Google announced yesterday that a new feature for Adwords analytics called "search funnels" would help search engine marketing professionals better understand the way in which paid clicks lead users to their sites.
The company said that its new feature would provide "data on how ‘upper-funnel’ keywords are assisting conversions before the last click. It also enhances basic conversion reporting for AdWords." Google also noted that Google Analytics users would be able to import data from those accounts for use with search funnels.
Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land reported that "until now, Google would only show you the last keywords that led to a conversion. In many cases, searchers will go through a searching process that includes research that might not lead to an immediate sale but may assist in a sale after a few more searches."
Such a tool, as useful as it undoubtedly is for paid search marketers, is unlikely to be offered to natural search engine optimization (SEO) professionals anytime in the near future, due to concerns about privacy and security, according to Schwartz.
