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Google Analytics vs. Nielsen Marketing Mix Modeling vs. Parse.ly

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Analytics

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Analytics is perhaps the best-known web analytics product and, as a free product, it has massive adoption. Although it lacks some enterprise-level features compared to its competitors in the space, the launch of the paid Google Analytics Premium edition seems likely to close the gap.

    $0

    per month

    Nielsen Marketing Mix Modeling

    Score1 out of 10
    N/ANielsen Marketing Mix Modeling enables customers to assess the impact of their investments, understand what’s working, and optimize marketing budgets accordingly. It replaces Nielsen Attribution (formerly Visual IQ, acquired by Nielsen in October 2017) , the platform for cross-channel attribution and marketing analytics suite.N/A

    Parse.ly

    Score7.8 out of 10
    N/AParse.ly is a content optimization platform for online publishers. It provides in-depth analytics and helps maximize the performance of the digital content. It features a dashboard geared for editorial and business staff and an API that can be used by a product team to create personalized or contextual experiences on a website.

    $499

    per month

    Pricing
    Google AnalyticsNielsen Marketing Mix ModelingParse.ly
    Editions & Modules
    Google Analytics 360
    150,000
    per year
    Google Analytics
    Free
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google AnalyticsNielsen Marketing Mix ModelingParse.ly
    Free Trial
    NoNoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeRequired
    Additional Details———
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google AnalyticsNielsen Marketing Mix ModelingParse.ly
    Considered Multiple Products
    Google
    Chose Google Analytics
    Certicom maybe is more accepted for some agencies but the reporting and monitoring tools are way more limited. The code client is not that straightforward.
    Incentivized
    Nielsen
    Chose Nielsen Marketing Mix Modeling
    VisualIQ is 1 of 2 partners only that have access to FB impressions.
    Incentivized
    Parse.ly
    Chose Parse.ly
    Faster feedback and quicker visualization than what Google provides. However, it obviously can't get as specific or in-depth as Google Analytics
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Parse.ly gives a more detailed look into how content is performing, versus the overall site metrics provided by Google Analytics.
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Adobe Analytics is our organization's "official" data source and provides a much more in-depth feature set and customizable reporting tool. It's much less user-friendly than Parse.ly but can provide more detailed reporting. Google Analytics is used by my organization as a …
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    I used Google Analytics for years. I loved it and still love it. Google Analytics isn't as robust as Parse.ly and doesn't have some of the same capabilities, nor do I trust the data as much. But Google Analytics is still really good, and it's free. If I were at a …
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Parse.ly is far more user-friendly than Google Analytics, which feels like a developer's tool by comparison. Parse.ly feels like it is designed for ease of access and use. While analyzing trends is more difficult in Google Analytics, it is straightforward in Parse.ly. Google …
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    I use then in tandem; where Parse.ly lacks, I go over to Google Analytics and vice versa. Sometimes I need to look deeper at referral sources and that is where Parse.ly isn't as strong, especially if I am looking at a bigger set of content.
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Parse.ly works better than Google Analytics. This is mainly due to its simplicity whereas Google Analytics can quickly become quite complicated with a lot of moving parts. Parse.ly, on the other hand, is quick to learn and understand while also providing a lot of information.
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Parse.ly is easier to use and more self-explanatory than Google Analytics. The site essentially explains itself upon visiting it. Chartbeat was quite good but I believe Parse.ly provides more granular details on web traffic and gives the user more insights into how and why …
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Parse.ly is easier to track and to understand for me than the features that Google Analytics offers. Nonetheless, graphics seems to be more complex in Google's environment, which [I feel] can be a weakness for Parse.ly in the case of Data Analysts. Although, both are used in …
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Google Analytics is a solid tool - however not all data is real-time, site performance is sometimes lacking and adding custom dimensions or parameters is challenging without bringing in development resources. Parse.ly's interface is far cleaner and focused compared to GA. …
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    I find Parse.ly much easier and intuitive to use, everything I need is served to me within a few clicks and the time it takes me to train someone on the system is much less than Google Analytics. I find the alerts I get when content is starting to spike very usefully too.
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    We tried Google Analytics and Google Data Studio before, and it was so complicated to set up we needed to hire experts to do it. Even then the performance was slow and the tools unintuitive to use. Many people have a blog they want to measure, we're not reinventing the wheel …
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Parse.ly excels in providing detailed insights into how users are interacting with specific pieces of content, allowing us to make data-driven decisions about content strategy and optimization. Its real-time reporting also provides us with immediate feedback on the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Doesn't come with an integrated overlay like Chartbeat, but is more intuitive (just) than GA. Seems more accurate and detailed than Chartbeat but less than GA. It's my go-to for day-to-day traffic engagement but monthly I'm more likely to look at in-house GA-generated reports.
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Parse.ly is way better because of how much more user-friendly and intuitive it is.
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Parse.ly is the most comprehensive interface and system.
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Have nothing similar to compare it with.
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Firstly, I didn't make the business decision to use Parse.ly. I'm just an employee using it. However, the first thing you notice is the change in appearance. Parse.ly's dashboard looks far more complicated than Chartbeat's and the black, white, and green theme [are] not as …
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Parse.ly offers a more friendly user experience, with better ease in navigating the software.
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    It's right up there with Google.
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Accuracy, reporting formats and the ability to benchmark, plus social media referrals built in as part of the dashboard. Also the information tags so that there is a consistent way to explain the reports to external recipients. Parse.ly's value for money and reliability is …
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Much easier to follow than Google. That is really all we need to know.
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Parse.ly's data is as accurate as the competition's but is more accessible and digestible. That's what truly sets it apart.
    Incentivized
    Chose Parse.ly
    Parse.ly does not have an equivalent of Chartbeat's Heads Up Display, which is very useful.

