Getting Started with Web Intelligence

Web intelligence is all about using smart computer methods to gather and make
sense of the vast amount of data available online. It brings together techniques
from areas like data mining (digging up useful information), machine learning
(teaching computers to learn from data), and natural language processing (helping
computers understand human language). The goal of web intelligence is to turn
web data into valuable information that people and businesses can use to make
better decisions. Here’s how it works in simpler terms, with examples:

1. Search Engines: Search engines, like Google, use web intelligence to

improve how they show results when you search for something. For
instance, if you type "best pizza near me," the search engine analyzes your
location and shows you the most relevant pizza places nearby. By
understanding patterns in user behavior and preferences, search engines can
get better at showing what people want.
2. Recommendation Systems: Ever noticed how Netflix recommends movies
based on what you’ve watched? Or how Amazon suggests products you
might like? These recommendation systems use web intelligence to analyze
your past choices and compare them with similar users’ behavior. This helps
them make personalized suggestions that match your taste.
3. Sentiment Analysis: Businesses want to know what people think about their
products. Sentiment analysis helps with this by scanning social media posts,
product reviews, and more to determine if people are happy, frustrated, or
neutral. For example, if a company sees a lot of positive comments about a
new product on Twitter, they know it’s likely a hit. If complaints are high,
they might need to fix something.
 4. Web Mining: Web mining is like digging through online data to find
patterns. For instance, if a website tracks how users move from one page to
another, it can see which pages are popular and where people lose interest.
Businesses use this information to improve website design and make it
easier for visitors to find what they need.
5. Web Analytics: Website owners use web analytics tools like Google
Analytics to understand how people are using their sites. They can see things
like which pages are most visited, how long people stay, and what devices
visitors use. If a company sees that many people leave their site quickly, they
might redesign it to keep people engaged.
6. Fraud Detection: Web intelligence also helps detect fake activities online.
For example, e-commerce sites use it to identify fake product reviews or
clicks on ads. If a website notices strange patterns in clicks or reviews that
don’t seem real, it can flag them as suspicious. This keeps online
information more trustworthy.
7. Market Research: Businesses can gather data from the web to understand
market trends, like which products are popular or what their competitors are
up to. For instance, a company might use web intelligence to analyze news
articles, product reviews, and social media to learn what people want to buy,
helping them stay competitive.

Understanding How Web Analytics Works

Web analytics is like taking a closer look at how people are using a website so that
website owners can improve it. It involves tracking what visitors do on the site,
analyzing this information, and making decisions to create a better experience.
Here’s how it works in simple terms, with examples:

1. Data Collection: First, the website collects data about visitor behavior. This
can happen through tiny bits of code (like JavaScript) added to each page,
which helps track things like what pages people visit, how long they stay,
and where they came from. For instance, Google Analytics uses these small
codes to track user interactions on websites.
2. Tracking Metrics: Web analytics tools then look at different types of data,
known as metrics. Common ones include:
 ○ Traffic Sources: Shows where visitors are coming from. For example,
some might arrive via a Google search, while others come from a link
on Facebook or by typing the site address directly.
○ Pageviews: Counts how often each page is viewed. If a blog post on
the site gets 1,000 views, that’s a popular page.
○ Unique Visitors: Tracks the number of individual people visiting the
site within a certain time. If a site has 500 unique visitors in a day,
that’s how many different people visited, even if some came back
multiple times.
○ Bounce Rate: Measures how many people leave the site after viewing
only one page. If the bounce rate is high on a landing page, it might
mean people aren’t finding what they expected.
○ Time on Page: Shows how long visitors stay on each page. If people
spend a lot of time on a tutorial page, it suggests they’re interested and
engaged.
○ Conversion Rate: Measures how many visitors complete an
important action, like buying something or signing up for a newsletter.
If 5% of visitors make a purchase, that’s the conversion rate.
3. Data Processing: Next, the collected data is organized so it can be analyzed.
This could mean filtering out any irrelevant data, like bot traffic, or sorting it
by hours, days, or months.
4. Analysis and Reporting: With the organized data, website owners or
marketers can start looking for patterns:
○ Identifying Patterns: They might see that website traffic spikes in the
evenings or during a holiday season, which could be useful for
planning promotions.
○ Segmentation: They can group users into segments based on things
like where they live or how they navigate the site. For instance, they
might notice that users from a certain country are mostly interested in
a particular product category.
○ Funnel Analysis: They look at steps visitors take to complete actions.
For example, if users are adding items to their cart but dropping off
before checking out, it might mean there’s an issue in the checkout
process.
 ○ A/B Testing: This compares two versions of a page to see which one
works better. For instance, if a website tries two different
call-to-action buttons (“Buy Now” vs. “Shop Today”), A/B testing
will show which button drives more purchases.
5. Insights and Optimization: Based on the analysis, the website can be
improved. If many visitors leave right after reaching the homepage, it might
mean the page needs a clearer purpose or better design. If they spend a lot of
time on a specific article, similar content could be added to keep people
engaged.
6. Continuous Monitoring and Iteration: Web analytics is ongoing. Website
owners keep tracking data to see if their changes make a positive difference.
For instance, if a change to the website’s layout improves the conversion
rate, they’ll know it’s working. By continuously monitoring and adjusting,
they can keep up with trends and continue to improve the website’s
performance.

