Semphonic - What is it. Posted by Mitch Goodclick

Semphonic is a very complex system of analyzing PPC accounts. It is a low level dive into your ads, adgroups, campaigns, keywords, position analysis, landing page analysis, and pretty much anything else you can think of. It relies very heavily on statistics, and so it does not work well on short term analysis or low volume analysis.

One problem that we run into is that the data can be interpreted a variety of different ways, with the "right" interpretation being observed only through post analysis of results. An example of this is the position analysis. This analysis could tell you that position 1 converts better for your account, when in reality this is not the case for the overall account. Most of the keywords in position one for most accounts would be more obscure, longer tail keywords that have less competition and are by definition more targeted, so they drive a higher conversion rate as customers typing in a specific search query are further along in the buying cycle and are prepared to purchase. This has nothing to do with they position and everything to do with the keyword, but this analysis could make you push all listings into position one, only to find that they are not performing better and are just spending more money.

There are other examples of this, such as a landing page appearing to convert better because it is the page for a specific keyword with a unique tracking tag on it, while that url on the whole does not convert well, it is just targeted to that one specific keyword.

I guess the bottom line is that while the semphonic report does give you a great insight into accounts by only running one report and having it analyze them, other analysis can be done manually that may garner a more actionable plan with verifiable results. We do use it sporadically here as it is useful for looking at the account as a whole, but we do not use it on a day by day basis.