Google Boosts Analytics

Google is beefing up its analytics service with a paid offering from analytics and design firm Zaaz, the companies are expected to announce today.

The partnership comes about two months after Google made free analytics available via Urchin, a San Diego, Calif.-based analytics company that Google purchased in March. The free service provides Web traffic, demographic, and behavioral metrics, while the premium service provided by Seattle, Wash.-based Zaaz will provide a range of additional features--including accuracy audits, metrics scorecard creation, ROI monetization and forecasting, behavioral and competitive analysis, and site optimization.

"Two of our big goals with Google Analytics: Get more companies using the data, and the other one is getting the depth and penetration with this companies," said Brett Crosby, analytics product marketing manager for the Mountain View, Calif.-based Google. "Before we launched Google Analytics, you could spend a lot for a high-end analytics package, and there would be some pre-defined professional services wrapped with that. The model that we've put together with Zaaz for the high end of the market is that the data is free, and you pay for what you need with Zaaz."

Zaaz CEO Shane Atchison said demand for these services has risen drastically, and the Google-Zaaz partnership hopes to move that demand from the Fortune 500 companies to smaller online merchants. "The demand for services has been extraordinary," he said. "What's interesting is the lack--when you get outside of the big boys, there's very few enterprise clients that are doing any sort of site optimization."

Crosby said that Google hopes that additional analytics will ultimately lead to improved Web sites, which will make for better user experiences--and in theory, lead to more ad clicks. "It really is something that's healthy for the entire ecosystem of the online world. If site owners have this data, they can see where things are working and things are not working," he said. "They improve their site, it's a better user experience, and the user rewards them with high conversions."

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