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Google Analytics - what does it mean for you?

By Ian Thomas, marketing and development director, Foviance

On November 13th, Google launched Google Analytics, a rebranded version of the Urchin web analytics platform that Google acquired earlier this year. Integrated into Google's Adwords advertising system, Google Analytics is notable for one key reason: it's completely free. The launch has generated so much interest that Google has had to suspend new sign-ups while it adds more capacity.

So why the incredible level of interest? Well, there are a host of free web analytics tools on the market, from Analog to Webalizer - but Google Analytics is in a different league. It offers good, functional web analytics with some nice features such as a traffic overlay report and visitor segmentation functionality, and doesn't require the webmaster to place an annoying graphic on every page advertising the service (as is the case with many free web analytics tools).

As you might expect, industry reaction to this announcement has been mixed. Most web analytics vendors have been fairly upbeat (and quick to point out why the launch of Google Analytics won't affect their business), whilst independent experts such as Jim Sterne and Eric Peterson have predicted that the portion of the web analytics industry serving the very low end will suffer badly from Google's entry into their market.

In his blog, Peterson warns other web analytics vendors, even those offering 'enterprise' tools, not to be complacent about the launch of Google Analytics, which he holds in high regard. But he balances this by stating that organisations who rely upon their vendor to provide extensive consultancy and services alongside their web analytics software will lose out if they switch to Google Analytics.

One reason is that Google does not plan to offer anything more than fairly basic technical support for the service - support is provided via e-mail, with a 5-day turnaround on queries. Yet web analytics is a complex business, throwing up a range of issues from straightforward questions about data capture and availability to much more involved discussions about how to measure particular types of behaviour, and how to interpret and learn from the results. Organisations who really want to understand what their web analytics data means, and what to do about it, will find Google's support to be inadequate.

This is borne out by our experience supporting clients who not only want to understand who is visiting their site and their behaviour while visiting, but also how to use this data to improve the overall customer experience continuously over time. Webabacus's recent merger with The Usability Company means we can now provide clients with a full "experience management" service, which combines the insights from the web analytics data with consultative expertise about the way their websites are built and presented. This allows clients to turn raw data into actions that can be taken to improve the experience the site delivers for users.

It's clear that a section of the web analytics industry is moving in this direction, and the launch of Google Analytics will only accelerate this process. In an article on Clickz.com, Jim Sterne has this to say about the announcement:

"The Google Analytics announcement is a tsunami that will wipe out the lower-end tools and lift all higher-end tools after a short flood of delayed sales cycles"

We agree with Jim's assessment. Even as it approaches its tenth birthday, the web analytics industry is still littered with a bewildering array of tools and services; about 200 are listed in Google's directory. The vast majority of these are low-end offerings which have little to differentiate them functionally, but each of which has its own terminology and method of presenting the data.

If Google Analytics does indeed sweep away many of these tools, creating a large body of Google Analytics customers who not only understand the principles of web analytics but also share a common language to discuss the discipline, then that is ultimately good for the industry. If we have to change some of our own terminology to match that used in Google Analytics, then so be it - it will be worth it to be able to engage clients in a language that they already understand.

However, there are some dissenting voices. Privacy advocates are concerned that this move provides an opportunity for businesses and individuals to hand over yet more information about themselves to Google, and question the wisdom of one company having access to so much information.

Others in the marketing industry are nervous about businesses revealing how much they spend with rival marketing services to Google, despite Google's assurances that such information will be strictly ring-fenced within the company. And there's even talk in the UK of referring Google to the Office of Fair Trading for anti-competitive practices relating to its cross-subsidisation of Google Analytics from its advertising business. It's our opinion that such activity is fairly futile, but it's worth imagining what the reaction would have been had Microsoft decided to do something similar. As Google becomes ever bigger and more powerful, its famous motto of "Don't be evil" becomes increasingly hard to stick to.

Links:

Clickz article on Google Analytics: http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3564521
Eric Peterson's reaction to the Google Analytics launch: http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/peterson/archives/011878.html
Article on Free SEO News about Google Analytics, highlighting some of its shortcomings: http://www.free-seo-news.com/newsletter186.htm