    Parse.ly does not compare to GA in terms of historical data.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    96%
    Would buy again
    101 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Would buy again
    78 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    100 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    47 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    104 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    76 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    77 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    36 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    87 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    37 Answers
    Features
    Google AnalyticsNielsen Marketing Mix ModelingParse.ly
    Web Analytics
    Comparison of Web Analytics features of Google Analytics and Nielsen Marketing Mix Modeling and Parse.ly
    Feature
    Google Analytics
    8.4
    11 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Nielsen Marketing Mix Modeling
    -
    Ratings
    Parse.ly
    7.6
    7 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Lead Conversion Tracking8.210 Ratings00 Ratings6.23 Ratings
    Bounce Rate Measurement8.410 Ratings00 Ratings6.85 Ratings
    Device and Browser Reporting9.311 Ratings00 Ratings8.36 Ratings
    Pageview Tracking9.111 Ratings00 Ratings8.26 Ratings
    Event Tracking8.411 Ratings00 Ratings7.85 Ratings
    Reporting in real-time7.810 Ratings00 Ratings8.46 Ratings
    Referral Source Tracking8.610 Ratings00 Ratings7.66 Ratings
    Customizable Dashboards7.910 Ratings00 Ratings7.66 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google AnalyticsNielsen Marketing Mix ModelingParse.ly
    Small Businesses
    Matomo Analytics
    Score9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Matomo Analytics
    Score9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Lead Forensics
    Score9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Lead Forensics
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Chartbeat
    Score9.2 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Chartbeat
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google AnalyticsNielsen Marketing Mix ModelingParse.ly
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (193 ratings)
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.8
    (82 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (51 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (32 ratings)
    Usability
    7.4
    (19 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.7
    (35 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (42 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.8
    (35 ratings)
    Online Training
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    6.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google AnalyticsNielsen Marketing Mix ModelingParse.ly
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    Google Analytics is particularly well suited for tracking and analyzing customer behavior on a grocery e-commerce platform. It provides a wealth of information about customer behavior, including what products are most popular, what pages are visited the most, and where customers are coming from. This information can help the platform optimize its website for better customer engagement and conversion rates. However, Google Analytics may not be the best tool for more advanced, granular analysis of customer behavior, such as tracking individual customer journeys or understanding customer motivations. In these cases, it may be more appropriate to use additional tools or solutions that provide deeper insights into customer behavior.
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    Would be suited for simpler products with 1-2 KPIs, online-only, web-only, etc. Not suited for multiple KPIs that interact with customers through many tools, offline and online, and with both web and native apps.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Parse.ly
    Parse.ly is a great tool for publishers who want to track engagement and audience behaviour across websites. With Parse.ly, we can easily track metrics like pageviews, time spent on page, and scroll depth to see which content is resonating with our audience and optimize our content strategy accordingly. Our marketers found Parse.ly to be an excellent tool for tracking the effectiveness of our campaigns. We can use Parse.ly to track metrics like referral sources, conversion rates, and engagement by audience segment to see which channels and tactics are driving the most engagement and conversions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • Multiple reports to see website use and behavior
    • Allows you to customize reports with days, weeks, months, and years
    • You can build out a dashboard to easily view stats from multiple websites in one place
    • You can share analytics reports via the dashboard, automatically emailed PDFs or in other formats
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    • Access to FB impressions.
    • TapAd device graph for stitching device ids to web cookies.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Parse.ly
    • Firstly, the platform is super easy to use, it is user-friendly and easy to navigate through.
    • Secondly, the platform also provides you the option to use filters to your best fit and adjust the filters according to what data you want to look at.