Web scraping

Web scraping is like using a robot to collect specific information from websites
automatically. Imagine you want to gather data from various websites, like prices
of items, contact details, or weather forecasts. Instead of doing it by hand, web
scraping tools can speed up the process by navigating through websites and picking
up the data you need. Here’s how web scraping generally works, with examples:

1. Fetching Web Pages:

○ The scraper sends a request to the website, asking for a specific page’s
content. Think of it as knocking on the door of a website and asking to
view the page.
○ For example, if you want to scrape prices from an online store, the
scraper first requests to see the product page.
2. Downloading HTML Content:
○ After the request, the website’s server sends back the HTML of the
page. HTML is like the blueprint of the page, containing all the text,
images, and links.
 ○ For instance, when you view a product on an e-commerce site, the
HTML will include the product title, description, price, and image
links.
3. Parsing HTML:
○ Once the HTML content is downloaded, the scraper reads through it
to find the exact pieces of data you need.
○ Imagine you want only the product price from the page. The scraper
can look for specific tags or identifiers (like an <h2> or <span> where
the price is) to pinpoint the information. Tools like XPath or CSS
selectors help navigate directly to these elements in the HTML.
4. Extracting Data:
○ After locating the right part of the HTML, the scraper extracts the
data, such as a product’s price or name.
○ For example, the scraper might pull out only the text “$29.99” from
the price section of the HTML for a product listing.
5. Cleaning and Formatting:
○ Scraped data often needs a bit of cleaning. It might come with extra
spaces, tags, or other unwanted text.
○ Let’s say the extracted price includes extra text, like “Price: $29.99.”
You’d clean it to just “$29.99” for easier analysis.
6. Storing the Data:
○ Finally, the scraper saves the cleaned data in a file or database for easy
access. Common formats include CSV (like an Excel file) or
databases.
○ For example, if you’re collecting prices from multiple online stores,
you could save them in a CSV file, with each row showing the
product name and price for easy comparison.

Examples of Web Scraping

● Price Comparison: A price comparison website scrapes prices from

multiple ecommerce stores to show users the best deals.
● Job Listings: A job aggregator collects job postings from different job
boards, so people can see listings from various sources in one place.
 ● Weather Data: Some apps collect weather forecasts from various sources to
provide a unified weather report.

Segmentation

Basic segmentation in web analytics is about dividing website visitors into

groups based on certain traits or behaviors. This helps businesses
understand different types of visitors, so they can make the website more
appealing and relevant for each group. Here’s a look at the main types of
segmentation and how they work, with examples:

Types of Segmentation

1. Demographic Segmentation:
○ Examples: Age, gender, income, education, occupation.
○ How it Helps: It lets you understand who your typical visitors
are and helps you customize content.
○ Example: If most of your visitors are young adults, you might
create more trendy or interactive content to appeal to them.
2. Geographic Segmentation:
○ Examples: Country, region, city.
○ How it Helps: This is useful for businesses that want to target
visitors in specific locations.
○ Example: A clothing store could promote warm coats to visitors
from cold regions and light clothing to those in warm areas.
3. Behavioral Segmentation:
○ Examples: Whether a visitor is new or returning, how often they
visit, what pages they view, actions they take like purchases or
form submissions.
○ How it Helps: Shows how engaged visitors are and helps
customize experiences based on their past behavior.
○ Example: For returning visitors, you might show them
personalized recommendations based on what they looked at
before.
 4. Technological Segmentation:
○ Examples: Device type (desktop, mobile, tablet), browser,
operating system.
○ How it Helps: Ensures your site works well on all devices and
platforms, improving user experience.
○ Example: If many visitors use mobile devices, you’d focus on
making your site mobile-friendly.
5. Referral Segmentation:
○ Examples: Where visitors are coming from, like direct traffic,
search engines, social media, or other websites.
○ How it Helps: Shows which marketing channels are most
effective.
○ Example: If most visitors come from social media, you might
increase your presence there to attract more people.

