Yahoo Takes on Google with Its Own Web Analytics Tool

10/09/2008

Yahoo recently rolled out a beta version of its web analytics tool. The company states that it will provide up-to-the-minute reports, which will highlight such information as page views, sales numbers and traffic sources.

The Technology behind Yahoo’s Web Analytics Tool

This past April, Yahoo acquired IndexTools. This acquisition gave the company the technology it needed to launch this web analytics tool. The company believes it is a worthy rival to Google’s Analytics offering.

Realizing that a good user experience is key to attracting and retaining customers, the company’s executives believe this will allow their advertisers, developers, and e-merchants to improve business in many ways.

The service will be rolled out in various phases throughout the rest of this year, on into 2009. This beta version will be made available to the 13,000 users of Yahoo’s Small Business hosted, e-commerce customers.

Yahoo has also started the roll out to advertisers requesting their help in building custom microsites, as well as third-party developers that are members of the Yahoo Developer Network and those who take advantage of its freely available APIs.

How Yahoo’s Analytics Differs from Others

Yahoo’s execs point out several differences in their tool when compared to others, i.e.:

Instant Changes: Some web analytics tools can take up to 48 hours to produce data after collecting it. Yahoo's doesn’t. It is updated within mere minutes. This is a particularly important difference because it allows users to quickly analyze key web data like how ad campaigns are performing, if there are usability issues with popular pages, etc.

How Data is Stored: Some analytic tools store collected data in pre-canned reports. Yahoo stores data in its raw form. This allows users to create custom reports using current and historical data.

Drag and Drop: Users can drag and drop data for filtering and segmentation. The significance of this is that it allows users, for example, to rapidly create custom reports and answer questions as they arise.

For more insight visit Web Analytics services