    • Thirdly, it enables the user to have live feedback on their articles and see what can be improved going forward to address the need of the readers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • Data sampling is somewhat inaccurate on the free tier - this is addressed in premium but is expensive.
    • Some of the UI is very similar in naming when presenting different data, some in-situ information might be useful.
    • Gotchas around filtering and data validation.
    • Implementation can be tricky, it can take a lot of time and expertise to get a full, accurate picture of your metrics.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    • Missing timestamps of the touch points in the output (instead, they repeat the conversion timestamp for all touch points that preceded the conversion).
    • Inflated clicks.
    • No connectors to import cost from media partners.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Parse.ly
    • A more readily understandable visual guide to a visitor's pathway through your site would help understand what keeps a reader on-site.
    • The total page view number for the day should be more readily visible--on the overview page, not just by going to Posts>Historical.
    • Maintain the archive for longer than a year under all plans--it's a shame to lose year-on-year data quickly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    We will continue to use Google Analytics for several reasons. It is free, which is a huge selling point. It houses all of our ecommerce stores' data, and though it can't account for refunds or fraud orders, gives us and our clients directional, real time information on individual and group store performance.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    No answers on this topic
    Parse.ly
    As an employee, this is difficult for me to comment as I am not directly funding or making these business decisions. However, it is a tool many get on with for surface level data that is useful to editorial teams.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Google
    Google Analytics provides a wealth of data, down to minute levels. That is it's greatest detriment: find the right information when you need it can be a cumbersome task. You are able to create shortcuts, however, so it can mitigate some of this problem. Google is continually refining Analytics, so I do not doubt there will be improvements
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    No answers on this topic
    Parse.ly
    The Parse.ly platform is very user-friendly and easy to use. User management is simple, and reporting setup only takes a few minutes. They provide very helpful documentation for implementing the scripts on your site and have great customer support to help with custom development such as implementing their content recommendation engine.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    We all know Google is at top when it comes to availability. We have never faced any such instances where I can suggest otherwise. All you need is a Google account, a device and internet connection to use this super powerful tool for reporting and visualising your site data, traffic, events, etc. that too in real time.
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    No answers on this topic
    Parse.ly
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Google
    This has been a catalyst for improving our site's traffic handling capabilities. We were able to identify exit% from our sites through it and we used recommendations to handle and implement the same in our sites. We have been increasing the usage of Google Analytics in our sites and never had any performance related issues if we used Analytics
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    No answers on this topic
    Parse.ly
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Google
    The Google reps respond very quickly. However, sometimes they can overly call you to set up an apportionment. I'm very proficient and sometimes when I talk to reps, they give beginner tutorials and insights that are a waste of time. I wish Google would understand my level of expertise and assign me to a rep (long-term) that doesn't have to walk me through the basics.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    No answers on this topic
    Parse.ly
    I rate this question this way solely because I haven't requested any support. I feel where I will eventually get support would be when we take Parse.ly up on some training that is being offered. We are looking to do that at some point after the first of the year and when our schedules support it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Google
    love the product and training they provide for businesses of all sizes. The following list of links will help you get started with Google Analytics from setup to understanding what data is being presented by Google Analytics.
    1. How to Use Google Analytics for Beginners – Mahalo’s how-to guide for beginners.
    2. A beginner’s guide to Google Analytics – A free eBook walking you through Google Analytics from setup to understanding what data is being presented.
    3. Getting to Know Your Google Analytics Dashboard – The title says it all! This is a brief post with one goal: to introduce you to the Google Analytics dashboard.
