Google Analytics – a review


Google may be number one but it certainly can't be accused
of complacency. It is developing new tools and products all
over the place and Google Analytics is the most exciting to
date if online marketing and search engine visibility are
your thing.

Google Analytics (GA) is FREE and is essentially the Urchin
tool rebranded. (Urchin was bought by Google earlier in the
year.) It is a javascript based tool (for details of how
data is captured see our earlier article on web analytics)
which means that a small amount of javascript is placed on
every page you want to track. The information gathered is
then stored on the Google servers, processed into meaningful
results, which you can then access via your Google account.

The arrival of Google Analytics is going to raise the
profile of web analytics in general. To date, it has had a
somewhat techie image but GA will bring the whole concept
into the main stream, which is where it should be!

What GA offers

GA provides very similar information to other javascript
based web analytics tools including:

* overall visitors and page views
* referring sites – which search engine or other site
delivered the traffic
* keywords used in search to find the site
* entry and exit pages
* geo location – where geographically your visitors are
(this data tends to be more accurate in the States simply
because the area to segment is so much larger)
* browser stats – are your visitors using IE or Firefox etc,
screen resolutions
* conversions – define a conversion any way you like – it
will be a purchase for an ecommerce site but may be when
visitors visit a specific page, such as the thank you page
* time on site
* integration with your Adwords account to enable you to run
your account more profitably

The big difference between GA and any other web analytics
software tool is that it is free and that the integration
with Adwords is largely done for you already.


What GA will not do

The biggest drawback in my view of GA, and any other
javascript web analytics tool, is that it cannot capture
spider visits. To me, knowledge of how a site is being
spidered is a vital part of any campaign developing free
listing visibility.

There are certain restrictions that limit the use of GA
mainly relating to content behind firewalls and on internal
networks. GA is not applicable in these situations.



Using the information that GA provides

Results are only useful if they are used. This might sound
obvious but one potential problem with any web analysis is
information overload. Cutting to the chase and determining
exactly what you need to know about your particular website
is vital if all your analysis is going to be worthwhile.

The GA interface is not the most intuitive to use, and it
does provide a huge amount of potential information. There
is no point in printing off reams of charts and tables if
you are not going to take any action as a result.

If you are running any PPC campaigns, then monitoring your
traffic will enable you to maximise your return on
investment and potentially reduce your budget substantially
without losing any sales. GA not surprisingly integrates
with your Adwords and Adsense accounts making it a
particularly easy tool to use with these products.

Search engine optimisation is a very time consuming and
labour intensive occupation, so analysing your visitors to
understand how your best visitors find you enables your
resources to be used most productively.



Teething problems

There are two big problems with GA at the moment. When I
started writing this article, I said that people trying to
sign up were finding themselves on a waiting list. Now you
have to leave your email address to be advised when the
waiting list will be reopened – Google admits that take up
has been phenomenal and they simply can't cope with demand
at the moment.

Secondly, results are not displayed in real time, or
anything remotely resembling it. Delays of 12 to 24 hours
or even longer are common. How much this will reduce when
the system is fully operational has yet to be seen.


GA compared with the rest

On price, GA wins hands down. Free has no competition!
However, a bargain is only a bargain if it does the job and
for many people GA does just that.

If your site is business critical then I would have serious
misgivings about consigning all my invaluable online
marketing data to a free product.

If your site is less vital, perhaps it is there to provide
credibility and to support other forms of advertising, then
this may be the best solution available.

Final note

Analyse your website traffic. Understand what is working
and what is not. Which tool you use is less important that
making sure you use one! Anything else is like working
blind when your competitors have 20 20 vision.

About the author: Sally Kavanagh is a trainer with Search
Engine Workshops Ltd in the UK who provide training in
search engine optimisation and web analytics. Visit
http://www.searchengineworkshops.co.uk or email
sally@searchengineworkshops.co.uk for further details.