<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/rss2full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Lies, Damned Lies...</title>
<link>http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/</link>
<description>The unpredictable world of online marketing &amp; web analytics</description>
<language>en-US</language>
<lastBuildDate>Mon, 07 Jun 2010 09:17:47 -0700</lastBuildDate>
<generator>http://www.typepad.com/</generator>
<atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LiesDamnedLies" /><feedburner:info uri="liesdamnedlies" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><feedburner:emailServiceId>LiesDamnedLies</feedburner:emailServiceId><feedburner:feedburnerHostname>http://feedburner.google.com</feedburner:feedburnerHostname><item>
<title>Online Advertising Business 101, Part VII: Demand-side Platforms (DSPs)</title>
<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~3/-74e-26qM2U/online-advertising-business-101-part-vii-demand-side-platforms-dsps.html</link>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2010/06/online-advertising-business-101-part-vii-demand-side-platforms-dsps.html</guid>

<content:encoded><![CDATA[It turns out, alarmingly, that it’s been over a year since my last Online Advertising Business 101 post. And a year is an awfully long time in the world of online advertising. Long enough, in fact, for an entirely new kind of company to emerge and become the next big thing. I’m talking, of course, about Demand-side Platforms. You’ve heard of them, I trust? No? Then read on. DSPs, RTBs, oh my As it should happen, my last post in this series was on the subject of Ad Exchanges – a new kind of participant in the advertising value chain that acts as an intermediary between ad networks, allowing them to exchange inventory to make up for shortfalls in supply and demand among their own publishers and advertisers, and also allowing other scale players (e.g. big advertisers like eBay, or a big agency) to buy inventory dynamically across a number of different networks. All those folks had to do was implement some technology to interact with the exchange, and place bids in real-time (on of the key characteristics of an ad exchange being that it can auction inventory in real-time). It turns out that that last glib sentence conceals an...<br/>
<br/>
[This is a content summary only. Please click through for the full post with links and graphics]<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=-74e-26qM2U:buYR9Wh7lf8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=-74e-26qM2U:buYR9Wh7lf8:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=-74e-26qM2U:buYR9Wh7lf8:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?i=-74e-26qM2U:buYR9Wh7lf8:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=-74e-26qM2U:buYR9Wh7lf8:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~4/-74e-26qM2U" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>


<category>Ad industry 101</category>

<dc:creator>ian_d_thomas</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jun 2010 09:17:47 -0700</pubDate>

<feedburner:origLink>http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2010/06/online-advertising-business-101-part-vii-demand-side-platforms-dsps.html</feedburner:origLink></item>
<item>
<title>Wanna work for me?</title>
<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~3/EBp5T5Eak68/wanna-work-for-me.html</link>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2010/03/wanna-work-for-me.html</guid>

<content:encoded><![CDATA[Have a passion for data? Think yourself something of a BI/analytics guru? Does your heart sing whenever you see a well-turned chart (and your toes curl whenever you see something like this)? Looking for a new gig worthy of your exceptional talents? If so, then I might just have the perfect opportunity for you. I’m looking for someone to head up the planning & product management for a big chunk of the internal BI & reporting systems that I manage here at Microsoft – systems which help hundreds of people cross Microsoft’s Online Services Division to make smart decisions about how to run our gigantic display advertising network.Only downside of the role is that you have to work for me. I’m looking for someone who loves the numbers and has the flair, creativity and communications skills to make other people love them too, who’s comfortable working the politics of a big ol’ behemoth like Microsoft, but who likes to move quickly and, as I like to put it, “get sh*t done”. In this role, you’ll wrangle gigantic, disparate data sets and juggle the competing demands of field sales, Finance and monetization specialists as you toil to deliver the definitive view...<br/>
<br/>
[This is a content summary only. Please click through for the full post with links and graphics]<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=EBp5T5Eak68:uCSTYadSGrA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=EBp5T5Eak68:uCSTYadSGrA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=EBp5T5Eak68:uCSTYadSGrA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?i=EBp5T5Eak68:uCSTYadSGrA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=EBp5T5Eak68:uCSTYadSGrA:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~4/EBp5T5Eak68" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>



<dc:creator>ian_d_thomas</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:43:46 -0700</pubDate>

<feedburner:origLink>http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2010/03/wanna-work-for-me.html</feedburner:origLink></item>
<item>
<title>What&amp;rsquo;s another word for &amp;ldquo;Web Analytics&amp;rdquo;?</title>
<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~3/qw_alzRJtoA/whats-another-word-for-web-analytics.html</link>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2010/01/whats-another-word-for-web-analytics.html</guid>

