Is Google Analytics Right for You?

Google's web-traffic analysis tool, Google Analytics, is highly rated, easy-to-use and free. Is it right for your Health Science Center web site? Could be, says Jim Barrett, webmaster.

Pie charts and graphs display much of the data in Google Analytics. Users need to subscribe to the free service.



A "privacy alert" pops up in Internet Explorer. The user may block the cookie, read more about it or accept it.

Page counter software, such as Google's, is compact and reports enough information for non-commercial web sites. Google Analytics provides a report that includes:

• Running counts of page views and unique visits
• Geographic locations of site visitors
• Number of views and visits by file name
• Which browsers and operating systems visitors use
• Their screen resolution settings
• Connection speeds of the users

People interested in using the software need to submit a request to Google. The company initially allowed any web operators to immediately use the service when it debuted in November 2005, but the requests swamped Google. New accounts were suspended until January 2006.

As for the software itself, Barrett said, "There are a couple drawbacks: One, Google requires you to insert JavaScript on each page you want to monitor; and, two, your users must accept a cookie."

About one in 10 Internet users disable JavaScript, and some users block cookies. Google needs to place a cookie on each visiting computer; traditional analyzers do not. So there's a risk of losing a measurement of traffic among users who don't accept cookies. "They are rare, but they exist," Barrett said.

What do you see if you block the Google cookie?

With Google Analytics, suspicious users may block the cookie, and affect the accuracy of Google's reports, Barrett said. Users can still view the site if they decline the Google cookie.

The Health Science Center uses a traditional traffic analyzer on its institutional web servers. The software, called Wusage, has been used since 2002. Wusage pulls data from the server logs daily, and provides information similar to Google Analytics. Wusage, for example, provides the annual trend reports on web usage.