Google Analytics updated, by Jeffrey Veen

Google Analytics updated

Reading through the comments on my recent post about our redesign of Google Analytics, two things are pretty clear: For the most part, we did a pretty good job of making that powerful application more usable and accessible to a wider audience. And there were a handful of features from the previous version that didn't make it into the new interface that were very important to a small but vocal group of users.

Being able to release new versions and updates is the beauty (and, perhaps, the curse) of working with web-based applications. Tweaking features and fixing bugs can and should be a constant and iterative part of the development process. The Analytics launch is a good case study - today they've released an update that addresses most of the gap between the old and new versions, including:

Hourly traffic reports
Cross segmenting users by network location
Allowing up to 500 rows of data per page in a table
Clickable URLs for traffic sources

There is even more, which you can read about on this post to the Google Analytics Blog. Or have a look a the release notes.

This entry was written by Jeffrey Veen and posted 13 June 2007 at 9:02 AM. It was filed under Personal, Software, Web Design. | View blog reactions

Comments

1. On 13 June 2007 at 8:52 PM Rob Scriva wrote:

Excellent news.

Also, how long until we see an API for Analytics?

2. On 13 June 2007 at 9:09 PM Rob Sandie wrote:

Once again, thanks for letting us know! Still lovin my analytics so much.

Question: how come google never gives full reffering URLs? It would be really nice to know where exactly traffic is coming from.

Thanks again, and keep up the great work!

3. On 18 June 2007 at 4:02 AM Russell BC wrote:

Hi Jeff,
Love the blog. I'm based in London and planning to do some long distance biking across France either in the fall or next spring. So keep up the posts about biking and any trips you're making/planning. But a quick question for you. Is there any plans to unify Picassa and GAnalytics? I love photography and recently started up a Flickr page. Quite a few friends mentioned Picassa...worth a switch...I'm not sure yet. BUT if google analytics worked with Picassa I would def consider using that. Right now all Flickr gives is page views, which isn't particularly helpful. The only comments about the matter from google say not yet...also not helpful. Creating a link between the two products would certainly go a long way to differentiate Picassa from Flickr and offer people an entry level into google analytics, which they could then take with them into their work place. What do you do with your Flickr page? Drop me a line when you get a chance and keep up the good posts.
Cheers,
Russell

4. On 20 June 2007 at 11:33 AM Dominic Jones wrote:

Hi Jeff,

I was one of those who didn't use the new version because of a cross segmenting gap. I wasn't vocal about it. But now I'm using the beta and I'm set on it.

One thing that still bothers me is the amount of interaction required to change the timeline or date of the data being displayed. In the former interface, changing the date or range was easier because the calendar was always visible on the left.

Now it's hidden and requires some precise and repetitive mouse action to change the date. Seems to me that one of the most fundamental things people need to accomplish is seeing information for particular periods.

How about using the Google Finance charts approach for the analytics timeline graph? That might make it easier to change the period.

Other than that, the new analytics is probably my favorite new interface.

5. On 20 June 2007 at 6:12 PM Celio Martins wrote:

Hi Jeff,

I am having a problem with Analytics, ans seems that I am not the only one...

when I click the date range on the new interface located at the top right of
the page, a box is displayed moving the below elements down (sometimes
the animated loading appears, other times it doesn't) and the browser
hangs for around 10 seconds and a dialog message is displayed saying:

"A script on this movie is causing Adobe Flash Player 9 to run slowly.
If it continues to run, your computer may become unresponsive. Do you
want to abort the script?"

If I answer Yes, the Calendar and Timeline icons are displayed, but
not the rest of the box content. If I answer No, the browser hangs and
I have to finish the process on the ctrl+alt+del window.

check out here:
http://groups.google.com/group/analytics-help-troubleshoot/browse_thread/thread/499502304c1aca67/7753dd19edf5caad?lnk=gst&q=abort+the+script&rnum=1#7753dd19edf5caad
http://groups.google.com/group/analytics-help-troubleshoot/browse_thread/thread/2e0636f8e5436839/7efeccfee447646f?hide_quotes=no

Could give me a reply?
Thankss!

6. On 27 June 2007 at 10:08 AM Ivonne wrote:

Hi Jeff,
Thanks for all the hard work on making much needed changes and updates to the new interface.

Something that I have been looking for though, is the ability to view or even export a full report of either the Navigation Summary or Entrance Paths similarly the way the Initial Navigation report worked in the previous version.

While it is nice to be able to see my top ten, I also want to know what pages are not getting as many visits, without having to go through the tediously task of going through the site overlay and rolling over every link.

Please let us know when we could expect to see this full report brought back to the new interface.

Again thanks,

7. On 2 July 2007 at 2:21 AM Alexander wrote:

Hi Jeff,
I really need exporting "all" rows of data to a csv file. Currently, in the new interface you can only export the number of fields that you are viewing (500 max.)

Can I hope to get this bevore you shut down the old version?

8. On 13 July 2007 at 1:24 AM Dj wrote:

Hi Jeff,
I understand that this is a massive undertaking; you can't please everybody, and your gearing things towards larger clients. In addition, making something this flexible adds a whole new layer of complexities. But I just don't understand several aspects of the new interface and have been unable to get answers elsewhere.

(1) Why can't multiple metrics, like both visitors and page views be displayed on the same graph?

(2) Why doesn't the oversized graph at the top of the page, or any of the graphs for that matter, match the time range selected? Yes, that would mean graphing hourly data when a single day is selected... and perhaps even shrinking the graph to a more reasonable size.

Those two changes would make the graphs so much more usable. I guess I just don't understand the thought process that went into the final design. Why were these features omitted? I'm sure you have some reason, but I'm clueless as to what that might be.

And one more thing... not everyone has a huge monitor. Big graphs, big numbers... all that does for me is make less data fit on my screen. So now I have hourly data, but the whole day doesn't even fit on the screen! Why represent this data in a bar chart at the bottom instead of the graph at the top (with multiple metrics)?

Again, I acknowledge what a difficult design and development task this must have been. The flexibility, the additional metrics and functionality... and so on. I'm sure that you had to make many trade-offs along the way. I just wish that some explanation was given as to why some of these graphing features are no longer available.