<content:encoded><![CDATA[For as long as I’ve been involved with the field, the term “Web Analytics” has never felt like the very best way to describe, well, Web Analytics – it’s somewhat limiting in many ways (the “Web” part doesn’t help there), and the “Analytics” bit does seem a bit, well, geeky.But another, better, term has never emerged – Web Measurement, Web Stats, Clickstream Analysis and a blizzard of others all have their own limitations (and don’t even get me started on the egregious “eMetrics” – sorry, Jim). Now it seems that folks at the Web Analytics association are finding the term too limiting too, at least in terms of what they consider their remit, as they’ve launched a survey to poll people’s views about whether they should change their organization’s name to something else, and, if so, what they should change it to. You can share your own thoughts here. I can sympathize with the Association’s motivation here, but I’m not very thrilled about the way it seems their thinking is leaning. The survey contains a set of possible alternative names which mostly includes various permutations of including the word “Marketing” in the name of the body (such as the “Digital...<br/>
<br/>
[This is a content summary only. Please click through for the full post with links and graphics]<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=qw_alzRJtoA:DOx9Hm0B4Ig:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=qw_alzRJtoA:DOx9Hm0B4Ig:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=qw_alzRJtoA:DOx9Hm0B4Ig:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?i=qw_alzRJtoA:DOx9Hm0B4Ig:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=qw_alzRJtoA:DOx9Hm0B4Ig:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~4/qw_alzRJtoA" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>


<category>Industry</category>

<dc:creator>ian_d_thomas</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:03:52 -0800</pubDate>

<feedburner:origLink>http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2010/01/whats-another-word-for-web-analytics.html</feedburner:origLink></item>
<item>
<title>I love it when a mail-merge comes together&amp;hellip;</title>
<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~3/cC0LNPD12aQ/i-love-it-when-a-mail-merge-comes-together.html</link>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/12/i-love-it-when-a-mail-merge-comes-together.html</guid>

<content:encoded><![CDATA[Would you buy BI services from a company that can’t successfully execute a mail-merge? Not to mention ones that send unsolicited e-mails to drum up business…<br/>
<br/>
[This is a content summary only. Please click through for the full post with links and graphics]<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=cC0LNPD12aQ:XODYp40aoPo:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=cC0LNPD12aQ:XODYp40aoPo:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=cC0LNPD12aQ:XODYp40aoPo:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?i=cC0LNPD12aQ:XODYp40aoPo:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=cC0LNPD12aQ:XODYp40aoPo:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~4/cC0LNPD12aQ" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>


<category>Humour</category>
<category>Industry</category>
<category>Privacy</category>

<dc:creator>ian_d_thomas</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:33:10 -0800</pubDate>

<feedburner:origLink>http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/12/i-love-it-when-a-mail-merge-comes-together.html</feedburner:origLink></item>
<item>
<title>Data is (are?) Beautiful</title>
<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~3/Seh89i5N1ZQ/data-is-are-beautiful.html</link>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/11/data-is-are-beautiful.html</guid>

<content:encoded><![CDATA[It’s usually my lovely wife who blogs about jewelry, and me who blogs about charts and data, but today the tables are turned – well, almost. Wieden+Kennedy London has come up with a range of designer necklaces which celebrate the beauty of data, under the name Plot. The necklaces use charts of thirty years of various commodity prices (gold, silver, oil and lead) to form the motifs that are embedded within the resin pendants. They’re the brainchild of Lisa Prince, a strategist at Wieden+Kennedy who apparently got the idea while sitting in a meeting staring at PowerPoint charts. So if you happen to have a data-geek woman in your life, and you’ve dismissed my previous nerdy gift idea as too fattening, one of these necklaces could be just what you’re looking for. Unfortunately Mrs. Thomas does not find charts quite as fascinating as I do, so my quest for the perfect Christmas gift continues (although I have been pointed in the direction of a nook).<br/>
<br/>
[This is a content summary only. Please click through for the full post with links and graphics]<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=Seh89i5N1ZQ:ODBaAGmIQ8c:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=Seh89i5N1ZQ:ODBaAGmIQ8c:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=Seh89i5N1ZQ:ODBaAGmIQ8c:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?i=Seh89i5N1ZQ:ODBaAGmIQ8c:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=Seh89i5N1ZQ:ODBaAGmIQ8c:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~4/Seh89i5N1ZQ" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>


<category>Cool stuff</category>
<category>Humour</category>

<dc:creator>ian_d_thomas</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:27:26 -0800</pubDate>

<feedburner:origLink>http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/11/data-is-are-beautiful.html</feedburner:origLink></item>
<item>
<title>Adobe + Omniture = &amp;hellip;what?</title>
<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~3/dLt6go9UcXo/adobe-omniture-what.html</link>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/09/adobe-omniture-what.html</guid>

