Some of you may or may not have seen this in the past, but Google has just officially announced that it will be adding In-Page Analytics to its list of offerings as a beta. What this basically means is that Google will superimpose Analytics data directly onto the page, giving a conceptualized view of how your page is performing. Google also allows you to filter the data for different parameters, such as paid traffic, mobile visits, and a number of others. Below are the major areas in which In-Page Analytics will help you manage your Web pages:
1. AdWords Campaigns – Adwords has always allowed for conversion tracking, but In-Page Analytics lets you walk step by step through the process that someone who clicked on the ad would have with the ability to see where people are most likely to click. Having this view will help marketers better understand the click through patterns of consumers, and allow for experimentation for what works best with easy to understand data provided.
2. Web Design – Similar to the ability to study behavior of paid traffic, designers can get a first row view of where site visitors are clicking, and what seems to be able to grab their interest. Yes, Google Analytics provided data on each link within a page before, but seeing it conceptualized onto the page will be a huge benefit, especially for people who may not be designers by trade.
3. Comparing Different Types of Visitors – One of my favorite new ways to use In-Page Analytics is to compare the experience users had from different ways of getting to my sites. It is amazing how different a path on your site a users who comes to your from natural search can be from someone who came from a paid search, or who came directly. Being able to recognize that users coming from different places are looking for different experiences on your site can help guide your strategy for functionality and design.
For the most part Google In-Page Analytics does not revolutionize how you look at your site analytics, but it gives a new element to your analysis with contextual evidence of what may or may not be working. It is certainly worth spending some time to understand and use properly, and makes a good addition to the Analytics family.
Is this a service you will use?