Google just released a new product - Google Analytics. It is not a new product per se - AdWords publishers had access to this tool earlier - but now it is released to the common public. This is a site that will analyze traffic to a site and display it to the user in a graphical and friendly way.
I have used many traffic logging sites in the past for my website Bin-Co. This softwares include StatCounter, eXtream Tracker, SiteMeter etc. But being free softwares, they had their restrictions - for example, StatCounter will log the details of only the last ten visitors. eXtream Tracker don't log nearly as much information about the visitors as StatCounter does. They all have their own benefits and their own disadvantages.
Now that Google have stepped into the field, things will start to change. The only restriction I have heard about their software is that they allow only sites will less than five million hits per month - and that is still a long way for my site.
You have to register an account with Google to use this service - any Google account will do - gmail, Google sitemaps, Google group etc. accounts will do fine. Next you have to define your site - it is a little tricky here - only top level domains will be accepted - I can't enter my site http://www.geocities.com/binnyva/ - but had no problems when entering my Blog at http://binnyva.blogspot.com. Next you will have to enter a few personal details like name, etc. Then you will be given a small javascript snippet that you will have to enter into your site. After this you can see your website stats at the Google site. I have just entered the code to my Blogger template - I can't wait to try this out. Hope you will feel the same.
But even now the best way to analyse your traffic is referral logs created by your server. Lets see if Google can beat that with its latest offering.
Related Links...
Google Analytics Features
News of release
Other's Perspective
Slashdot Discussion of this feature.
1 Comment:
Google Analytics is much more than server log files. They are using an industry standard tool called Urchin. Omniture and Urchin are popular tools used by internet ecommerce sites to merchandise the products effectvely, get website parameters to help the design, etc... I am sure that you will love Analytics! statcounter, sitemeter, etc. are nowhere near to Google Analytics :-)
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