Google Analytics: Hard to Beat Free.
Updated December 18, 2014

Google Analytics: Hard to Beat Free.

Lena Prickett | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Google Analytics

Overall Satisfaction with Google Analytics

Google Analytics is currently being used in my organization by the Marketing department to capture overall data on web traffic, determine keywords for SEO, track which pages are most/least trafficked, and where we are losing visitors (bounce rate, exit pages etc). We also track clicks referred by our enewsletter. Google Analytics helps us determine which types of content are popular; which referral sources generate the most traffic; and which navigation paths our users take through our website. We are planning to make use of some of the more advanced features like goal conversion down the line, so we can identify exactly which paths lead to conversion and which keywords are the most valuable for our conversion goals.

Pros

  • Provides quantitative insight into your web presence. Much of our online marketing would be guesswork without the hard data provided by Google Analytics - and decisions made based on data are generally better decisions.
  • Integrates different online marketing activities. Through integrating with our enewsletter client and providing data on referral sources like social media, search, and advertising, Google Analytics gives us a broad picture of how our various online activities work together to support our marketing goals.
  • Shows you where you're weak. The "Behavior Flow" display is a valuable window into how our visitors reach our site, which pages lead them where, and which pages result in exiting our website. This information helps us improve content and readjust our strategy as necessary to make sure the right visitors reach the right content and the right time.

Cons

  • It's so robust it's scary - I know there are tons more features we could be using to our advantage within the program, but they're too complicated or detailed to access easily.
  • Permissions are a little wonky. It's hard to authorize multiple users on our team to access the necessary levels within the program, and it's not clear what permissions different users need to make specific changes - until you get an error message saying you're not authorized.
  • Improved focus in content development - knowing which keywords bring visitors to our site helps us identify the best new topics to write about.
Like I said before, there's no reason not to use GA.
There's really no reason not to use Google Analytics. The fact that it's free is incredible - it is the very first program I suggest clients set up to start getting a real handle on their online presence. Just answering simple questions like "Where does my traffic come from?" would be impossible without GA.

Google Analytics Reliability

Comments

More Reviews of Google Analytics