Google: Analyse this

Google is set to launch a free web analytics service that will let companies see exactly how visitors interact with their website and how their advertising campaigns are faring.

The free hosted service, which will be available in English and 16 other languages, is based on technology from San Diego-based Urchin, which Google acquired in March.

Urchin's products previously cost $495 per month and were reduced to $199 per month by Google. The full-featured analytics applications based on Urchin's technology replace the simple tracking tool that's now available with Google AdWords.

Google Analytics will let website owners see exactly where site visitors are coming from, which links on the site are getting the most traffic, which pages visitors are viewing, how long people stay on the site, which products on merchant sites are being sold and where people give up in multi-step checkout processes, said Paul Muret, an engineering director at Google and one of the founders of Urchin.

Google Analytics will be integrated with Google AdWords and will offer a new interface within existing AdWords accounts. Marketers can also use it to track banner, email, non-paid and paid search advertising campaigns from other ad service providers.

Google Analytics also includes a feature that automatically imports the cost data for return on investment reports into the Google Analytics program so advertisers can see how much they're paying for keywords compared with how much money they're making off them, Muret said.

There are three summary views, for executives, web masters and marketing officials.

Though in theory people who are using Google Analytics and competitive services to monitor their ad campaigns could be exposing information to Google on how those rival services work, Muret said Google would not get any competitive advantage from that.

He said: "We have very strict controls on the data. It is only used to provide reporting to customers and people using the analytics."

Eric Peterson, a senior analyst at JupiterResearch, said of the news: "This has the potential to be a pretty big deal. They made the acquisition earlier this year and are trying to think of good ways to take advantage of it. It is probably a no-brainer."

Google Analytics could hurt companies such as Click Tracks, Web Side Story and Web Trends, and others focusing on the small to medium-sized business market, Peterson said. "It will hurt the low-end focusing on the SM[E] market," he added.

Microsoft includes analytics in its AdCenter keyword ad campaign tool, which will compete with Google AdWords. AdCenter, in beta testing in France and Singapore, differs in that it provides targeted information about the web surfers to whom it serves ads, including data such as age, gender and postcode code.

Elinor Mills writes for CNET News.com