Sometime around mid of this year, Yahoo Inc. acquired a web service company called IndexTools. Now, several months later with string of product launches that competes with existing Google offerings, on Wednesday began rolling out a beta version of its new Yahoo Web Analytics Tool, which it says will provide advanced reports and graphs showing metrics like sales, page views and sources of traffic to Web site operators.
Currently an enterprise product, Yahoo is differentiating it as having the advantage of real-time reporting, while Google Analytics takes hours to report data, the move brings it closer to being a consumer and small business tool, although it is not available to everyone just yet.
Yahoo Web Analytics is based on the IndexTools system acquired by the company in April. The re-branded service is currently available only to registered Yahoo Small Business customers and a small subset of advertisers. A broader rollout, however, is planned for the future.
Like other traffic tools in the market, Yahoo Web Analytics offers a variety of data analysis options at no direct cost. This service is aimed at creating a feedback mechanism for e-merchants, website owners, advertisers and developers. Unlike its Google-based competitor, Yahoo says that the new tool will offer valuable insights and data including real-time segmentation, live cost analysis; merchandise reporting, scenario analysis, comparative reporting, advanced path analysis, and marketing workflow management.
The Yahoo Web Analytics tool set is build on technology Yahoo obtained through its April acquisition of IndexTools, said Jitendra Kavathekar, Yahoo’s vice president of Web analytics, in a blog post. Experts say the tool is Yahoo’s answer to rival Google Inc.’s Google Analytics offering.
“Nothing is more inferior for site owners — and consumers — than bad marketing or a lousy user experience,” Kavathekar said. “[Web Analytics] creates a helpful feedback loop for e-merchants, Web site owners, advertisers and developers based on how well they did with you in critical moments like these.”
Although Google’s Analytics tool has been in service for around two years, Yahoo is betting its real-time advantage can provide a unique added value. The lack of delay in data reporting, it hopes, will make up for any delay in the product’s release.
“The data is not mingled — though it is kept raw in our database,” Kavathekar said in a statement. “You basically get real-time reports and dashboards, allowing our customers to take immediate action rather than waiting half a day, or waiting a day, or waiting a week to get the information they need,” he explained.
That option, Kavathekar maintains, opens up a whole bunch of new options for end-users when it comes to data visualization and manipulation.
“The power to drag-and-drop different filters — to be able to cut the data in different ways, in real-time, to get the data that you need, to get the insights you need — is something you generally do not get to see out there in the market,” he said.
Yahoo Web Analytics will be launched in phases, starting with small businesses, throughout the remainder of 2008 and into early 2009, as Dennis Mortenson, director of Data Insights at Yahoo explained in a recent blog post.
“This is not just random access as in handing out 15000 logins, but well thought through integration with the platforms themselves," he said.
The Yahoo Web Analytics service also includes a few enhancements to the tool, beyond making it expandable and compliant with the Yahoo! stack.
Currently, only Yahoo! Merchant Solutions Standard, Merchant Solutions Professional and Yahoo! Store clients are eligible for the beta. Admins marked “Store owner” will see a new Yahoo! Web Analytics header, under which they will see a link marked “Get Started,” which will enable them to power analytics for their e-commerce stores.
If you e.g. are a Yahoo! store owner you can enable enterprise-class web analytics by simply ticking a box and we then automatically inflate the correct tracking script variables at runtime. You are of course allowed to turn this off and take control yourself if needed.
Yahoo also has started to roll out the service to advertisers seeking Yahoo’s assistance in building custom microsites, and to third-party developers who are members of the Yahoo Developer Network or use Yahoo’s freely available APIs.
Yahoo plans to introduce its web analytics service gradually during the remaining months of 2008 particularly to some 13,000 Yahoo! Small Business hosted e-commerce sites, just in time for the holiday shopping season.
More details on the Yahoo Web Analytics service are available here.