Google Schmozzles it’s own Analytics!

Well, word’s out on the street today, that for those of us SEO practitioners and clients too, who’ve been using Google Analytics to measure our web traffic — the game has just changed, eh!

Yup, Google has announced, that they are now finalizing an OPT OUT tracking tool for anyone who chooses to use same that will allow that user to NOT be included in any site traffic serps.

The official word from Google is available here… and the release on same is yes, short and to the point, but is it?

Many many of us, perhaps millions as I understand the usage of Google Analytics, use this free website traffic aggregator, to measure our client’s traffic on a daily basis. We enjoy the great looking charts and note always on changes to percentages, to real time numbers and gather same up to show a client that yes, we’re doing a job for them in getting their website traffic. Oh, sure..there’s the whole matter of conversions and ROI on the SEO Campaign itself to factor in…but as a free tool, Google Analytics works wonders and has been the #1 IMHO website traffic measurement tool in use online today.

Except, for some of us — and I really don’t know how many of us there are — we somehow felt “odd” using both Google to gain serp success via our SEO Campaigns  and Google Analytics to measure same. I know that I did..which is why for our own clients — ALL our clients, we use Urchin which is reputed to be still one of the best website traffic measurement tools out there.

Yes, I do know that it was purchased by Google a few years back which proved to me then (as it does now) that this app has value, and yes, it’s still available for a fee and supports just about every single type and kind of online measurement available. We love Urchin, and our clients do too…so this whole “change” to Google-World is not that big a deal to us…as we’ve asked about Urchin’s inclusion in this OPT OUT new paradigm from Google and have been assured that it is outside of that change. If you use Urchin for your own or your client’s traffic, you will NOT be affected by this change.

But I do wonder about those SEO practitioners who’ve become so “cosy” with Google Analytics…and how this might change their own thinking and reporting on traffic….if someone can opt out of that traffic, then are those numbers even worth reporting? Seems like a no to me, eh…but we’ll see I think in the coming months…