Alaska’s Best SEO

Google has once again stepped up to the plate with another utility well worth using….Google Analytics.

What is Google Analytics you ask?

It is Google’s very own visitor tracking utility. Using the Urchin 5 engine, this free service provides information ranging from simple traffic measurement through to sophisticated predefined sales goal assessment (or conversions). Google Analytics allows you to keep tabs on site traffic, visitor numbers, traffic sources, behavior & trends, how long visitors spent on the site and a host of other information.

However, unlike Google’s other free tools, Google Analytics is unobtrusive (as in it does not have any special banners or visible components), which when you consider it’s price - free - is a great analysis tool to monitor and improve the performance of your website.

OK…it’s free and it’s from Google. What else is there?

Analytics naturally has all the features and statistical data you would expect from a world class statistics package, however, it also features a number of additional tools which put it ahead of the pack where useability and depth of information is concerned.

1. The Map Overlay

Essentially, this feature brings up a map of the world, highlighting the countries a site’s visitors stem from. Clicking on a country produces a close-up view, along with a geographical breakdown according to the region and/or city from which visitors accessed the site. This tool in itself is invaluable for sites with geographic specific content, allowing site owners to concentrate on their particular locale.

2. The Site Overlay

This is conceivably Google Analytics’ single most important feature from a site owner’s or online business owner’s perspective, as it provides a hands-on view of visitor behavior. When clicked, ‘Site Overlay’ opens the tracked web site in a new window and, after a moment’s loading time, overlays each link on the screen with a bar, containing information about clicks to the target page and any goal values reached. Since it allows the site owner to navigate his or her site and see exactly how visitors flow through it, it is difficult to imagine a more effective tool than this as far as raising a site’s conversion rates is concerned.

3. Goals & Funnels

Unless the site being tracked is an information site which does not rely on generating sales or inquiries, funnel rates are as important as sheer visitor numbers. The ‘Goals & Funnels’ feature allows users to set up specific goals for their site, such as tracking a visitor to the ‘Thank you for your inquiry’ page for instance. It also allows the user to set up specific monetary values for each goal, and thus track the site’s financial performance and profitability during any given period of time.

The term ‘Funnels’ refers to the specific path a visitor takes to reach the goal’s target page. Since most web sites sell a number of different product ranges or feature a number of ways to inquire, all of which lead to a single ‘Thank You’ page, the funnels allow for the tracking of each individual path with a minimum of fuss.

4. Graphical Representations

A great many visitor trackers out there will present the collected information in a certain way, be it a list, graph, pie chart, flow-chart or whatever. Whilst all these methods of presentation are of course valid, it is nevertheless a fact that most users are different, and a pie-chart is not necessarily ideal for those users preferring to work with graphs or vice versa. Google Analytics however, allows users to choose between views on many of its reports. Although this may seem like a relatively minor point, it nevertheless makes things easier, as it allows the user to work with the view he or she is most comfortable with.

So…is Google Analytics worth it?

If you aren’t using a stats package or using something that only provides basic data, definitely. Google Analytics provides site owners with a highly effective means of tracking visitors and analyzing statistical data, easily the equal of most subscription based services in the industry. However, if you are using an existing package, your current statistics program is probably worth as much if not more than you are paying for it. Cost should never be the best reason to downgrade your statistics program, especially if your current system is superior to Google’s - so sign up for the free tool and try it out…then decide.

ADDENDUM: I’ve come across this really good site detailing most of Google Analytics’s more attractive features: http://mashable.com/2007/05/09/27-google-analytics-features/

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 10:37 am and is filed under SEO Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.