Google Analytics - Downsides?

[londres 0]

I recently got my activation code for google analytics, and looking at all the reviews from folks on the trap - it's been well received and everybody's got only good things to say about it.BUTi was wondering if current users have encountered any downsides after installing it on their site. and are there any adwords users that upgraded to an analytics account? how'd it go? any monetary or marketing improvements accompany the switch?

[FirefoxRocks 0]

I haven't been paying much attention to my Google Analytics account.I don't see any negatives associated with Google Analytics, unless you DON'T want Google to index your site.

[bhavesh 0]

i was wondering if current users have encountered any downsides after installing it on their site.

I have also joined analytics recently and haven't found any downside till now and I don't think I will get any.
Now many sites are using Analytics, even Xisto is also using, because it gives the complete analysis that you require and that too FREE. Also when any product gets a Google tag then you should forget about so called downsides.

[trace-uk 0]

what's google analyitics? can you subscribe for your google account or do you need an invite like with gmail??

[bhavesh 0]

what's google analyitics? can you subscribe for your google account or do you need an invite like with gmail??

Google Analytics gives the complete analysis of your site. They give number of hits, from where they have been generated, if any one is visiting again or not and many other features which will help you to know your sites popularity. A code is given by them which is to be inserted at the end of every page which you want to track.

No you don't need an invite only a Gmail account is required. If you don't have a Gmail account then post a message at appropriate forum here.

[mayank 2]

well, I've been using Google analytics for my blogs and I think it is the best of the lot. Most of the big sites and blogs use google analytics as it provides very detailed information about the visitors behaviour.Not just about refferers or search engine keywords..but from where they belong too....and that too they'll provide you with the city of the visitors.

[kkrizka 0]

I think that their interface is a bit bloated. First of all it uses flash for their graphs, so I can't see them from my laptop (which is running a 64bit installation of Linux). Also they have so many different ways to look at your statistics, that I dunno what to do. It's a bit confusing, so I end up using the "browser information" part to see how many new visitors came.But otherwise I like the service as I can add many different sites and even divide them into different groups (accounts). I just wish they simplified it a bit.

[AlternativeNick 0]

i really like analytics, it shows everything in a nice, easy-to-read format, and although they do use flash, for most users that doesnt pose much of a problem. The only problem that i can see is that some people use a CMS or something of the sort, and adding the code to each part could be a hassle, although i just used an adsense mod, and added the analytics code to it, and since it doesnt display anything, it doesnt interrupt any of my sites stylings and the like.

[rsf 0]

Analytics is great. I can not think of any reason not to use it unless you don't care about your traffic and just use the site to practice programming or something.It's very helpful for SEO because you can see exactly what people searched on google to find your site and how many pages they viewed on your site.Overall it's a great resource. I would recommend it to anyone with a decent sized website.

[CrazyRob 0]

Google Analytics is a great piece of software for your website. I use it on my site and it tells me in graphs and pictures all sorts of important information that i may want to know about my site. Such as:Who visits what pages Where my visitors are coming from How much traffic i have receivedIt is a great service from google and i would recommend it to anyone

[pkjm17 0]

You could also use hitbox, websidestory, statcounter, etc...........

[michaelper22 0]

Google Analytics is overall powerful and somewhat useful. It does have a good amount of reports with nice graphs. However, most of the information is only useful to people in marketing departments, not for those doing SEO stuff. The interface suffers from an outdated design, and it is difficult to drill down on data. Once you get really interested in who is visiting your site (looking to find out from which country a search was made in, and also associating other details with a particular visitor - referrers, entry page, etc.), you will realize what I'm talking about.

 

My rating: 3/5 stars.

 

It's only a matter of coicidence that a tool called Reinvigorate (http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/) lets you do all that I mentioned above. That is one great product.

I don't see any negatives associated with Google Analytics, unless you DON'T want Google to index your site.

Google Analytics does not index your site. It is not connected to the Googlebot spider in any way.

[mayank 2]

Google Analytics seems to be good, However, lately I realized that it was not able provide the correct information at all! It happed that one day my personal website was down and I'd linked to one of my friends blog but still it showed on his analytics that he was getting traffic from my website.How could it be possible...when I'd closed the site on my own and was updating the site...how could he get the traffic from my website. Later on, I switched to http://www.haveamint.com/ which seems to be providing much more accurate information. With the help of plugins, we can get good information. However, it doesnt have that detailed information, which analytics is able to provide, but atleast it is providing the correct info.

[michaelper22 0]

Google Analytics seems to be good, However, lately I realized that it was not able provide the correct information at all! It happed that one day my personal website was down and I'd linked to one of my friends blog but still it showed on his analytics that he was getting traffic from my website.
How could it be possible...when I'd closed the site on my own and was updating the site...how could he get the traffic from my website. Later on, I switched to http://www.haveamint.com/ which seems to be providing much more accurate information. With the help of plugins, we can get good information. However, it doesnt have that detailed information, which analytics is able to provide, but atleast it is providing the correct info.

From what I know, Google Analytics updates int data ever 24 hours. That means everything you are looking at is a day old. Statcounter and Mint are real-time, which is almost a neccessity these days.