What are the Best Marketing Analytics Tools to Use?

When it comes to marketing tools it can be tempting to go with the first option you think of, but is that option right for your business? Read on for the best analytics tools to match your business needs.  

Types of Marketing Analytics 

Marketing analytics tools and software are essential resources for organising and analysing data. There are some common types of marketing analytics tools worth considering:  

• PPC Analytics 

• SEO Analytics 

• Social Media Analytics 

• Website Analytics 

• Email Marketing Analytics 

• Lead Generation Analytics 

Let’s take a look at some example analytics tools to help you optimise every aspect of your digital marketing system.  

PPC Analytics 

PPC tools help you to measure the performance of your paid ad campaigns. This allows you to ensure your campaigns are achieving the goals you have set or amend campaigns where necessary.  

Google Ads 

Google Ads is the most used tool for PPC. The homepage features campaign highlights such as Clicks, Impressions, Average CPC, and Cost. You can see further information by clicking directly on a single campaign or a group.  

Tip: Keep an eye on your budget, as you can lose sales from campaigns that regularly hit their budget caps.  

Microsoft Advertising 

Similar to Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising has all the most-used analytics metrics built in and ready to use.  

Use the campaigns page or run a performance report to view the CTR, Conversions, Conversion Rate, Impressions, Average CPC, or Average ad position.  

Microsoft also suggests monitoring the following for more customisation: 

• Quality score, historic quality score (keyword reporting) 

• “Top vs. other” column (in account, campaign, ad group, ad, and keyword performance reports) to measure CPC/CTR between ads in the mainline, bottom, and/or sidebar ad positions 

• Ad extension reports 

• Share of voice reports 

• Negative keyword conflicts report 

• Keyword suggestions feature (suggested first-page bids and estimated number of monthly searches) 

Tip: You can optimise your ads for different devices. 

SEO Analytics 

SEO Analytics tools are the most important tools when it comes to tracking your performance on search engines. With SEO there are many different metrics you can refer to, depending on your goals. The most common tracked metrics are as follows: 

• Organic Traffic 

• Organic Conversions 

• Keyword Rankings 

• Backlinks 

• Domain Authority 

• Page Load Time 

• Bounce Rate 

Ahrefs 

Ahrefs offers free features including broken link checks, authority checks, keyword generators, SERP checker and a WordPress plugin.  

There are also paid features such as viewing your data on the Dashboard, Keywords Explorer, Site Audit, Site Explorer, and Content Explorer.  

This a great tool for checking your performance against your competition, finding content ideas, and finding places on your website that can be improved.  

Moz 

Moz is an expert tool for Page Authority and Domain Authority but similarly to Ahrefs also has free and paid options.  

Free features include Link Explorer, Competitive Research and Keyword Explorer making this an ideal tool for finding content ideas.  

Paid features, under Moz Pro, include Site Crawl, Page Optimisation, and free features with custom reporting.  

SEMrush 

SEMrush is an ideal tool for content management but also has tools which are beneficial for PPC and social media.  

They have groups of features that include On-Page SEO, Local SEO, Rank Tracking, Link Building, Keyword Research and Competitor SEO Analysis. Each group then breaks down into subcategories for more in-depth information.  

You can also use SEMrush Integrations to connect to Google, social networks and other products so you can keep all of your information in one place and manage it from one platform.  

Social Media Analytics 

There are many social media platforms for tracking posts, engagements and more. With so many to choose from it can be difficult to know which is going to work for your campaigns. Let’s break it down. 

Meta 

Meta is a tool for Facebook and Instagram; it allows you to create posts in the business suite and see analytics on posts and audiences.  

You can use Ad Manager to manage paid campaigns and Events Manager to manage online events. Adding a Meta Pixel code to your website can help you track data sources, custom conversions, and partner integrations.  

Using Facebook Integration can give you the information you need to put reports together.  

Google Business Profile 

Google Business Profile, which you may know as Google My Business, is managed by Google (as you may have guessed from the name). This is an ideal tool for businesses with a physical location as it has a direct impact on local SEO.  

Having an up-to-date business profile with positive reviews can be an incredible tool for growing sales, particularly in your local area. Even some negative reviews can be beneficial, as Google finds the mix of genuine reviews to be more authentic and a well-thought-out response to a negative review that can be appealing to customers. 

