Where do users come from?

[Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>]

Looking at all downloads of AOO 3.4 in the last month:

45.48% of them came to the website via a search engine query

8.28% of them came from a link on another, non-openoffice website

12.85% came directly, from typing in a URL or following a bookmark or
a link in an email

33.40% came from a upgrade notification message in an older version of
OpenOffice.org

This is why I'm so interested in how we do against search queries.
This is the new world.  It used to be that getting website traffic was
mainly about getting other websites to link to your website.  Today it
is more about having relevant content on your website for traffic from
search.  It is our single biggest source of new users.

-Rob

Re: Where do users come from?

[Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>]

On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 1:46 PM, drew <dr...@baseanswers.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 2012-07-16 at 16:09 -0400, Rob Weir wrote:
>> Looking at all downloads of AOO 3.4 in the last month:
>>
>> 45.48% of them came to the website via a search engine query
>>
>> 8.28% of them came from a link on another, non-openoffice website
>>
>> 12.85% came directly, from typing in a URL or following a bookmark or
>> a link in an email
>>
>> 33.40% came from a upgrade notification message in an older version of
>> OpenOffice.org
>>
>> This is why I'm so interested in how we do against search queries.
>> This is the new world.  It used to be that getting website traffic was
>> mainly about getting other websites to link to your website.  Today it
>> is more about having relevant content on your website for traffic from
>> search.  It is our single biggest source of new users.
>>
> Hi Rob
>
> Thanks for the breakdown - and yes I agree search placement is the
> driving force. The only thing I wonder about, I believe it is still true
> that building the link count to web properties is still a component in
> determining placement in search results, for most search engine
> implementations. But I have to admit I can't say I know that for a fact.
>

Hi Drew,

You are correct.  Number (and quality) of incoming links is certainly
a factor.  But with 16,555,599 incoming links (according to Google),
www.openoffice.org is already in the stratosphere.  We don't improve
on that dimension by getting a few more links from my blog or your
blog.  We'd need links from sites more reputable than out own, like
the New York Times.  So it is harder to improve on what we already
have by acquiring more links.

So I think that leaves us with optimizing the website content, as our main tool.

-Rob

> //drew
>
>

Re: Where do users come from?

[drew <dr...@baseanswers.com>]

On Mon, 2012-07-16 at 16:09 -0400, Rob Weir wrote:
> Looking at all downloads of AOO 3.4 in the last month:
> 
> 45.48% of them came to the website via a search engine query
> 
> 8.28% of them came from a link on another, non-openoffice website
> 
> 12.85% came directly, from typing in a URL or following a bookmark or
> a link in an email
> 
> 33.40% came from a upgrade notification message in an older version of
> OpenOffice.org
> 
> This is why I'm so interested in how we do against search queries.
> This is the new world.  It used to be that getting website traffic was
> mainly about getting other websites to link to your website.  Today it
> is more about having relevant content on your website for traffic from
> search.  It is our single biggest source of new users.
> 
Hi Rob

Thanks for the breakdown - and yes I agree search placement is the
driving force. The only thing I wonder about, I believe it is still true
that building the link count to web properties is still a component in
determining placement in search results, for most search engine
implementations. But I have to admit I can't say I know that for a fact.

//drew

Re: Where do users come from?

[Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>]

On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 1:10 PM, Donald Harbison <dp...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 4:09 PM, Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org> wrote:
>
>> Looking at all downloads of AOO 3.4 in the last month:
>>
>> 45.48% of them came to the website via a search engine query
>>
>> 8.28% of them came from a link on another, non-openoffice website
>>
>> 12.85% came directly, from typing in a URL or following a bookmark or
>> a link in an email
>>
>> 33.40% came from a upgrade notification message in an older version of
>> OpenOffice.org
>>
>> This is why I'm so interested in how we do against search queries.
>> This is the new world.  It used to be that getting website traffic was
>> mainly about getting other websites to link to your website.  Today it
>> is more about having relevant content on your website for traffic from
>> search.  It is our single biggest source of new users.
>>
>
> Do you have specific recommendations regarding actions we can take to
> improve search queries drive visits? I think you posted some in anothr
> thread.
>

I'm working on it.  I'm taking a data-driven approach here, looking at
the most common search queries related to OpenOffice and what pages
the search results lead uses to.  Based on this I'll probably suggest
20-30 new webpages for the website, each targeted to a specific user
concern and level of awareness.

If anyone wants to help, I'd recommend looking at this wiki page and
seeing if there are any more scenarios we should consider:
https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS/Why+OpenOffice

-Rob

>
>>
>> -Rob
>>

Re: Where do users come from?

[Donald Harbison <dp...@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 4:09 PM, Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org> wrote:

> Looking at all downloads of AOO 3.4 in the last month:
>
> 45.48% of them came to the website via a search engine query
>
> 8.28% of them came from a link on another, non-openoffice website
>
> 12.85% came directly, from typing in a URL or following a bookmark or
> a link in an email
>
> 33.40% came from a upgrade notification message in an older version of
> OpenOffice.org
>
> This is why I'm so interested in how we do against search queries.
> This is the new world.  It used to be that getting website traffic was
> mainly about getting other websites to link to your website.  Today it
> is more about having relevant content on your website for traffic from
> search.  It is our single biggest source of new users.
>

Do you have specific recommendations regarding actions we can take to
improve search queries drive visits? I think you posted some in anothr
thread.


>
> -Rob
>