Web Metrics and Online Audits – Nice, But Not Necessary

Just read Rob Yoegel’s blog over on Publishing Executive, What Exactly is ‘Publisher’s Own Data?’ He brings up the never-ending specter of the inaccuracies and lack of transparency in web sites that report their own web metrics (uniques, visit, page views, etc.).  He reiterates all of the important points, but what I found most fascinating were the comments posted in response to Rob’s post. Nearly all of the comments focused on how publishers need to get more involved with web audits. Of course the comment thread was started by Peter Black, SVP of Business Development for BPA Worldwide so it makes sense that the discussion would revolve around auditing. (FULL DISCLOSURE: Peter is a friend of mine and I am on the advisory board for BPA Worldwide online audits).

My comment on the discussion was that, in the end, neither web metrics nor online audits give advertisers the information they REALLY need to know. Let’s face it, advertisers very rarely buy a position on a web site where they get exposure to every single visitor, every time they visit, on on every page view that they see on your site. Online is not like print and we need to stop thinking like it is. When advertising online, what advertisers really need to know is:

• For the money I am spending…
• How many times will my ad be seen? (e.g. impressions)
• What are the demographics of the people that will see my ad?
• What size is the ad?
• Where is it placed on the page?
• How many other ads will mine compete with on the page?

What is most important from an advertiser perspective is not that you have web metrics or an online audit that filters out spiders/bots and internal traffic, but that your AD SERVER filters out spiders/bots and internal traffic.

I’m not saying that web metrics and online audits don’t have a place. Web metrics, as BPA mentions in it’s stance on analytics vs. audits, are most useful for the publishing team to analyze traffic sources, patterns, conversion, content usage, etc. and in using these metrics to make adjustments, benchmark, and grow your online business. They are also useful for showing an advertiser your total site impact and growth which is important psychologically to an advertiser. Most publishers use major analytics providers such as Omniture or Google Analytics (which most of your advertisers probably use and trust anyway). An online audit simply takes those metrics to the next level and adds an extra layer of credibility. But neither web metrics nor online audits provide any proof of actual advertising value or exposure to that same audience! This is why online audits are having such a difficult time getting off the ground with publishers and why we’re not seeing the demand for them from advertisers.

So what do you do? Continue to use your Omniture and Google Analytics metrics for both internal use and to show advertisers your brand online impact and growth. Consider adding the extra level of psychological credibility that an online audit brings. But realize that at the end of the day, you and your advertisers really should be concerned about the metrics provided from your ad server since that is what tells advertisers the actual value they got for what they paid.