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Internet search leader Google has introduced a free tool for Web site owners to see how their site stacks up against others in various industries, by adding a so-called industry benchmarking feature to its free Google Analytics web traffic measurement and analysis product, the Mountain View, California-based company announced Wednesday. Industry Benchmarking For Analytics Google Analytics is a remotely hosted web analytics service for tracking consumer interaction with  Web sites. Google acquired the core of its web analytics technology in 2005, when it purchased Urchin Software Corporation. Google Analytics is fully integrated with the company's AdWords online advertising program. Google Analytics users who choose to sign up for the industry benchmarking features using a new opt-in form associated with their account can begin participating in the new Google service, which has been released in a beta test stage, otherwise the service is turned off by default, according to Brett Crosby, Google Analytics group manager, writing on the company's official blog site. Industry benchmarking allows webmasters to see how their Web site is performing compared to others in the same industry or others. "We believe this data will provide actionable insights by providing context for users to understand how their site is doing," Crosby said in the announcement, noting also that webmasters will be able to "compare your site against an industry vertical different than your own." A Tool For Finding Cross Promotional Opportunities Using the benchmarking information the Google Analytics service has added can help customers see how their  Web site compares with a broad spectrum of other similar sites, from the most popular to the least used, as long as the companies also use Google Analytics and have agreed to share their site's data, which is kept in a format rendering it anonymous, Google said. "Benchmarking only works if people can opt to share their data into the system," Crosby added. As an example of how industry benchmarking works, a company in the school supply industry could use benchmarking information from Google Analytics to find other industries that experience increased Web site traffic when students are let out during summer - the time site traffic typically would decrease for a school supply business - and look to form online partnerships with those industries, especially if they in turn experience a traffic drop when school is back in session. Crosby said such "cross promotional opportunities" would become more identifiable as more firms begin using the new Google Analytics industry benchmarking features. Web Site Traffic Data Split Into Industry Verticals Once a customer agrees to share their Web site data with Google Analytics benchmarking tools it may take up  to two weeks before the first useful information on the site is available, Google said. Benchmarking is a "commonly requested" service, noted Crosby, which "enables customers to see how their site data compares to sites in any available industry vertical." Google made clear that it removes identifying information about Web sites before grouping them into its own categories of "industry verticals," and said that only anonymous site traffic usage information is shared among participants in the benchmarking program. "Google will remove all identifiable information about your website, then combine that data with hundreds of other anonymous sites in comparable industries and report them in an aggregate form," Google notes on its Analytics Web site. Google Adds Web Traffic Benchmarking To Analytics Service A setting allows Google Analytics users to choose whether to share their Web site information with the new industry benchmarking feature or with a set of upcoming "advanced advertisement services and improvements with other Google products" as they become available, such as one that will link to the firm's AdWords "Conversion Optimizer" tool, Google said. Details of these additional upcoming services were not disclosed. Web site usage data from up to one month prior to the date of signing up for the benchmarking service may be incorporated into traffic information for sites, Google said. Some Web analysts would like to see Google expand the benchmarking service to offer the option for customers to share Analytics data in a way that would identify their Web properties by name, without being made anonymous, as a method for firms to openly disclose their site's popularity should they wish. Related Links:
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9:36 pm on Mar. 6, 2008 (utc 0)