<content:encoded><![CDATA[By now, almost 12 hours after the announcement, you’ll have heard the news that Adobe is to buy Omniture for $1.8bn. If you haven’t heard, then, I mean, duh. It’s all over Twitter, dude: (As an aside, the guys at Omniture should be proud of themselves that they managed to beat out Joe Wilson as a trending topic for a little while, even as the latter was busy facing down Congress). I don’t think I’m putting myself in the minority when I say that I was totally blind-sided by this announcement. And while I’ve had time to think about it since my first reaction, I’m still a bit mystified by this acquisition. The official line from the press release is that Omniture’s products will help Adobe’s customers optimize, track and monetize their websites & apps. Unofficially, the rationale for the deal seems to be that Adobe needs Omniture’s revenue to supplement its declining income from its range of software. I can see the logic of the official rationale, but I have serious reservations about Adobe’s ability to extract value from this deal, for the following reasons: No pedigree in services: Adobe is primarily a software company; whilst it offers a...<br/>
<br/>
[This is a content summary only. Please click through for the full post with links and graphics]<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=dLt6go9UcXo:R0YRjsmexXo:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=dLt6go9UcXo:R0YRjsmexXo:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=dLt6go9UcXo:R0YRjsmexXo:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?i=dLt6go9UcXo:R0YRjsmexXo:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=dLt6go9UcXo:R0YRjsmexXo:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~4/dLt6go9UcXo" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>


<category>Industry</category>
<category>Web analytics</category>

<dc:creator>ian_d_thomas</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:40:22 -0700</pubDate>

<feedburner:origLink>http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/09/adobe-omniture-what.html</feedburner:origLink></item>
<item>
<title>My face, on the Internet</title>
<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~3/JAS4tIYineA/my-face-on-the-internet.html</link>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/06/my-face-on-the-internet.html</guid>

<content:encoded><![CDATA[I have just noticed (rather belatedly, to say the least) that Laura Lee Dooley has posted a complete video of my encounter with Avinash Kaushik at the May E-metrics Summit in San Jose on Vimeo. The sound quality is a little poor, but you can more or less follow the thread of the conversation. I come across as a cross between Prince Charles, Alastair Campbell and my Dad. Avinash does rather better, particularly around the 26 minute mark. Anyway, watch it for yourself and see who comes out on top.<br/>
<br/>
[This is a content summary only. Please click through for the full post with links and graphics]<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=JAS4tIYineA:GI_kJMmQyrI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=JAS4tIYineA:GI_kJMmQyrI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=JAS4tIYineA:GI_kJMmQyrI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?i=JAS4tIYineA:GI_kJMmQyrI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=JAS4tIYineA:GI_kJMmQyrI:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~4/JAS4tIYineA" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>


<category>Industry</category>
<category>Web analytics</category>

<dc:creator>ian_d_thomas</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:12:43 -0700</pubDate>

<feedburner:origLink>http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/06/my-face-on-the-internet.html</feedburner:origLink></item>
<item>
<title>Does Display help Search? Or does Search help Display?</title>
<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~3/vLfjfnV8axI/does-display-help-search-or-does-search-help-display.html</link>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/05/does-display-help-search-or-does-search-help-display.html</guid>

<content:encoded><![CDATA[One of the topics that we didn’t get quite enough time to cover in detail in my face-off with Avinash Kaushik at last week’s eMetrics Summit (of which more in another post) was the thorny issue of conversion attribution. When I asked Avinash about it, he made the sensible point that trying to correctly “attribute” a conversion to a mix of the interactions that preceded it ends up being a very subjective process, and that adopting a more experimental approach – tweaking aspects of a campaign and seeing which tweaks result in higher conversion rates – is more sound. I asked the question in part because conversion attribution is conspicuously absent from Google Analytics – a fact which raises an interesting question about whether it’s in Google’s interest to include a feature like this, since it may stand to lose more than it gains by doing so (since the effective ROI of search will almost certainly go down when other channels are mixed into an attribution model). Our own Atlas Institute is quite vocal on this topic, and has published a number of white papers such as this one [PDF] about the consideration/conversion funnel, and this one [PDF], on which...<br/>
<br/>
[This is a content summary only. Please click through for the full post with links and graphics]<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=vLfjfnV8axI:a0cc-a0RrMY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=vLfjfnV8axI:a0cc-a0RrMY:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=vLfjfnV8axI:a0cc-a0RrMY:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?i=vLfjfnV8axI:a0cc-a0RrMY:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=vLfjfnV8axI:a0cc-a0RrMY:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~4/vLfjfnV8axI" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>


<category>Branding &amp; Advertising</category>
<category>Google</category>
<category>Online marketing</category>
<category>Web analytics</category>

