Google today is launching a free Web analytics service that will let companies see how visitors interact with their Web sites and the ads they carry.
The hosted service, called Google Analytics, is based on technology from Urchin Software, which Google acquired in March. The service will let Web operators see where their visitors are coming from and will analyze their page views, their duration on site, the most popular links, and the dropout points in checkout operations.
Google Analytics will link to Google’s paid-search AdWords program and let advertisers know how many times their ads have been seen. AdWords cost data is automatically imported so that advertisers can see what return they’re getting on their investment in keywords. They can also use Google Analytics to track banner, e-mail and paid-search campaigns placed with other ad service providers.
Google will let Web publishers integrate the service into their sites for free, even if they are not part of Google’s AdWords network. But if they get more than 5 million page views a month, they will be encouraged to sign on to the network.
Google has also launched what it calls Conversion University on its AdWords Web site, to teach advertisers and publishers about the importance of tracking return on investment.
The analytics launch keeps Google in step with its search engine competitors Yahoo! and MSN Search. MSN adCenter lets advertisers see demographic data on audiences for keywords.
The move will most likely also evoke a response from Omniture, Web Trends, Web Side story and other Web analytics providers. The Google services include many parts of the analytics program offered by Urchin for $200 a month
