Google Analytics has rivals, but quite often it turns out to be the preferred choice for a multitude of players in the broader marketing industry.
But is it reliable, and should you trust it?
Privacy
Before debating some small tweaks that could improve the performance of your Google Analytics if you have just started using it (and in some cases even if you are an experienced user), let’s consider what the market has to say about it.
Some big clients do not want to use Google Analytics — “Google steals my data, you know?!” is the most recurring feedback — because the tracking is shared with Google itself, wh
ich keeps collecting the data over time.
Omniture, for instance, is a competitor that has gained traction in recent years, but its “modules” are not as simple as those of Google Analytics. It’s not that quick, and is expensive, too — price is the biggest similarity with Google’s premium version.
While some of our clients argue that with Omniture data privacy is less of an issue, they tend to prefer Google Analytics, whose output is more easily integrated with other Google-derived data.
Google Analytics works better, in my view, delivering neat data particularly if you know what should be changed in its original set-up.
Basic Stuff For Beginners
This is a complex topic that could be discussed in an essay of considerable length, but here are a few tips for beginners who are after more accurate data in Google Analytics (well, in my experience, even marketing departments at big corporations should take heed):
- You should ensure that the Google Analytics code has been implemented on each page of your website: the lack of proper tracking implementation, which could lead to “missing tracking code”, is one of the most recurring issues behind data discrepancy.
- You should pay attention to the overall set-up, organising your Google Analytics Account so as to contain an “unfiltered view”: in fact, once the data has been filtered, the original full set of data can’t be retrieved, which could be a big headache.
- Finally, consider that Google Adwords and Google Analytics Accounts must be “linked” when PPC AdWords campaigns are running: referral and/or direct traffic could be inflated if the set-up is not correct.
If you want to know more about Google Analytics and its advanced features, please email us at info@hedgingbeta.com