About Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free Web statistics service offered by Google that can help you understand how many people are visiting your Web site (and Web store), which pages they are viewing, where they are coming from, and – most importantly – where your sales are coming from.
The service is based on one of the most popular Web statistics software programs, originally developed by a company called Urchin. Google purchased Urchin in March of 2005 and created a free, on-demand version of its software.
The system is particularly well integrated with Google’s AdWords advertising service, which means that it can help you get a better idea of the return on the investment (ROI) on your Google AdWords campaigns. Advanced users can also use it to track other, non-Google advertising campaigns.
Google Analytics can also work with Google Checkout. ProductCart has been updated so that when a customer purchases using Google Checkout, those orders are tracked by Google Analytics as well. For more information about using Google Analytics and Google Checkout together, see this article.