News Source: http://blog.zetainteractive.com
Published: Jan 06, 2009 - 09:30 am
Story Found By: vlbastek 1132 Days ago
Category: SEO
9 Comments
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News Source: http://blog.zetainteractive.com
Published: Jan 06, 2009 - 09:30 am
Story Found By: vlbastek 1132 Days ago
Category: SEO
9 Comments
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Comments
Very true. When GA started tracking users back to their original entry, alot of clients saved a lot of money.
Thanks for the comment, Nunney. Over the course of the past year or so, Google has really made a concerted effort to upgrade Google Analytics.It’s still not perfect (difficult to trace all Google News referrals down to the keyword, for example) but I honestly believe that it has become a legitimate enterprise-level option.Plus, it’s just so darn easy to use!
I don’t know if I’d call it "enterprise-level" quite yet, as there are a few enterprise level features that WebTrends has that GA doesn’t. However GA is much faster, has nicer reporting, and is a heck of a lot cheaper ($25k/yr less). So I would dub GA as "professional-level", which is plenty good enough for me.
Google Analytics totally rocks! I haven’t found much (if anything) it can’t do that the more expensive programs do. In fact, I’ve found it generally can do much more, in a much easier manner.Its one flaw (which I can live with) is that the results aren’t immediate. We are also seeing most clients (large and small) moving towards GoAn.
Good point about the results not being immediate, Jill.Hopefully, that’s on their short list of refinements.
So should we be concerned about privacy when using Google Analytics? What’s the difference with paid web analytics?
You guys are crazy to use Google Analytics unless you know the math to make the data they give you real. Since they purchased Urchin in 2005 they have not corrected the "Visit Duration" Stat which is incredibly inaccurate. Google even admitted as much in a Blog Post by senior manager of Google Analytics, Brett Crosby. Any enterprise that chooses to use them had better be aware of the blatant inaccurcy that Google Analytics has purposefly ignored changing. In actuality Google has often ignored Google Analytics and to say they have "paid attention" this year is not backed by their actions. I’d say just the opposite. Google treats Google Analytics as a poor step child and have since they purchased Urchin several years ago.
Thanks for the feedback, skydivedad.Unfortunately, you assertions fly in the face of factual evidence.In the past 6 months alone, Google Analytics has rolled out a bevy of enterprise-level features. Moreover, they’ve spent a lot of time hosting seminars for marketers and speaking about GA at major conferences.Most importantly, it would be silly to suggest that Google is perfect. Jill mentioned a shortcoming, and I did as well in the original post.But if you think that other platforms measure user data perfectly, you’ve got another thing coming. It’s really very simple. Seasoned marketers that have had a chance to use GA alongside other top-tier platforms quickly realize that the data is as good as those paid options (Omniture, etc...) and that the usability of the platform far surpasses any of those paid competitors.But hey, you’re entitled to your opinion. I’m sure that GA is not for everybody.
Google analytics has improved a lot.But aren’t adertisers afraid of Google knowing their bottom lines through Google analytics and adwords conversion integration?Say Google knows that you make $10 revenue on a sale on keywords that you bid for $1. Google can raise your keyword bids to $5 knowing that you are still making money, but less.