Google: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

Chapter 10. Google Analytics

In order to create a flourishing Web site, you need to get inside the minds of your visitors. First, you need to know what they’re doing. Are they staying for hours browsing your ample catalogue of Elvis memorabilia, or are they surfing away after a few seconds? Are they browsing each and every page in your scandalous life story or heading straight to a particularly juicy document? Are they returning regularly to check for new developments, or have they forgotten all about you?

Once you know what visitors are doing, you need to discover why. Ordinary Web sites fail for a variety of reasons. For example, a gargantuan Java applet could be choking the underpowered browsers of your visitors. Or maybe your Web site’s navigation menu makes it too hard to find the pages visitors want. Only after you’ve finished this Sherlockian exercise of deduction can you build a more popular Web site or craft a more successful ad campaign.

In the past, Webmasters had a hard time getting this sort of information. You were struck with essentially two choices: using limited hit counters and the underpowered reporting features provided by most Web hosting companies, or digging up some serious cash for a more sophisticated software tool that analyzes Web server logs.

But now Google has sailed to the rescue. In 2005, Google purchased Urchin, one of the premium Web tracking companies, and transformed it into Google Analytics. A few months later, they abolished its hefty $500/month ...