March 27, 2008
Hi All -
I am testing a new way of tracking something… and wondered if everyone who reads this would be willing to go to the Hybrid Golf Club site, and just search for something. :-)
Here’s the deal… I am working on a solution to track EVERY search done in your BANS site. The solution is being directed through Google Analytics, which is free… so everyone can grab it and use it if this works!
If it doesn’t work… well, I may just ask that you all try this again tomorrow! :-)
Thanks
Mark
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22 Responses to “Calling all Readers… I Need some Quick Help!”
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Done (well, not the buying part…).
If it works I bet you can tell which search was mine : )
Rochelle
Oops, I meant to say how awesome it would be to track searches and totally forgot. That would be absolutely fabulous if you succeed!
ROFL!!
Thanks Rochelle!! I cannot wait to see it! I SO hope this tracking works… I cannot tell you how many sites I have with the /search page being the most popular page on the site.
Hey Mark,
Love the Dollagreens, great post.
Take a peak here in case you have not seen this before. How did they work the search terms into multiple page results that probably end up ranking pretty good for their website..
http://www.wigs-extensions.shop-1st.biz/sed/1.html
alright I searched for something and it found no results for hummer, h2,chevy…. hope this helps…
@ Cindy -
Very interesting site… Looks like a BANS site even, but its not. I am actualy trying to find a few different ways to get the search data first to our eyes.
I noticed a few references in one of the BANS files about search capture…
Otis -
Thanks man!!
Wish me luck!
Mark
Done! Hope it helps!
Marilla
Did a search with no results. I got results on my site, but I think that is because of the item I searched for isn’t part of your site.
Mike
What? No Ben Crenshaw hybred clubs???? Tisk tisk.
Mark I did a search as well.
ladies hybrid gold clubs
It seemed to work just fine on my end, hope the results help on yoru end.
Done. Search worked just fine.
Mark,
Here is what I searched for: Left handed nickent hybrid
Here is the item I clicked through to:http://cgi.ebay.com/LEFT-HANDED-NICKENT-GENEX-3DX-IRONWOOD-26-5-HYBRID-LH_W0QQitemZ190209907787QQcmdZViewItemQQssPageNameZRSS:B:SRCH:US:101
Hope it helps!
Chuck
Hi Mark,
Searched for dollar greens but it would not let me have any, also no answer for brothel sprouts. :)
Mark,
If you get a moment, can you look into why the free templates you posted about two weeks ago only allow a search for the main store category? There’s no way to search by individual categories when using those templates. Otherwise they’re great.
Hopefully your exercise here might also tie into that.
Thanks,
Dean.
Also Mark, you don’t have a golf shirts category on your site. I’d add Callaway shirts and shirts by other top brands, more moolah.
@ Bare-Minerals
The search function I used is in the frontcontrol.php… it is setup as “SearchSideBasic”… if you look through the frotncontrol file however, there are 3-4 different options. One or two even include the ability to search the categories.
searchside
searchsidenoadvanced
searchsidetitle
searchsidebasic
each has different functions. Try the searchsidenoadvanced - it may have the options you want.
In your header.php file, search for searchsidebasic (about 3/4 into the file) and change it to the above.
Mark
Done - now what do I do with the golf club I won…I don’t play golf!
Thanks for all the help on this everyone… the good news, well… there is not any good news!
Google analytics is not able to track the searches using the “q” form variable since it is not actually posted but rewritten through the frontcontrol.
OK.. actually there is GOOD news!
I am working on a search mod right now that stores all searches to the database and allows you to post them to the site as a “popular searches” page, that links right back to the search page! :-)
Thanks for everyones help… I wish it had been more fruitful AND easier! LOL
Mark
Hi Mark,
I searched for “bmw m3″.
It took me to a ” No Products macthing ……” page.
But, I noticed a change in the page title:
It says ” BMW m3 for Sale |Used bmw m3 | Cheap bmw m3
Madhu
I’m assuming you saw this here:
http://buildanichestore.com/members/viewtopic.php?t=6881
It looks like what you are talking about. And dont forget to scroll down to the second portion. Looks like he forgot about the search button code in the first response.
It looks like at least one person reported it worked. (hey, just realized it was rochelle! Well, maybe this didn’t work, then. I figure she would have said something here if it had) I haven’t tried it.
@ Josh -
I saw the post in the past, but could not find it again!
Here is what I am working on… it will be drop and play!
1) Capture ALL search strings to a new database table with the count frequency on a monthly basis..
2) View the terms in the store admin, with a checkbox next to each term. If checked “Active”… there will be a separate page on the public website showing most popular searches… linked to the search page automatically.
3) Take the TOP 10 searches and display them in a sidebar section on every page… again, linked back to the search page.
Essentially… user submits a search, it writes to the db, we see it in admin and decide whether or not to make it active. If active, the top 10-20 active terms will show in sidebar, all, including top 10-20, will show on a separate page with clickable links.
:-)
Mark
@Mark it sounds like a great way to add pages that people are actually searching for really easy. Man I hope it works I get alot of searches on some of my sites and would love to capture the searches….keep on posting results …..thanks