Note the Client companies are based in either the US or Canada and the “percentage of traffic outside key service areas” are based on each client’s target market.
For instance, if a client only services the US only, any traffic outside the US would be traffic outside their service area.
Evaluating Your Own Traffic For Relevance
To use our own web design and Internet marketing business as an example, we service both Canada and the US, but were getting 24% of our traffic from other international countries. Big portions of that traffic were companies looking to sell their services to us.
These international visitors would fill in our web forms and call us to inquire, untimely skewing our website analytics data by not giving us a real understanding of how our website was performing to quality prospects.
A solution had to be implemented to significantly reduce the amount of resources we were dedicating to people outside our service areas.
Ultimately, we didn’t want to be contacted from people we couldn’t help. The four possible solutions we considered were:
- Create a custom report in Google Analytics to filter out the unwanted data (reporting related)
- Adjust the content of our website (website related)
- Block the traffic from specific Countries from viewing our website (server related)
- Don’t change anything.
Option #1
When evaluating the first solution, creating a custom report to filter out this data in Google Analytics, this would clear up our analytics data. Implementing a filter would provide a more realistic picture of quality prospects we could service in our geographic area instead of those prospects or solicitors in other counties we don’t service.
This option didn’t run the risk of blocking any traffic or robots that we do want. It’s also a simple filter to add in Google Analytics. We set up another Profile with the country exclusions filters. A new Profile was the preferred approach, rather than going through the extra steps of creating Custom Reports.
However, setting up analytical filters doesn’t fully resolve the issue, since these visitors could still access our site, fill in web forms, and contact us, ultimately wasting resources that we could dedicate elsewhere.
It wouldn’t give us a true picture of what was going on. It also wouldn’t resolve the problem – we didn’t want to be contacted by companies from some outside countries.
Option #2
Updating the website content to say you only service a specific area is another solution that we considered. This would inject more geo-targeted keywords into your site, which would help in local SEO. Adding a graphical map, drop-down options and/or links that allow the visitor to select their country would help qualify visitors.
Some of the downfalls of this option include spending a much higher amount of time to implement versus the other options. The success of this would also be dependent on how honest the visitor is.
Assuming visitors are reading your website content, adding geo-targeted keywords into your site would set a clearer expectation of service area delivery. However, this option still doesn’t resolve the issue of sharing contact information that allows unsolicited visitors to contact us and invalid web form data.
Option #3
How about blocking or filtering visitors automatically based on their IP address? When considering to block website visitors by IP it’s important to first evaluate the reliability of the IP address(es). The accuracy of an IP list is over 99.5% on a country level and 80% on a city level. The smaller the location, the less reliable the IP address.
Internet Service Providers change IP addresses they designate to customers. Some change them more frequently than others, which is why you want to keep the database of IPs updated. Scheduling a monthly update is typically a good routine if city level IP authentication is required. Country level is much more static.
The benefit of blocking the country via IP address would not only clean up analytical data, but also ensure our sales funnel was more efficient and provide a more accurate picture of real prospects in all systems. We needed to consider other issues in this approach.
One concern was the potential for a search crawler coming from an IP in the location we were planning on blocking. For example, there was a possibility that Google’s search crawler would also be blocked if it came from the same country. The implementation of this option is more technical. One would need to obtain a list of IP addresses for the desired locations and update the websites htaccess file.
In our example, the inquiries from some countries became so frequent that we couldn’t ignore it any longer. After much debate, we decided to ban the countries; however, we would only ban one at a time to evaluate the effects.
For instance, one of the largest traffic sources, accounting for approximately 20% of this, was from India, a market we don’t service. These Indian visitors were companies looking to sell their services to us.
We executed the ban in the polite Canadian way. We also implemented the Google Analytics profile with the country filter to monitor future website statistics versus the past.
Those visitors that came from our blocked list would land on a different page that displayed a nice message. It read: “Thank you for visiting. However, we don’t provide services in your area.”
In sum, the tests have gone over very well. Banning the country from our website has significantly cut down the number of unsolicited calls, emails and web form requests. It also gave us a much more accurate picture of how our website was performing within our own target market and service area.
Considerations For Blocking Traffic By Location
If you’re considering this strategy, some factors to consider when filtering visitors include:
- Why do you want to filter website traffic?
- Which locations would you want to filter?
- How much traffic do you currently get from locations outside your service area?
- How important is this traffic?
- How to funnel visitors outside your service areas?
- The accuracy of the IP addresses locations in mind.
- Effects of non-human visitors.
A few months after we implemented this, we received a direct mail package that contained pens with our logo on them from a company that wished to sell us branded pens.
Guess what it said under our logo? “Thank you for visiting. However, we don’t provide services in your area.” We had a good laugh. Someone obviously didn’t read what they printed. It was evidence that our website block was working and a nice souvenir.
The key takeaway, as always, is monitor your traffic and conversions. Track where your quality traffic is coming from and decide for yourself if you should block the traffic of certain countries. Make sure to proceed with caution to ensure that you are not missing some opportunities.
Think outside of the box for other ideas of how you can use that traffic. Perhaps referring the traffic to a partner or creating a unique service for specific markets is another option to consider.
Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.
Related Topics: 100% Organic - Search Engine Optimization Tips | SEO: General
Gather close, dear friends and hear my words of warning. Gird yourself, for my tale would make any enlightened man or woman stagger back in disbelief. I do not share such news with you lightly. It is not my errand to harm or discomfort your mental or psychological wellbeing.
