Google Analytics, I Like It

October 20, 2006

I have been using Google Analytics here at Code and Coffee and at BlueCrestStudios for the last week, and my initial impressions are it works well. I was not holding out much hope, because I have always favored web statistic packages that analyze log files, like AWStats which is the long time solution I have used.

I also thought that it would be annoying not having statistical information for non-HTML pages like RSS feeds, but since I use FeedBurner that’s not a problem. In fact I almost like this setup better because Google Analytics specializes in web traffic, and FeedBurner specializes in RSS statistics. I am not currently a paying customer of FeedBurner, so when Google gets Measure Map off of the ground I will be trying it out as well, as it will most likely be free.

The other benefit I like to Google Analytics, is it’s a no hassle setup and I control the pages it monitors. With my AWStats, it would report page hits to everything, including administration pages that only I use. If I didn’t want to mess around with config files, I would have to exclude those pages from reports I run. Another benefit is all of the data is on Google’s servers, yes this can be a bad thing as well; however I like to keep my statistical information and currently AWStats is using up a good chunk of disk space. What is Google going to do with all of that data? I don’t know, but hopefully it will be protected by their “Do no evil” policy. Maybe in the future we will see something similar to Alexa come out of Google, but a bit more accurate. Google also has great features like site overlay that will tell you where people are clicking on your site, as in the physical place on the page that visitors are clicking. This is great if you tweak your designs a lot, you now know how users are interacting with your site layout. Google Analytics also includes Geo targeting, which is a pain to setup with our own statistical package because of all of th IP Address ranges and locations on a map. Infact, I never got it setup with AWSats currectly. For those who do not know, this is where Google will break down where your visitors are coming from in a neat little map of the world.

So yes, there were benefits; now come to disadvantages. Obviously first and foremost: it uses JavaScript, meaning if someone has it turned off I am not going to see them as a visitor. The good news to this, is most everyone has JavaScript turned so they can enjoy all of the AJAX goodness out there. Yes it also might be viewed as a negative that all of the data is stored on Google’s servers. If it’s not because you think Google is slowly taking over the world, then maybe it’s because now you now have to include this in your privacy policy. But who knows, the data is probably safer on Google’s servers, than it is on yours.

Overall, I am impressed. I think Google Analytics can be used by the any site with any amount of traffic, and be very helpful. It is a great free solution, and does more than most statistical packages do out of the box. Incredibly easy to setup, and never have to touch it once it’s completed. I will continue to use it, and maybe in the near future discontinue use of AWStats.

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