Google Analytics launches version 2

Some great news this morning - Google Analytics announced version 2 is launching.

I have been using Google Analytics for about a year now. My favourite analytics program is Omniture, it’s definitely the most powerful tool I’ve used. I love Omniture as I could really get definitive information to base a lot of site decisions on. You can pretty much tell what someone had for breakfast before visiting your site, so the more data you have about someone, the more informed your decision making can be. Unfortunately Omniture is a little pricey - it’s not such a big deal when you work for a large corporation, but when you only have a small site it’s quite hard to justify the cost.

Ergo, I’ve been using Google Analytics lately. As an analytics program it’s been alright and gives you the basic information - and most importantly, for its price (free) it is amazing.

So I am really looking forward to see what is in version 2. I’ve had a quick look and so far it looks brilliant, they have really made it simple to see all the important data at a glance. I am the most excited about the better segmentation, it seems very powerful.

Yes I know it’s geeky to get so excited about analytics and data but I find it really fascinating and I think everyone involved with online marketing really needs to know all their stats. It’s not enough to know how many impressions and clickthroughs your ads are getting, you really do also need to know everything about your site. Are you converting your browsers into customers? Where are people leaving the site, is there anything you can do to keep them at that stage? Where are people entering from and will they be able to find relevant information? Which channels are converting better - one keyword or ad might be driving a lot of traffic but are they staying to explore your website or are they just leaving - and why?

I’m off to play more with Google Analytics - well done Google!

This post is tagged under: Analytics