<dc:creator>ian_d_thomas</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2009 00:46:21 -0700</pubDate>

<feedburner:origLink>http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/05/does-display-help-search-or-does-search-help-display.html</feedburner:origLink></item>
<item>
<title>What would you like to ask Avinash Kaushik?</title>
<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~3/4LtE1I7UGEE/what-would-emyouem-like-to-ask-avinash-kaushik.html</link>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/04/what-would-emyouem-like-to-ask-avinash-kaushik.html</guid>

<content:encoded><![CDATA[The gloves will be tied tight. Brightly colored silk dressing gowns will be shrugged to the floor; gum-shields inserted. In the blue corner: yours truly. In the red (and blue, yellow and green) corner, web analytics heavyweight, Avinash Kaushik. As the crowd bays for blood, battle will be joined. The Garden never saw anything like this. Well, ok, it’ll probably be a bit more civilized (well, a lot more civilized) than that. But at next week’s E-metrics Summit in San Jose, Avinash and I will indeed be going head to head in the “Rules for Analytics Revolutionaries” session on Wednesday May 6 at 3.25. In that session, I’ll be asking Avinash some genuinely tricky questions to really get to the heart of some of the thorniest issues around web analytics today, such as campaign attribution, free versus paid tools, and what, really, the point of all this electronic navel-gazing really is. But I could use your help. In my comments box below, or via e-mail, suggest the question(s) you’d most like me to ask Avinash next week. This is your big chance to ask Avinash the question you’re too embarrassed/polite/nervous to ask him in person. If you’re going to be...<br/>
<br/>
[This is a content summary only. Please click through for the full post with links and graphics]<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=4LtE1I7UGEE:Gnlo6Jby5kA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=4LtE1I7UGEE:Gnlo6Jby5kA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=4LtE1I7UGEE:Gnlo6Jby5kA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?i=4LtE1I7UGEE:Gnlo6Jby5kA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=4LtE1I7UGEE:Gnlo6Jby5kA:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~4/4LtE1I7UGEE" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>


<category>Google</category>
<category>Microsoft</category>
<category>Web analytics</category>

<dc:creator>ian_d_thomas</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:22:52 -0700</pubDate>

<feedburner:origLink>http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/04/what-would-emyouem-like-to-ask-avinash-kaushik.html</feedburner:origLink></item>
<item>
<title>Google adds rank information to referral URLs</title>
<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~3/cpwSQyoP3y0/google-adds-rank-information-to-referral-urls.html</link>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/04/google-adds-rank-information-to-referral-urls.html</guid>

<content:encoded><![CDATA[An interesting post on the official Google Analytics blog from Brett Crosby appeared last week, in which he announced that Google is to start introducing a new URL format in its referring click-through URLs for organic (i.e. non-paid) results. From Brett’s post: Starting this week, you may start seeing a new referring URL format for visitors coming from Google search result pages. Up to now, the usual referrer for clicks on search results for the term "flowers", for example, would be something like this: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=flowers&btnG=Google+Search Now you will start seeing some referrer strings that look like this: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=7&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2Fmypage.htm&ei=0SjdSa-1N5O8M_qW8dQN&rct=j&q=flowers&usg=AFQjCNHJXSUh7Vw7oubPaO3tZOzz-F-u_w&sig2=X8uCFh6IoPtnwmvGMULQfw Brett points out that the referring URL now starts with /url? rather than /search? (which is interesting in itself in its implication for the way Google is starting to think about its search engine as a dynamic content generation engine); but the really interesting thing, which Brett doesn’t call out but which was confirmed by Jason Burby in his ClickZ column today, is the appearance of the cd parameter in the revised URL, which indicates the position of the result in the search results page (SRP). So in the example above, where cd=7, the link that was clicked was 7th in the...<br/>
<br/>
[This is a content summary only. Please click through for the full post with links and graphics]<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=cpwSQyoP3y0:5Cm44XF3sTM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=cpwSQyoP3y0:5Cm44XF3sTM:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=cpwSQyoP3y0:5Cm44XF3sTM:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?i=cpwSQyoP3y0:5Cm44XF3sTM:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?a=cpwSQyoP3y0:5Cm44XF3sTM:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LiesDamnedLies?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LiesDamnedLies/~4/cpwSQyoP3y0" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>


<category>Google</category>
<category>Search</category>
<category>Web analytics</category>

<dc:creator>ian_d_thomas</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:53:23 -0700</pubDate>

<feedburner:origLink>http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2009/04/google-adds-rank-information-to-referral-urls.html</feedburner:origLink></item>

</channel>
</rss><!-- ph=1 --><!-- nhm:from_kauri -->
