Back in March, Google agreed to buy Urchin, the web site traffic analysis software. Only now, with the release of Google Analytics has this deal hit people’s radars, as Google now offers Urchin functionality free to all and sundry.
In recent commentary, people have lumped together Google Analytics, Mint and Measure Map as three new traffic analysis tools all competing with each other. Mark Boulton has a rather more sane view of how to compare these products:
I’m not comparing them, as I feel they are three different levels of stats application ranging from the simple snapshot (Mint) to the more detailed (Analytics) and something in-between (MeasureMap).
And he’s right. Aside from being free, Google Analytics may appeal to some people as it appears to have an overwhelming amount of information and analysis.
Mint however does great job at displaying the kind of pertinent information that one would most often want from a stats analysis program – most popular pages, search terms used, recent referrers, browsers, and so on. And Mint will only get more powerful as Pepper plug-ins are developed. I also think Mint is a great package to give smaller clients who want an easy way to check their traffic.
Some have said that Mint is aimed at bloggers. Mint was initially marketed at and through bloggers, but it is certainly not limited to use on blogs. Unlike Measure Map, which is designed specifically for use on blogs in the way it tracks post and comments. The analysis Measure Map provides couldn’t be replicated on more generic systems like Google Analytics.
And one does have to think… why did Google buy Urchin and why are they giving Analytics away for free? It can’t all be for adding value to AdWord tracking so what do they plan to use all the data for?
Tools & software · New media industry · Google
Mike D. wrote:
Analytics provides several things for Google:
1) An eye into the traffic patterns of whoever decides to use it.
2) An eye into global traffic trends and how they related to AdWords (which is by far Google’s largest source of revenue).
3) Lock in. Like Gmail, and Google Search itself, once users begin using it, the idea is that they are more reliant upon the company thereafter. Jason Fried asked a good question a few weeks ago and that was “If Google cost $5 per month, would you pay for it?” I suspect the answer is yes for a LOT of people, and the sweet spot number might be more than $5 per month.
4) A cool technology purchased for a cheap price (in Google terms).
Craig C. wrote:
I signed up for Google Analytics (it needs a shorter catchier name… GStat? Googlytics? Goo Anal?) just a few minutes ago and the terms of use included some language about billing and fees. Paste:
There’s also the standard language about “we can change this fee structure at will” etc. so the service may not always be free. Or it may remain free for Adsense members (an incentive to run Adwords on your site if you want free stats), and having huge piles of traffic data will allow Google to set pricing for those Adwords and charge a premium for high-traffic sites, or higher prices for high-traffic areas within a one site.
I don’t run Adwords so I’ll be sure to let you know how much the bill is when I exceed 5 million pageviews (hah!).
Dustin wrote:
It’s too bad for Shaun that this boom happened at a critical time for his precious mint. And although they perhaps can’t be compared, the general mass audience isn’t going to think so
Ben Williams wrote:
Its all one big feedback loop for google search and adwords. The more data thay can get in terms of actual usage by end users of websites- where people go, which pages they value, which links on a page they follow, the more accurate their search results will be and the more relevant their ads will be.
I assume similar data is gathered from the toolbar, and Google is activley paying companies and individuals referral fees for getting new users to install that.
Alistair wrote:
Fortunately for Shaun, I think Mint is geared toward a different market.