Your Google business profile comes with analytics, and you can use this to look at metrics such as: 

• Unique profile visits 

• Calls 

• Website clicks 

• Search queries 

• Messages 

• Interactions 

• Messages 

• Product views 

LinkedIn 

For B2B LinkedIn is an ideal platform, as it puts you in touch with potential business clients and provides a platform for you to engage with them directly. LinkedIn provides its own analytics which allows you to track metrics such as: 

• Followers 

• Visitors 

• Reactions 

• Competitors 

• Talent Brand 

• Employee Advocacy 

• Search Appearances 

Twitter 

Twitter is likely already part of your social media campaigns but you should also be using their built-in analytics, which measures metrics such as: 

• Tweet activity – covers different types of engagements 

• Followers – includes locations, demographics, and interests 

• Twitter Cards – shows interactions with Twitter cards such as engagements and app installs 

YouTube 

YouTube may already be a part of your social media plan but there are still plenty of businesses that have not embraced video content. Video is one of the most engaging ways to connect with clients and customers.  

YouTube also comes with its own analytics which will be helpful in deciding where to go with video content in the future. YouTube Studio is where your metrics are based and include: 

• Overview: Shows the performance of videos and top videos. 

• Engagement: Shows videos with the highest level of engagement. 

• Audience: Gives you the age and location of viewers, as well as how much of the video they watched. 

• Reach: This shows you where your traffic has come from and how many impressions your content has received. 

• Revenue: This shows your estimated revenue earned by videos, and ad types. 

• Research: This allows you to search across YouTube and see what your viewers have searched for. 

TikTok 

While TikTok doesn’t work for every type of business, the right sort of content can reach massive numbers of potential customers and clients. The analytics here can give you great insight into the types of video content that are working well and which to avoid. You can see the following metrics: 

• Overview: Shows follower growth, video views, profile views and video engagements. 

• Content: Shows total views, total likes, comments, shares, and other engagement, as well as average watch time, traffic source and audience territories. 

• Followers: Provides audience locations, when your followers are most active and change in follower growth. 

Hootsuite 

Hootsuite is a social media management platform, and you may already be using it to schedule posts across various social media profiles. However, Hootsuite also has an ‘Analyze’ feature which provides an overview of your entire social media presence, which can be essential for finding gaps and improving your social media campaigns going forward.  

Website Analytics 

If you have a website, you should be using website analytics to keep track of its performance. The most used metrics include: 

• Total Visitors 

• Bounce rate 

• Average session 

• Average time on page 

• Traffic sources 

• Exit pages 

Google Analytics 

Google Analytics is a free tool used by many other platforms to import data. GA is a comprehensive tool that gives you access to just about any website metric. The amount of data can be a little bit confusing, but this is easy to deal with by creating personalised dashboards and reports.  

Adobe Analytics 

Adobe Analytics is one of the most powerful analytics tools – it measures the same features as Google Analytics, with many more features on top. However, it is not free and using all the features can be quite costly. The high price tag makes it worthwhile for the biggest businesses only. 

Google Lighthouse 

Google Lighthouse is another free Google tool. This one isn’t as well known but it is open source and provides audit reports on any URL you give it. It can be used directly from Chrome DevTools, from the command line, or as a Node module. 

You can use it to audit the following: 

• SEO 

• Performance 

• Accessibility 

• Progress web apps and more 

Google Search Console 

Similarly to Google Analytics, Google Search Console is used by many other analytic tools to source data. It is another entirely free tool provided by Google, and you can find key features including indexing, enhancements, and user experience for organic search.  

You can use it to track the following metrics: 

• Total clicks 

• Total impressions 

• Average CTR 

• Average position 

• Top Queries 

• Top pages 

• Countries 

• Devices 

• Search appearances 

Tip: Use the Mobile Usability function to check your performance on mobile devices. 

Analytics Dashboard 

As you can see, there are massive numbers of tools designed for tracking the metrics of PPC, SEO, social media, and your website. The tools mentioned here are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to analytics, and with this in mind, it can become a struggle to keep up with all the tools individually.  

If you are managing multiple campaigns, accounts, or platforms, it can be a good option to consider an analytics dashboard that encompasses all your data in one place. 

HubSpot Marketing Analytics & Dashboard Software 

HubSpot Marketing Analytics & Dashboard Software can be used to bring all your analytics into one place, and it can integrate with your other software to make it easier to create reports and dashboards.  

It is worth noting that the price for this level of convenience is high, making it more suitable for larger businesses with a bigger marketing budget. 

For smaller businesses, it’s a good idea to start with free tools, particularly those that are built into your social media platforms. It may take you a little longer to put your reports together, but you will potentially save hundreds of pounds that you can use elsewhere in your marketing budget.  

For larger businesses, there really is nothing to stop you from investing in an analytics dashboard, taking advantage of saving time and effort by having your data brought together in one place.  

Alternatively, the option is always there to have an outside team deal with your reporting for you. SilverDisc does this for many clients, providing reporting and analytics on all the work we complete and progress towards our client's goals.  

If you would like help with any aspect of your website’s marketing or analytics, get in touch with SilverDisc.