Google Analytics - an early Christmas present for online
marketers!
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:
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.
There are lots of resources out there on how to use web
analytics on blogs and forums but if your time is precious,
a half day training event on Getting
the most out of Google Analytics run by Search Engine
Workshops, will show you how to use the information from
your site to increase its profitability, whether you are
using PPC or free listings or both, and provide you with
a valuable manual for future use.
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.
Search Engine Workshops Ltd
Rosedale House
Rosedale Road
Richmond
TW9 2SZ
1 December 2005