Benefits of Segmentation

● Targeted Marketing: You can create personalized campaigns and

content for each group.
○ Example: Show ads for kids’ products to parents in the
demographic segment with young children.
● Improved User Experience: Adjust your website to suit different
types of visitors.
○ Example: Make it easy to navigate for older visitors who may
prefer simpler layouts.
● Better Conversion Optimization: Focus on segments that are likely
to make purchases.
○ Example: Create special offers for returning visitors who
frequently buy items.
● Enhanced ROI: Focus resources on the segments that bring the
most value.
○ Example: Invest more in social media if it’s the top source of
your high-converting visitors.

Tools for Segmentation

 ● Google Analytics: Allows you to create custom segments based on
things like location, devices, and behavior.
● Other Analytics Platforms: Tools like Adobe Analytics and Matomo
also offer segmentation features.

Overview of Intermediate, Custom, and Calculated Metrics:

In web analytics, intermediate, custom, and calculated metrics are

metrics that go beyond basic stats like pageviews or bounce rate. They
help provide deeper insights into user behavior, engagement, and the
performance of your website. Let’s break down each type of metric with
simple explanations and examples:

1. Intermediate Metrics

Intermediate metrics are derived from basic data and give you a better
understanding of how users are interacting with your site.

● Average Time on Page: This shows how much time people spend
on a page, indicating how engaging or interesting the content is.
○ Example: If people spend 3 minutes on a blog post page, it
suggests they’re reading it rather than leaving quickly.
● Pages per Session: This is the average number of pages a user
views in one visit. It shows how interested visitors are in exploring
more content.
○ Example: If users view 4 pages per visit on an e-commerce site,
they may be browsing products actively.
● Event Tracking: Measures actions that users take, like clicking a
button, downloading a file, or watching a video.
○ Example: Tracking video plays on a tutorial website to see if
users are engaging with the learning content.
● Scroll Depth: Tells you how far users scroll on a page, showing their
level of interest in the content.
 ○ Example: If most users scroll halfway down a product page, you
might consider moving important info higher up.
● Conversion Rate: The percentage of users who complete a desired
action, like signing up or making a purchase.
○ Example: If 5% of users who visit a landing page sign up, this is
the conversion rate for that page.

2. Custom Metrics

Custom metrics are designed to track specific goals that are unique to your
business. These metrics aren’t automatically provided; instead, they’re set
up based on your own needs.

● Lead Quality Score: A score based on how valuable a lead

(potential customer) is, based on actions like visiting certain pages or
filling out forms.
○ Example: Leads who visit the pricing page, spend a long time
on the site, and fill out a contact form might get a high score,
meaning they’re more likely to become customers.
● Engagement Score: Combines different actions to measure how
engaged users are with your site.
○ Example: Users who spend more than 5 minutes, watch a
video, and click on a few links might have a high engagement
score.
● Content Effectiveness Index: Measures how well different pieces of
content perform, based on views, shares, or leads generated.
○ Example: Blog articles that get shared often and drive a lot of
sign-ups would have a high content effectiveness score.
● Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Estimates how much revenue a
customer will bring over their entire relationship with your business.
○ Example: If each new customer tends to make three purchases
over two years, you can predict how valuable they’ll be.
3. Calculated Metrics

Calculated metrics are made by combining or computing other metrics.

They’re based on simple math to create new insights from existing data.

● Revenue per User: This is the total revenue divided by the number
of unique users, showing how much each visitor is worth on average.
○ Example: If you make $1,000 from 100 users, your revenue per
user is $10.
● Average Order Value (AOV): Total revenue divided by the number of
orders placed. This helps you understand the average size of each
transaction.
○ Example: If your store makes $2,000 from 50 orders, the AOV
is $40.
● Conversion Rate by Device Type: Shows the conversion rates for
users on different devices (desktop, mobile, tablet).
○ Example: If desktop users convert at 10% and mobile users at
5%, you might look at improving the mobile experience to boost
conversions there.
● Profit Margin: Percentage of revenue that represents profit after
costs are deducted.
○ Example: If your revenue is $500, and you spent $300 on
production, your profit margin is 40%.

Benefits of Intermediate, Custom, and Calculated Metrics

● Deeper Insights: They offer more detailed information about user

behavior, helping you understand which areas need improvement.
○ Example: Knowing that mobile users have a lower conversion
rate might lead you to optimize the mobile site.
● Customization: Custom metrics can be tailored to align with specific
goals, making your analysis more relevant to your business.
○ Example: A content effectiveness index lets you see which blog
posts or videos are driving sign-ups.
 ● Benchmarking and Optimization: With calculated metrics, you can
set benchmarks and make adjustments to improve performance.
○ Example: By tracking revenue per user, you can work on
increasing this metric by offering promotions or upselling
products.

In short, intermediate, custom, and calculated metrics give a more in-depth

view of how users are interacting with your website, so you can make
smarter decisions to improve engagement, conversions, and revenue.