Page Value
The page value is one of the measures used by Google Analytics to analyze a website. It shows the value of a website based on the defined objectives or transactions that take place on it. It is therefore a measure of how interested users are in a specific website within a domain, which is visited on the way to a transaction, conversion, or lead.
General information
The path that a user follows before making a purchase, etc. can be viewed as a click path. Every website is regarded as a node that is clicked by the user. Since some websites only have informational offers whereas others provide transactional services, this path is very important when assessing the effectiveness of a website’s content. The page value establishes a connection between websites that were visited before the actual transaction and on which a commitment was made by the user. With the assessment of the page value, Google Analytics considers both the websites that led to a lead, e.g., in the form of a newsletter as well as those that began to purchase a product or order a service.
For the page value, the page that was viewed by the user before the conversion page as well as the pre-defined page objectives are much more decisive that the conversion page. Each user is regarded as a unique viewer or unique visitor. The number of page visits as well as the page impressions have no effect on the page value. With the page value, it is possible to assess the value of the pages leading to a goal, whereby the assessment is done per user.
Features
Without the integration of an e-commerce system, setting of goals, and assignment of values for certain pages, it would be impossible to determine the page value. As such, the page value depends on different factors. After the implementation of an online shop together with the e-commerce system, goals have to be defined. In Google Analytics settings, one can specify the respective goals for the various websites. For example, you could have a product page that is assigned a value of 100 €, whereas a page for a newsletter registration is assigned a value of 10 €. If a user visits a particular sequence of websites, e.g., from homepage A to newsletter B and then to product page C, the page value can be calculated as follows:
(product page 100 € + newsletter 10 €) / (no. of unique users of the homepage (in this case 1)) = 110 €
The homepage is thus assigned a value of 110 € with respect to the subsequent leads and conversions.[1] In order to calculate the page value, you either need an e-commerce system or predefined goals. The target value is also an important KPI in Google Analytics as it is also used to calculate other key figures such as ROI (return on investment) or the average. [2]
If certain websites are visited more frequently by individual users who follow a certain path to generate transactions or leads, these websites are given a correspondingly high page value. They are very valuable within the domain. The page value can also be assessed for page groups. Here, several websites are selected for the evaluation.
Importance for search engine optimization
Different measures can be used to raise the page value of specific websites. Strategies such as permission and inbound marketing, viral and content marketing, etc. can be used to do this. Here, the key is to give the user an incentive to visit the homepage. Not necessarily for a purchase but also to generate a lead or the initial part of the click path.
If users find the information or offers that they were looking for, they often do not go through the entire homepage but rather navigate to the website on which the transaction or leads can be made. The various approaches for such homepages depend on the company, the industry, and, last but not least, the adopted concept. Here, it is important to anticipate the questions and searches of users and, hence, provide the relevant content.
References
- ↑ Valuing Content Using Page Value. support.google.com. Accessed on 05/27/2014
- ↑ Zielwert. support.google.com. Accessed on 05/27/2014