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July 7, 2008
Does Google Analytics Share Data with Google Trends and Ad Planner?
Google is assuring users of its Analytics product that their data is protected. Apparently, the recent announcements of Google Trends for Websites and Google Ad Planner had some web site owners concerned about how much data sharing was going on among the various offerings.
Brett Crosby from the Google Analytics team went to the blog to allay fears:
Google Analytics doesn't share individual, site-level information with Google Trends for Websites or Google Ad Planner. These products gather data from multiple sources, then check the data against anonymous, aggregate, industry benchmarking data within Google Analytics. This helps Google Trends for Websites and Google Ad Planner calibrate category data and correct for under- or over-reporting in certain verticals. The benchmarking data comes from Google Analytics customers who've chosen to share their data in aggregate.
This isn't the first time fears over data collected by Google Analytics have popped up. But not everyone is worried.
When I spoke with Crosby last month, he told me that for every person who expresses fears over data collection in Analytics, there is another who wants to know why more isn't being done with the data. He told me that Analytics works hard to strike a balance for people of both viewpoints, allowing those who want to share in the hopes of developing deep integrations with other Google products the ability to do so.
Of course, there's only so far you can take integration. Google Analytics does not affect a site's rankings in Google's search results.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 7, 2008 12:18 PM
Comments
So basically they're admitting that they do use analytics data from those who've agreed to share. Given that a meaningful percentage of analytics users will agree to this anonymous data sharing, we can now move on to the question of whether or not this data will end up hurting either those advertisers specifically, or all Google advertisers generally. I'd argue that it will hurt everyone.
Why? Google's ~75% share of PPC wallet means that whatever changes they make are changes all advertisers will simply have to live with. So if Google uses this data to infer the incremental cost per click increase that advertisers in a market can/will bear, for example, they could then tell their Quality Score algorithm to take this into account in determine QS and thus minimum bid. This is a reserve price auction model, and with this data Google has everything they need to wring more out of us.
Searchquant July 7, 2008 2:59 PM
If all the data is kept anonymous, I'm not sure I see the big deal even if they do co-mingle the information. It would make Ad Planner and other tools much more accurate and therefore useful.
Ultimately, Ad Planner is going to dramatically increase the small/medium business' interest in Internet media buying, and that's a good thing.
Jason Baer
Jason Baer July 7, 2008 3:38 PM
I dont see the problem, I would be more than happy for my data to be shared. What is there to hide?
Neil July 8, 2008 4:44 AM
Could this affect your privacy policy if you have a site with analytics on? If they are passing on data then will you need to mention this?
MrTshirts July 8, 2008 6:32 AM
I agree - what is there to hide? I am all for a more transparent internet experience. Lower visits don't necessarily mean a site is weak. I have had some of the best response to my ad campaigns from low traffic, niche sites - and am willing to pay a premium for this traffic.
Oliver July 8, 2008 1:37 PM