Resist the urge to sever the very Internet connection with which you receive my message. I shall soon relieve your stress with a simple technique that will counter the malevolence that I describe.
I reveal my knowledge only because you may in fact be a person possessing an enterprising mind. If this is true, I know you will see in my tale of woe and tragedy the shadow of immense opportunity.
My Tale
I have, in my professional pursuits been privy to the plans of many a starry-eyed business person. So eager are they to tap the keg of the Web that they have made themselves drunk with anticipation, even before a single sip of the digital elixir has crossed their lips.
They are handy with their search tools, clever in their keywords and pen pay-per-click ads that seem to dance upon the page.
It is all for naught, for the heady traffic pours into vessels so riddled with hole and crack, that from this torrent these businesses can scarcely moisten their lips. The websites to which they deliver their click-through treasure fail in their basic duty of capturing and converting the bounty.
And so, they make changes. They replace the ineffective cup with a bowl and then a pitcher and then a saucer, each equally as impotent; each delivering little sustenance to them.
Take your kerchief now from your pocket, dear friend, for my tale will bring tears to your eyes.
In their quest to find the proper vessel these misguided souls fail to see the true opportunity. It is as if they are blind, and yeah, they truly are.
They stick their inferior containers out into the flood and clinch their eyes tightly closed as if looking upon something abominable. Thus, they see only the result, and not the cause of their famine.
But lift your head now and let the brightness of joy return to your face, for I can tell you now that you need not suffer as they do.
The True Opportunity
The core of the matter is this: the opportunity lies not in the container, but in the holes and cracks.
Yes, each little imperfection offers up a chance to be corrected, each tiny fault a hope of repair. And when enough of these imperfections are discovered our cups will fill with abundance on which our businesses will become sated.
Do not dismiss me now expecting tales of split tests and multivariate monstrosities, for I offer a much simpler way of stripping the blindfold from your eyes.
I offer you: the Serial Test.
Behold, The Serial Test
I chuckle now as I think of the simplicity and power of this trick. It begins with the ability to measure traffic and track the very leads and sales that sustain you.
You may choose Google Analytics or Clicky for its simplicity. Enterprises may prefer Omniture or Webtrends. It is of little consequence to me.
It is only important that you be able to gauge the level in your cup as compared to the visits flowing into it.
Seek not absolute accuracy, but seek instead consistency of measure and no more.
Tread lightly! You must bring change in small steps, patiently and purposefully. Seek to join a crack or fill a hole.
Change a headline, reduce the number of fields in your form or add trust-building symbols to the page. Change but one thing at a time.
Accompany each change with a hypothesis, a thesis for what you expect the change to do for you. Most of the time, your hypothesis will simply be this:
“This change will increase the percentage of visitors who take action; who convert to a lead or a sale as measured by ___________.”
You must fill the blank, my friend.
Will you measure calls you receive from the Web? Will you measure completed forms? Will you measure revenue per click? It is up to you.
All I ask is that you choose a measure for which you know the current value and that will reliably rise or fall as your fortunes change.
Test Duration
Hold fast! Do not rush off to ogle your analytics, for we must first discuss statistical significance. Do not be disheartened. This term, though bulging with syllables simply means that you must let enough time pass before you review the results of your change.
There are ebbs and flows within even a calendar week that must be considered. I say you shall let no less than a week pass before you evaluate any change. This assumes a heady stream of traffic.
To ensure validity, you should let enough time pass for 100 conversions to occur or for thousands of eyes fall upon your change before you harvest your learnings.
Measure your current page, which we call the control for an appropriate amount of time. Then measure the changed page, which we call the treatment for such a time as well. Then will you be ready to glean insights that will fill your cup.
In many cases you will find a difference between the two. The treatment will offer an increase or decrease over the performance of its brother. But, don’t rush to the conclusion, for if the change is small, it is wholly invalid.
Only Big Differences Count
Do not think me foul that I must reveal that a serial test does not control for natural changes in the marketplace. Just as the temperature fluctuates from season to season, so too will your conversion rates and independently of changes to your site.
Therefore stake your decisions on large changes. If your treatment causes a drop of 20% or more, you can be comforted that it is an inferior vessel. Cast it aside and restore the control. This is truly an honorable result!
If your treatment brings a bounty of 20% or more in increased conversions, rejoice. You have found a new control.
Otherwise, retain your control and try something anew.
Repeat & Grow
Tarry but a moment, dear reader, as you must prepare for the next test. Choose another change. Create your hypothesis. Select a measuring stick. Launch your treatment at the appointed time and wait patiently for statistical significance.
And as God is my witness, I say that you will have prepared yourself to ease into a more profitable and fruitful pursuit: the split test.
Your new-found skills at selecting what to change, at choosing metrics and knowing how long to test will serve you well. The split test will control for seasonal and competitive fluctuations that plague even the most stalwart of serial tests. Riches will be yours for the taking.
Hark! I offer gifts with my glad tidings. For your pleasure, I offer my very own test planning document to guide you through your most pressing serial test.
Use it in good health and growing prosperity as it guides you to online success. With it, you will rise above the blind rabble who would dare to compete with you.
You will have questions, no doubt. Please share them in the comments for a rousing response from me and other smart readers like yourself.
Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.
Related Topics: Conversion Science
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