Google Analytics 360 is a must for companies managing sites with total traffic that exceed the standard version's limits.
February 08, 2019
Google Analytics 360 is a must for companies managing sites with total traffic that exceed the standard version's limits.
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
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Overall Satisfaction with Google Analytics Premium
To be clear, I do not currently use Premium (now known as 360), but I recently left a position in which we managed many client websites and used Google Analytics in doing so. We were a Google Partner and Google services re-seller (mainly Ad-words), and also used our access to complimentary Google consultations (a key feature of 360/Premium). We used Analytics to improve user experience, analyze their on-site behaviors to optimize our clients' websites, and generate content ideas for our clients based on that behavior. I continue to use Google Analytics for these purposes today, but on a much smaller scale, making it unnecessary to pay a premium. Transitioning from large scale to small scale GA use has provided an interesting perspective change.
- In my opinion, the best feature of 360/Premium is the access to Google consultants for insights into your analytics, conversions, etc. Being able to talk directly to the people who can help you "win" at Google is very valuable, especially if you are feeling things out. They help point you in the right direction and help you figure out what to focus on.
- Large scale analytics. Google Analytics 360 is extremely powerful, but you're really only using this if you are keeping tabs on many relatively high-traffic websites.
- Many different metrics, measurables, etc. (hundreds, maybe?) can give you an amazing amount of information about how people are finding your site and what they're looking at when they get there.
- Faster refresh rate than the standard version, which can be valuable if you have highly dynamic strategies that operate with a little more urgency.
- As far as I can tell, this is the ultimate large scale analytics platform. It does so much and can be a very powerful tool. Maybe it's overwhelming for newbies, but that's kinda what the pro Google consultations are for.
- Although I've never been personally responsible for paying the GA 360 bills, I know it's very pricey ($150K/year last I checked). If your business is managing a lot of high-traffic sites, and maybe you resell other Google services, then it's probably worth it for the dashboard and integration. So... it's expensive, and by definition, not for everyone.
- Unlike AdWords, it's difficult to put a number on the ROI for GA 360. I was not in charge of pricing at my previous company, but offering analytic support to clients as part of a website optimization (and maybe even SEO) package certainly has value.
- I imagine that having a direct line to Google consultants may be a value proposition to clients, but again, I was never a salesperson.
- If you are a larger company for whom GA 360 is appropriate, then having the best tools money can buy (and the features therein) is always a nice thing to have in your back pocket.
Well, I suppose it's worth comparing the two versions of Google Analytics. I believe the difference really is as simple as how large your total managed monthly traffic. If it's over the threshold (10 million/month, if I recall), then GA 360 (the premium version) is a must. If you're overseeing that much traffic, likely spread across a number of clients' sites, and you don't want sampled data, then go Premium. The edge in descriptive analytics between Premium and Standard doesn't seem huge, but if you're operating on a large enough scale to justify the purchase, then it's worth it to have every last bit of extra functionality and insight (not to mention the Google consultants).
Comparing GA to something like Moz or SEMRush is not an apples to oranges comparison, as the companies all have slightly different purposes. That said, these are other dashboards to consider if you are slightly more interested in a deep dive into SEO or SEM rather than user behavior on your site. It comes down to priorities, but I imagine that most companies interested in GA 360 would also have some interest in the other products as well. If you can afford only one, it all comes down to what your biggest priorities and organizational strengths/weakness are.
Comparing GA to something like Moz or SEMRush is not an apples to oranges comparison, as the companies all have slightly different purposes. That said, these are other dashboards to consider if you are slightly more interested in a deep dive into SEO or SEM rather than user behavior on your site. It comes down to priorities, but I imagine that most companies interested in GA 360 would also have some interest in the other products as well. If you can afford only one, it all comes down to what your biggest priorities and organizational strengths/weakness are.