CWS Web Marketing Blog

For those of you who would skip to it anyway, here is

The bottom line: For many of my clients, the decision is not about which web analytics tool to use, but whether to use any tool at all. It is particularly because of these clients that I can say I love Google Analytics.

For those clients who understand the need for web analytics and who are actively trying to improve site performance, GA is a valuable tool that will allow them to focus their resources where they can have the most impact: on human intelligence and site changes.

Pros

1. It’s free. This is a big one. Analytics tools have grown to be very expensive, ranging from hundreds of dollars at the low end to 5 and 6 figures at the high end. Free is good.
2. Extensive Reports. Traffic sources, keywords, conversions—it’s all there. GA makes some things easier to track, like bounce rates for your traffic sources or keyword phrases, while for others you have to noodle around a bit. For example, to track conversions by source, you have to first go to traffic sources, then click on the Goal Conversions tab, then sort by goals. Wouldn’t it be easier to get to this through the main Goals section?
3. Clear User Interface. For most site owners, making sense of web analytics data is a great challenge. Google revamped the interface of its Analytics program in mid 2007, making it much more user friendly
4. Excellent integration with Google Adwords. If you are running a Google Adwords campaign, one of your primary questions will be how well Adwords is performing compared to organic search and other traffic searches. With one click integration between GA and Adwords, it’s easy to review Adwords performance in context of your other web site traffic.
5. No log files required. There are two main options for collecting data on your web site’s performance: log file analysis or page tagging. Google uses the latter method, which means you can add a bit of code to each page of your site and start collecting data. Having worked with log files for a number of years, I can attest to numerous complications when relying on them. Every hosting company seems to have a different server configuration and getting access to properly configured log files is not always easy.
6. Wide adoption. This has long been one of the critical factors I consider when deciding whether to use a piece of software or service in the web world. Things change so quickly on the web. What’s the likelihood that a given tool will be here in 5 years? Equally important, what’s the likelihood that it will continue to be supported and improved? GA is quickly becoming the standard web analytics tool for small businesses. Not only does this bode well for it’s future, it means that site owners are likely to be able to count on getting appropriate support because of the large population familiar with the service. It should also be easier to integrate Google Analytics with other online services because of its wide adoption.
7. It’s free. Did I say that already?

Cons

1. Google has all your data. One of the reasons Google is giving analytics away is that by doing so it can collect massive amounts of data on web site performance, much of it tied to Google Adwords. Some search marketers are concerned that handing over that much valuable business information isn’t wise, but I can’t see how it could harm small businesses. If I were a Fortune 100 company, I’d have second thoughts, but then I’d probably be using an enterprise level analytics tool rather than GA.
2. Limited support. There is a GA discussion group and a GA blog, but if you have a specific question or problem, you’re likely to need lots of time or money to get it resolved. Google Analytics Authorized Consultants are available, but their pricing is relatively high. Nevertheless, as GA has grown more prevalent, these support issues have eased because so much knowledge is being shared on the web about specific configuration issues.
3. Reports are not easily customizable. This may be a quibble for a free program, but these are the issues that give me nits to pick. Why can’t I get a bar chart of visitors by month in this program? Conversions are given as percentages, rather than actual counts. So I have to take out the calculator to compare GA conversion data with my counts of emails, newsletter signups, etc. Hopefully Google will add these features down the road. [Note: new features added in May 08 now let you look at a line chart by month – progress!]
4. No log files used. The data Google collects is stored in their servers. You can’t analyze historical data, nor can you re-analyze data based on changed settings. If you’ve been collecting data for a year in GA and decide to set up a goal for conversion tracking today, you will only be able to see the conversion data starting tomorrow. If something happens to Google’s data, well, you’re out of luck.