Google Analytics™ Third Edition

Chapter 1. What's New in Google Analytics

Google, like every other software company on the planet, spends a lot of time and money on R&D (Research and Development). So it should come as no surprise that Google's programs, like Google Analytics, are in a constant state of flux. Even parts of the program that you might think are there to stay can change, literally overnight.

Google has gotten better about giving a little warning about elements of programs that disappear, but the company will still roll out a feature overnight and not let anyone even know it's in the works until it hits the page. Google Analytics is no exception to that rule, and in the year and a half since the last update of this book, lots of things have changed. Some reports have disappeared, others have turned up, and features have changed considerably.

Fortunately, the changes all seem to be good. There are still features that would be nice to have that don't exist in Google Analytics, but given time they'll probably turn up, and if they don't, then it's not likely that you'll miss them too much.

Two Years Equals Lots of Changes

So what's changed since the last edition of this book was released in August 2007? Here's the quick and dirty view of some of the most important changes:

• Google Analytics Data Export API: Google Analytics made the Data Export API available to all users. This API (which stands for Application Programming Interface) allows programmers to deeply customize Google Analytics to work with other applications, ...