{"id":32075,"date":"2015-02-17T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/2015\/02\/17\/analytics-as-the-source-of-truth-the-power-of-data-integration\/"},"modified":"2019-11-21T09:33:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T09:33:59","slug":"analytics-as-the-source-of-truth-the-power-of-data-integration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2015\/02\/17\/analytics-as-the-source-of-truth-the-power-of-data-integration\/","title":{"rendered":"Analytics as the Source of Truth \u2013 The Power of Data Integration"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all got a big job to do when it comes to our discipline in digital marketing \u2013 whether it\u2019s SEO, paid search, social media, or being on a team that does it all. Do you measure your marketing? Do you feel confident in the metrics you\u2019re tracking?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it: marketers struggle with and businesses don\u2019t fully have a handle on their Web analytics<\/a> most of the time. Like most disciplines within Web marketing, analytics<\/a> is a standalone skill set developed over time.<\/p>\n

But no one will ever become great at finding those gems of insight that drive business outcomes without the right analytics. And there are so many ways that Web analytics and a lack of understanding of how to harness analytics are holding businesses back from making the best decisions.<\/p>\n

In this post, we\u2019ll look at two big ways your Web analytics could be holding you back right now:<\/p>\n

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  1. A lack of integration with other data points<\/li>\n
  2. Limitations in tracking insightful metrics<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    1. Lack of Integration<\/h2>\n

    Have you taken stock lately of the different analytics tools you use on a daily basis that are task-based? You might have one tool that gives you a snapshot of this, and one tool that fills in the gaps in that, and yet another you can layer on top of it all.<\/p>\n

    This then puts you, the marketer, in the middle of trying to integrate different types of data, and how they might correlate with one another, and then trying to derive meaningful insight from that.<\/p>\n

    You are not a machine, and this is a highly inefficient use of your time.<\/p>\n

    How Analytics Should Work \u2013 Analytics as the Source of Truth<\/h3>\n

    The right analytics technology should do the heavy lifting for its human counterpart, making it easier for the professionals to do what they do best \u2013 making strategic decisions.<\/p>\n

    Integrating multiple data points, and processing them in a way that standardizes the data and shows the entire picture in one place helps us all solve the problem of big data<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 that is, finding the right data.<\/p>\n

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    You can\u2019t scale your efforts<\/a>\u00a0without the right technology. So, the talent needs the partnership of the technology to get more done faster and better. That means considering an analytics platform (not just many “tools”) that:<\/p>\n