    4. Google Analytics for Beginners: How to Make the Most of Your Traffic Reports– This guide doesn’t cover setup, but it does a great job of helping you to better understand the data being presented.
    5. Google Analytics Video Tutorial 1: Setup – A video presentation that walks you through Google Analytics setup.
    6. Google Analytics Video Tutorial 2: Essential Stats – A video presentation that introduces you to some of the most important data being presented in Google Analytics.
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    No answers on this topic
    Parse.ly
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Google
    I think my biggest take away from the Google Analytics implementation was that there needs to be a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it before you start. Originally the analytics were added to track visitors, but as we became more savvy with the product, we began adding more and more functionality, and defining guidelines as we went along. While not detrimental to our success, this lack of an overarching goal resulted in some minor setbacks in implementation and the collection of some messy data that is unusable.
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    No answers on this topic
    Parse.ly
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    I have not used Adobe Analytics as much, but I know they offer something called customer journey analytics, which we are evaluating now. I have used Semrush, and I find them much better than Google Analytics. I feel a fairly nontechnical person could learn Semrush in about a month. They also offer features like competitive analysis (on content, keywords, traffic, etc.), which is very useful. If you have to choose one among Semrush and Google Analytics, I would say go for Semrush.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    VisualIQ is 1 of 2 partners only that have access to FB impressions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Parse.ly
    Parse.ly does pretty well compared to Chartbeat, particularly when it comes to historical information and analysis options that are easy for employees to use after some short training. The onboarding for Parse.ly is intuitive, and the scheduled reports take away basically all of the inconvenience associated with regular metrics reviewing. But Chartbeat wins in its social audience tracking because it can source traffic to a specific social post, which can show you exactly how your audience is coming to your content and where you need to put your content to be sure you get that audience.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Google
    Google Analytics is currently handling the reporting and tracking of near about 80 sites in our project. And I am not talking about the sites from different projects. They may have way more accounts than that. Never ever felt a performance issue from Google's end while generating or customising reports or tracking custom events or creating custom dimensions
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    No answers on this topic
    Parse.ly
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • It has helped us gain understanding of what is going on on our website.
    • It has helped us determine areas that need fixing (i.e. pages with extremely high bounce rates may need to be redone).
    • It has helped us understand our biggest avenues for bringing traffic to the website and business in general.
    • It has helped guide our website redesign.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Nielsen
    • We’ve been implementing for a year now and still not using the tool cross-functionally so probably $0 ROI at this point.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Parse.ly
    • Sometimes in meetings our editorial director will point out stories that didn't perform well. To us, that means readers don't really care about the topic, so we'll pivot away from writing about that in the future. That might not be "business objectives" though.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Parse.ly Screenshots

    Screenshot of Overview in full-screen mode: Many Parse.ly pages, like the Overview, are TV-ready. Keep your entire team up-to-date with live, full-screen dashboards on TVs in your office.Screenshot of Overview screen: See a snapshot of what your audience is paying attention to today so you can make fast decisions about what content to produce or distribute. Customize it to show only what your team cares about by filtering it to a particular author, section, or tag. You can pick what stats and listings are displayed.Screenshot of Real-time posts page: See what’s gathering steam so you can capitalize on attention to every post, campaign, or section.
Real-time data includes the last 24 hours and updates every five seconds. It can be seen, filtered, and sorted on most screens.Screenshot of Historical posts page: Explore historical trends by post, author, section, topic, referrer, or campaign. Compare today’s performance to last week, month, or year.Screenshot of Campaign tracking: Easily tie in your off-site promotion to engagement with your on-site content using UTM parameters.Screenshot of Multi-channel tracking: Track all your content in one place, no matter where it lives.
Compare how your content performances on various distributed channels including your website, AMP, Facebook Instant Articles, and Apple News.