Analyze This, Google

Google Analytics has become so prevalent and so popular that it at times feels like you can’t hear the word “analytics" without first hearing “Google”. The multinational technology company quickly took over the web analytics world with 63% of Fortune 500 companies using Google Analytics just three years ago. Despite this apparent match made in heaven, there are several other data analytics companies that exist all over the world that offer their own unique version of what Google Analytics is [not] selling. 

Google Analytics (GA), a web analytics service that allows users to track, understand, and report on their website and mobile traffic, was established in November, 2005. After acquiring Urchin, a statistical analysis program developed for processing web data, Google released three additional versions of Urchin before discontinuing the product in 2012. While Google Analytics now offers a premium version of their services, they're well known, and well utilized, by individuals and business owners for their free analysis program.

Many might wonder, if Google Analytics is free, why would I bother using my hard-earned money to pay for analytics? As sites around the web can attest, Google Analytics, though incredibly useful and valuable, is not the end all be all. Choosing the right analytics program for yourself or your business is dependent upon your personal and business goals, financial situation and technological savvy. Learning to successfully operate Google Analytics requires time, commitment and at least a little experience with website and/or mobile application design. In that vein, let's take a look at some alternatives to Google Analytics.

IBM Analytics: This is an option targeted towards larger businesses, specifically. As opposed to the basic Google Analytics, but similar to GA's premium version, IBM does charge for the service. While IBM Analytics shares many of the same types of tools and benefits provided by Google, IBM differs most significantly in the fact that they provide a service based entirely around industry. IBM Analytics for industry provides pre-built solutions for companies within specific fields. What this means is that the data collected, organized and reported with IBM Analytics can be considered within a context that is of greater relevancy to the client.

Clicky: In addition to being known as an easy tool to use, Clicky, as opposed to Google Analytics, does not use Flash. This means that the data Clicky provides can be more easily accessed over mobile devices. Additionally, Google Analytics, as they deal with such a large quantity of data, provides only a few reports that are available in real time. Meanwhile Clicky, as they rather cheekily remark on their webpage, provide, "every single report in...up-to-the-minute real time. Not just a few things (*cough* Google Analytics)...". Google Analytics, often criticized for their inability to provide real time data to users, takes anywhere from three hours to update traffic data to 72 hours for E-commerce data to come up to date. For those business owners or individuals who are always on the move, being able to access real time information on their mobile device about their site or mobile application's traffic can be an invaluable tool.

Piwik: This software is best known for being different in two ways. First, Piwik is an open-source analytics platform meaning that the user has the ability to truly tailor and edit the service to suit their needs. Rather than the organization maintaining exclusive control over the program, the consumer is able to modify the source code to suit their specific requirements. Secondly, and this becomes increasingly important in a world concerned with privacy, Piwik provides the user with 100% ownership over their accumulated figures and the option to self-host and store their own data. Whereas Google Analytics hosts all the data compiled for a user themselves, Piwik gives the ownership back to the individual.

These three programs are just some of the many of the viable alternatives to Google Analytics that exist currently. Deciding what your company can best utilize and afford will dictate which system will ultimately be the most appropriate choice.

For those who, like myself, find Google Analytics to be the best platform for their current situation, you're in luck. Google Analytics offers completely free training in their system, along with various resources including community help pages and instructional articles to help users set up and establish their account. The fundamentals course, offered free of charge by Google, just like their platform, is filled with educational videos, check-in activities, and additional readings. All these resources culminate in a final assessment that can be taken at the completion of the course in return for, well, nothing, at least nothing official. Of course you’ll be able to walk away from this experience with newfound knowledge and the ability to plaster a declaration of your competency proudly across your LinkedIn profile, but Google is currently not offering the Analytics fundamentals course in return for any actual official certification. This is because, as you may figure from the title, the fundamentals course is just the beginning of a three part process. In order to gain official certification in Google Analytics, you’ll need to also complete a course entitled, Platform Principles, before taking the official Individual Qualification (IQ) exam provided free of charge by Google.

As someone personally undertaking the process discussed above, I am living proof of the much discussed learning curve associated with Google Analytics. As you delve further into the Google Analytics fundamentals training, a mounting panic starts to build, a panic that is further exacerbated by attempting to watch these videos at 2am on a Friday night. The beginning videos, which are short and feel almost painfully straightforward, lure you into a false sense of security, slowly raising the water temperature until you find yourself sweltering away in a pot at full boil. By the time you’re entrenched in video 17 (there are 22 in total, by the way), you can no longer remember your name or business, let alone the reason you originally thought it was a good idea to start analyzing your data. The reason for this learning curve, and my current hyperbolized situation, is largely attributed to the sheer number of options and tools provided by Google Analytics. An individual casually acquainted with the system will find themselves wondering, should I be looking at goal conversions or e-commerce transactions? What is roll-up reporting? What types of filters should be used? What the Hell is a bounce rate and what do you mean I also have to understand Firebase Analytics and Adwords? Properties, conditions, views, campaigns - the program is full of terms that we understand in isolation but in the context of Google Analytics, they are the descriptors of a complex system of data analysis and reporting tools. How does one overcome this onslaught of information and continue on to lead a happy, analytics-filled life?

Well, to start with, the videos are well taught and, in hindsight, I believe they would be perfectly manageable watching three or four a day. The key though, to really developing a deep understanding of Google Analytics, is through the articles. Each video lesson, which is accompanied by two to four articles as well as an activity, really help to bolster confidence and comprehension in the material. The articles take you much deeper into the workings of Google Analytics. While reading these articles, instead of superficially passing over the related links within, it is important to read them in order to gain a better understanding of all the cogs that make up the great machine that is Google Analytics. And of course, as with anything, practice, practice, practice.

In conclusion, is Google Analytics valuable? Yes. Is it difficult to learn? Yes. Are there other options? Yes. Which should you choose? That is completely up to you.

I’ll leave you with a meme I stumbled upon while exploring the world of Google Analytics. Funny, right?

Yeah, I don’t get it either.