Google makes over its Web Analytics service: search firm adds data reporting capabilities to Web site usage monitor.(acquired Urchin Software Corp.)

Google Inc. last week introduced a revamped release of its Google Analytics service with several updates, including an expansion of the Web site usage monitoring tool's data reporting capabilities.

Products like Google Analytics continue to attract the attention of large companies looking to understand how users arrive at their Web sites--and what they do once they get there.

Data compiled by such products can help webmasters make their sites more effective tools for displaying online ads, providing sales leads and generating e-commerce transactions, Google said.

American Cancer Society Inc., a Google Analytics user for about 18 months, has been testing the new version of the service for the past month and found significant improvements, said Adam Pellegrini, the Atlanta-based nonprofit's online strategy director.

In particular, he said, the ability to schedule the automatic creation and e-mail delivery of reports as PDFs has been a big help for the group's two Google Analytics users. The product previously required that those users manually reformat reports into PDF files and send them out via e-mail, he said.

Pellegrini would like Google to add the ability to deliver analytics reports and notifications via RSS content syndication, as well as to create rich desktop applications that would allow the service to be used offline.

Urchin Acquired