Google Analytics (GA) is a free service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. Its main highlight is that a webmaster can optimize his AdWords advertisement and marketing campaigns through the use of GA's analysis of where the visitors came from, how long they stayed on the website and their geographical position. Users can define and track conversions, or goals. Goals might include sales, lead generation, viewing a specific page, or downloading a particular file. By using this tool, marketers can determine which ads are performing, and which are not, as well as find unexpected sources of quality visitors.
Google's service was modeled upon Urchin Software Corporation's analytics system, Urchin on Demand (Google acquired Urchin Software Corp. in April 2005). Google still sells the standalone installable Urchin software through a network of value-added resellers; Urchin customers complained that support for and development of the standalone product languished after the Google acquisition, although a new release entered beta testing in October 2007 [1]. The system also brings ideas from Adaptive Path, whose product, Measure Map, was acquired and renamed to Google Analytics in 2006. The Google-branded version was rolled-out in November 2005 to anyone who wished to sign up. However due to extremely high demand for the service, new sign-ups were suspended only a few days later. As capacity was added to the system, Google began using a lottery-type invitation-code model. Prior to August 2006 Google was sending out batches of invitation codes as server availability permitted; since mid-August 2006 the service has been generally available. A new version of the user interface was released to all users on May 17, 2007.[2] Google has been working to improve system performance, and reports now generally update in less than one hour. All users can officially add up to 50 site profiles. Each profile generally corresponds to one website. GA's approach is to show basic dashboard-type data for the casual user, and more in-depth data further into the report set. There are currently over 80 distinct reports, each customizable to some degree. GA also offers three dashboard views of data: Executive, Marketer, and Webmaster. GA also provides integration with Google Adwords. Users can see ad group and keyword performance as part of their reports. GA also provides some more advanced features, including visitor segmentation and custom fields.
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Technology
Google Analytics is started by including JavaScript on each page the user wishes to track. This JavaScript loads larger files from the Google webserver and then sets variables with the user's account number. The GA report interface checks for the presence of this script on a tracked site's homepage, and warns should it not be available.
Limitations
Many ad filtering programs and extensions (such as Adblock) block the Urchin JavaScript. This prevents some traffic and users from being tracked, and leads to holes in the statistical data. Also, privacy networks like Tor will mask the user's actual location and present inaccurate geographical data. Some users do not have Javascript-enabled/capable browsers, which further limits the tracking ability of Urchin. Google Analytics is not limited up to 50 site profiles. [3] All users are able to create a new analytics account from within their current account. At the top right in the orange bar it says "My analytics Accounts" and there's a drop-down list where you can choose "Create New Account." This way you can manage an unlimited amount of site profiles and additionally you have some sort of organization, i.e., between personal and business accounts. Nonetheless, nowadays you cannot transfer site profiles from one account to another.
