Web Analytics

[Daron Williams]

I'm doing a comparison of Omniture SiteCatalyst and Google Analytics. SiteCatalyst is a quite robust system, but Google Analytics has a lot to offer as well. I'm wondering what all SiteCatalyst has that Google Analytics doesn't.

So, is anyone currently using Google Analytics? What are your thoughts?

[Erik Deckers]

I'm using Google Analytics on my own blog, Laughing Stalk, and my work blog for VisionDirect.

I like the fact that it's intuitive to use, very simple, and has a nice drag-and-drop feature to customize my page to see the stats and reports I want. Plus, it's so easy to install. I had just one piece of code to copy and paste into place.

I always tell everyone to use Google Analytics when they can.

[Nicki Laycoax]

I second Google Analytics! It's very cost efficient... :) and it's easy to use!

[Kristina Frazier-Henry]

Daron,

I'll state up front, that I have absolutely no loyalty to any vendor. I'm selfish - I like to use what works and what makes sense :).

Regarding Google Analytics: It is great for the everyday person (like me!) to use because it is pretty straightforward and intuitive. Slowly, but surely, they are adding drill down reports that contain more complexity. They recently added a benchmarking feature (where you can anonymously benchmark yourself to other sites like yours) and I really love the information it is providing!

Regarding changing software: One of the things I would highly recommend is that you look at all of the factors involved before switching to something else. Just about every analytics package will have things that you won't use. How does that balance out with cost? Is the Omniture Site Catalyst integrated with your content management tool (and therefore - will be a task to un-integrate)? Is it important/will you be able to - give the same view into the data that people are expecting or does it matter more that the same data elements are present?

For example, the views for us weren't nearly as important as was the assurance that we were still capturing the same exact data. That way, we didn't mess up our overall, high-level reporting for the year.

[Karen Scharf]

Daron,

Are you currently using Google AdWords? If so, you might want to reconsider Google Analytics. I've noticed on several of my clients' sites, their quality score was lowered after adding Analytics tracking tags. I think Google didn't like the fact that they were low-traffic sites (which they could prove with the Analytics data).

I will say that I DO use Analytics with certain clients, but I also use ClickTracks. I like Click Tracks' ability to label visitor activity and to track their movement through the site. It's also rather inexpensive. (But don't bother with the free version, if they still offer it.)

Good luck!
Karen Scharf

[Jim Brown]

Daron -

While Google is free, Omniture Site Catalyst has a lot more data that you can get to if you need it.

Google only tracks 100 pages deep in a site, so if you're tracking large site, Google can't do the job. One big thing for me is that Google under-reports traffic significantly (compared to several analytics packages and raw web logs).

Google has the ability to do 'funnels' but it is very clunky. If you want real click stream data, Ominture allows you to tag pages and report only behavior that occurs after the tags are triggered (VERY valuable for ecommerce sites).

Another small nugget... read the fine print of Google... it clearly states it WILL reuse your data for other purposes and COULD share your data. If you're running a big site, this could be dangerous.

Great question!

What do you do?

Jim