Well, I woke up this morning, checked Google Analytics and was pleasantly surprised to see a HUGE change in their interface…

Here’s the new interface:

Now compare that to the old interface…

That’s not just a tweak, but a complete overhaul…

But that’s not all… A big win for many of us is the ability to set up ad hoc, scheduled e-mail reports:

This is going to be a great way to keep our clients engaged and thinking about their web sites… I only wish I could have reports triggered when there’s a spike in traffic.

The main dashboard (shown in the first picture) is “customizable” in that some of the elements on the page can be rearranged and/or deleted. However, it’s not completely customizable. For example, I don’t find the “continent” default on the map useful, I’d rather have country be the default, but I can’t find a way to change that setting.

The default time range for the dashboard reports seems to have been extended from a week to a month, and once again, while it’s not difficult to change the report, changing the default doesn’t seem to be possible.

All in all, it seems like a big leap forward, but there also seem to be a few rough edges. I’m sure a lot of people won’t like it just because they’re used to the old interface and it’s a change. But I’ll give it some time and see what I think of it. It’s just in beta and when your account is converted to the new interface (many still only have the old interface), you’ll still have access to the old interface in case you encounter problems with the new interface.

Tags: Google, Web Analytics
Categories: Google Analytics