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Google Launches Web Traffic Analysis Service

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the walking-the-fine-line-between-free-and-advertising dept.

segphault writes to pass along that Ars Technica has an interesting article about the recently released Google Analytics. Analytics is Google's new traffic analysis service that helps you to know everything from "how your visitors found you [to] how they interact with your site." Analytics is also built to integrate with AdWords if you are already utilizing that service.

8 of 247 comments (clear)

  1. Big Brother-esque (again) by Oscaro · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ok, so the service works by adding a snippet of code into your web-pages. Then google registers when someone arrives on that page, where he came from, and lots of other data. So google watches everything, it knows what kind of people visits your site and thus knows a lot both about the site and about the visitors.

    I know google has always been concerned about "legitimate" use of their data, but this is somehow frightening...

    1. Re:Big Brother-esque (again) by Crayon+Kid · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's extra-ugly in this case, since you're practically begging for an XSS security hole. Yeah, I know, it's Google we're talking about here, the ones with the motto "Do no evil". Right, that makes me trust them completely (rolls eyes).

      Executing someone else's JavaScript on your website means begging for trouble. JavaScript can install handlers to watch everything the visitor is doing, can read, create and modify cookies, can nose through that window's or tab's visited page history. Let's not talk about truly evil stuff such as inspecting content on the pages, overlaying links and buttons or injecting content.

      I'm sorry, no matter how much of a white in shining armor Google is, not sane webmaster should willfully inject foreign JavaScript on his website.

      PS: and before anybody replies that you can download the urchin script and see what it does, let me ask if you're willing to monitor it constantly.

      --
      i ate crayons when i was a kid and now i have two braincells and the blue ones taste nicer
    2. Re:Big Brother-esque (again) by digidave · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yes, the potential to do evil is there, but all the best web traffic analysis programs operate in a similar way. For one thing, if you're selling advertising on your web site very few advertisers will take your web logs seriously since they're not at all independent and can be faked easily. For another, web logs for a popular web site are difficult to manage. Before switching from Apache's logs to Red Sheriff (works with Javascript like Google Analytics) I had to deal with about 1GB/day of logs. So what happens when I want to build a year over year chart? Hmmm... 730 GB of logs is a bit hard to work with, especially in 2001 with no 500 GB hard drives, so I had to do monthly reports for each year then paste the results into a spreadsheet to build charts. That took me many times longer than if I could have just generated a report from all the logs.

      Big brother and all, this is still the best way for a lot of people to manage their web traffic logging. Before selecting a company to work with, read their privacy policy.

      --
      The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
    3. Re:Big Brother-esque (again) by alta · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Here's an idea... If you don't like to take your chances with such a shady company like google, then don't sign up.

      But believe you me, I'm going to sign up the MOMENT the site isn't slashdotted.

      --
      Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
  2. Oddest Terms of Service by mir · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From the Terms of Service: The Google Services are made available for your personal, non-commercial use only.. Doesn't this reduce slightly the usefulness, or at least the potential audience, of the service?

    I am sure that's a mistake, but that prevents me from using the service for anything useful right now. Or even from testing it.

    --
    Look, that's why there's rules, understand? So that you think before you break 'em. (Terry Pratchett)
  3. Use this to improve search by G4from128k · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If Google can tell how people react to a site, then it could use the data to affect pagerank. Sites that people bail from would lose pagerank and sites that people stay in and explore would gain page rank. Of course, Google would need some scheme for filtering out scam data where an SEO tries to make their site look interesting or make a competitor site look uninteresting by faking the behavior of visitors.

    --
    Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
  4. Re:warning to Slashdot by Kosmatos · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Don't be ridiculous... Being the first site to post a story is not what Slashdot is about. Its about the comments posted on the story by the users. Great stuff like the "In Soviet Russia" jokes, the "5. Profit!" responses, the Open Source fanatics with their twisted mentality, the Microsoft-haters with their ridiculous love for Linux, the Apple-bashers who don't know what they are talking about.... :)

    --
    I'm your huckleberry
  5. Re:Death knell for Web Side Story by ostiguy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    WSSI (Web side story) is currently down $2 to 15.99.

    ostiguy