marketing strategy. SEO is a
powerful way to drive evergreen traffic at the top of the funnel, while search engine
advertisements are a highly cost-effective way to drive conversions at the bottom of the
funnel.

https://www.wordstream.com/search-engine-marketing

SEM in Mobile platforms,

25 Questions To Help You Define Your Social Media Marketing Strategy (and How to
Find the Answers)
https://buffer.com/library/social-media-strategy-questions/