The Ultimate Comparison between Google Analytics & Yahoo Web Analytics
At Insightr Consulting we are big fans of free web analytics products for our clients. Free used to mean less capability, less reliability and less confidence that the product would be able to service the needs of business. But not anymore..
The last 12 months have seen the Google Analytics (GA) product evolve into a serious contender for a do-it-all product for most businesses, a period that has also seen Yahoo! get serious with analytics through the purchase of the not-so-well-know European product called Indextools - the decision by Yahoo! to make the Indextools product free with a rebrand into Yahoo Web Analytics (YWA) has turned the free market into a rich, dynamic, competitive space that’s seeing incredible product innovation.
Insightr Consulting are certified in Google Analytics through the Individual Certification programme as well as being a pioneer member of the Yahoo Web Analytics Consultant Network (YWACN). Our clients use a mixture of Google Analytics, Omniture Site Catalyst and Yahoo Web Analytics, with the majority of new businesses adopting either GA or YWA. In Singapore where we are based (and indeed across Asia) budgets for analytics are not as formalised as they are in markets like the US and Europe, so free tools are very popular here.
This article is the outcome of over 5 weeks work carrying out a feature by feature comparison of the Google Analytics and Yahoo Web Analytics products - a project that required a large overhaul after Google announced new features on the 20th October (more examples of the product innovation we’re seeing). Yahoo Web Analytics is still a largely unknown product to business and analysts alike as the product is only available through the YWACN or via Yahoo! advertising sales teams - this comparison should give you a pretty good feel for what you’re missing.
As our friends at Yahoo would say, this is perhaps an unfair comparison - as Indextools always liked to think of the old product as 80% of Omniture at 10% of the price. They weren’t wrong. In fact as an Omniture Site Catalyst user for over 7 years (how many of you can recall SC7?) the Yahoo offering is in many ways more powerful than Site Catalyst; especially when it comes to ‘advanced’ features such as segmentation which for Site Catalyst are only available with an additional “Discover on Demand” license.
Some of you will disagree with our analysis, and particularly with our scoring system - we’re hoping that the comparison is a thought starter and something that will lead to your consideration of the YWA product as a tool worth considering. We feel the scores are fair based on our usage of products and the way our clients will use them.
So, here’s the presentation - it’s best if you view it in full screen otherwise the screenshots will be too small. We apologise for the low quality of some of the screenshots - this was required to keep the file size down. It’s also a long document, over 50 pages - but that’s because both of these tools are powerful and are feature packed! We hope you enjoy it and get value from our work:
View more presentations from Insightr Consulting.
We have a version of this document that’s much more text heavy and verbose on features if you’d like to download as a reference over on Slideshare.
If you like the look of Yahoo Web Analytics, and in light of the fact that you’ll need to go through a Yahoo! consultant to get access we’re offering a Google Analytics to Yahoo Web Analytics migration package for a fixed US$2,500 project cost. Here’s what we’re offering:
If you’re interested, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to discuss your requirements.
James Dutton
In response to the amazing feedback I’ve had for this research piece, I’ve taken it a step further by allowing you to create your own scores based on a weighted scores worksheet I’m sharing over Google Docs. With this you can adjust the scores based on the features that are most important to you and your business.
Free Workbook to assess Google Analytics vs Yahoo Web Analytics
For example if api’s are of no interest to you, you can set the weighting for the api features to be 0% thereby changing the overall weighting of the scores.
Have fun adjusting your own scores!
Reader Comments (9)
James,
Very impressive document. Well done.
I love the format too. Very clear and insightful.
Cheers,
Michael
Hi,
The presentation is very well detailed but I can't help notice you want YWA to win.
I am testing the platform as we speak, and yes it looks powerful. However there is one very important aspect left aside. Google Analytics has a huge community of bloggers where you can get a lot of information.
I do consider YWA to be super cool though.
Very good presentation. Thanks for that0-very informative.
James, this is great material, very thorough and unique. I agree with your overall marks but wonder what would be 100%? Is it the current offering by Omniture in your mind?
Thanks, Jiri
Great work!
Hi,
Thanks for the presentation. It is very impressive and a comprehensive guide.
Haven't used Yahoo's web analytics. It would be tough pulling me away from Google. I love their clean, simple UI design.
Nice job with the analysis (and I'm an Omniture SiteCatalyst user). Perhaps this post will help encourage Yahoo! to make Yahoo! Analytics more easily available.
Excellent presentation!