Web design & marketing tips by Ironpaper

Competition data in web analytics just got black and white

Written by Ironpaper | Oct 27, 2011 3:55:40 AM

The Keyword Ranking tool for competition data in Google Analytics has just become more streamlined. The bar scale graphic which used to depict the competitiveness of a search keyword was replaced with a word description--either low, medium or high.

This might frustrate some SEO professionals because it is a seeming loss of granularity, but the granularity as-to how this ranking was assigned has been preserved elsewhere, which is good for marketers. Users can download an analytics report which reveals the exact number that made up the green bar (or text description in this case).

For any of those that regularly use this competition metric the new competitive labeling is as follows:

  • Low – Competitiveness number under .33
  • Medium – Competitiveness number between .33 and .66
  • High – Competitiveness number over .67

It should be noted that the competitiveness score is directly related to AdWords and not organic search.