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How will Google Analytics Make Money?

Discussion in 'Google Analytics' started by Help Desk, Nov 15, 2005.

  1. #1
    There a bunch of Google Analytics threads here but nobody has focused on how Google is actually going to make this profitable.

    Is this worthwhile to Google just for the sake that they get to report on the data? Is this just a "Good Will" product from tools they already used for AdSense and AdWords?
     
    Help Desk, Nov 15, 2005 IP
  2. Toonces51

    Toonces51 !@#$%^&*^%#@#$%

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    #2
    I think the theory is that people will be more effective in their AdWords spends, and that they will therefore increase their AdWords spends.

    Also, since it can be limited to 5,000,000 page views, they can possibly encourage some sites that may not be using it to sign up for Ad Words to get the unlimited access.

    Just my guesses, though...

    Toonces51
     
    Toonces51, Nov 15, 2005 IP
  3. digitalpoint

    digitalpoint Overlord of no one Staff

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    #3
    Google will certainly make it more than pay for itself by the increase in AdWords revenue it draws.

    But even beside that, not EVERYTHING a company does is about making money. For example, Google removed AdSense ads from blogspot.com hosted blogs. They certainly didn't make money by doing that.
     
    digitalpoint, Nov 15, 2005 IP
  4. Carlito

    Carlito Peon

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    #4
    Still, I'm a little shocked that they've provided this for free. Displaying ads is one thing, but analyzing every click on what I'm assuming will be a huge percentage of the websites out there will require a phenomenal amount of resources. This is much more than counting clicks by the hour like a service like statcounter might do. This is real web analytics.

    That being said, my account still hasn't collected any data yet, so I'll have to see how limited the segmentation and filtering features are, but if it's the full Urchin, I just can't imagine how they'll be able to do it.

    Part of me says that Google knows the value of information and they'll spend whatever it takes to get this kind of valuable info, but they are supposedly not going to use this data for improving serps or tracking us webmasters, etc., so I don't see what they're gaining from it.

    Of course, it's Google, they've got more money than God. If anyone can do it, they probably can, but I can't see how it will be anything but a drain on them years down the road.
     
    Carlito, Nov 15, 2005 IP
  5. asr_guy

    asr_guy Peon

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    #5
    Actually if you read their data protection FAQ answer and also their privacy policy it covers the use of the data. You will see that they can do pretty well whatever they want with our personal and aggregated data. Third parties can also get the aggregated data.

    They won't necessarily care about your particular site, but I suspect they could use the data to identify e.g. top 3 consumer products with highest conversions by country during December etc.

    That is valuable information for them to start an online shopping portal, for example. I better check if www.googlemall.com is available :)
     
    asr_guy, Nov 15, 2005 IP
  6. aeiouy

    aeiouy Peon

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    #6
    The data is amazingly valuable. It is worth it many times over for google to provide this service in order to get access to all the data. Reality is Google's entire business has always been built around giving their product away for free.

    This is simply just another example of that.
     
    aeiouy, Nov 15, 2005 IP
  7. swoop

    swoop Active Member

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    #7
    Sorry, too late for that one. Just guessing, I imagine that almost any dictionary word domain name preceeded by google is google-gone.
     
    swoop, Nov 15, 2005 IP
  8. Toonces51

    Toonces51 !@#$%^&*^%#@#$%

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    #8
    Toonces51, Nov 15, 2005 IP
  9. Help Desk

    Help Desk Well-Known Member

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    #9
    I imagine that this data was already collected by AdSense. Google wasn't kidding when it said it had the resources to identity fradulent clicks.

    Analytics, I believe, is just a wrapper around the data collection interface that they had previously built.
     
    Help Desk, Nov 16, 2005 IP
  10. Dekker

    Dekker Peon

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    #10

    Yeah, but they're pushing bloggers to sign up with Google Adsense on their blogs..it's much easier to get an account if you do it through your blogger account.

    More people will use blogger if it's not stuffed with other people's ad, they can make their own money off it, and it looks free and nice.

    as well google would be breaking a lot of TOS if they displayed their own ads, and allowed users to display theirs.

    they end up making more money through more bloggers, because bloggers see it as a viable source of income.
     
    Dekker, Nov 16, 2005 IP
  11. Mister Tut

    Mister Tut Guest

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    #11
    Google's rationale for making analytics free is, I'm sure, the same as for keeping Blogspot free. Build the marketplace, enhance the marketplace, BE the marketplace.

    Have the infrastructure that keeps your competition constantly trying to catch up.
     
    Mister Tut, Nov 16, 2005 IP
  12. web-spy

    web-spy Active Member

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    #12
    AdWords is the best thing Google has ever done. Just because of this they are that rich.
    It would've been a huge failure not to make Google Analytics available for free. Now everyone can track their campaign better and spend more money on AdWords.
     
    web-spy, Nov 16, 2005 IP
  13. michaelbenson

    michaelbenson Peon

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    #13
    I think this is probally more of a publicity stunt of generating some actual positive and encouraging news around Google for a change instead of the usual persistant conspiracy theories that Google is stealing all our data and planning to monopolize internet culture as we see it.
     
    michaelbenson, Nov 16, 2005 IP
  14. Dekker

    Dekker Peon

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    #14
    yes, but now they're doing it for free :p
     
    Dekker, Nov 17, 2005 IP
  15. Toonces51

    Toonces51 !@#$%^&*^%#@#$%

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    #15
    I would think that the Google conspiracy theorists would be even more scared by this--after all, Google will be gaining even more information about the sites of the people who use it...

    Toonces51
     
    Toonces51, Nov 17, 2005 IP