Google Analytics - Alternatives to the problems

Google Analytics was once an indispensable tool for me.  It was free, easy to set up and provided enterprise style analytics.

But after a while the headaches and frustrations of managing multiple sites with this tool becomes evident.

Here are some of Google Analytics flaws:

1. Google Support - does this actually exist ?  Trawling support forums usually leads to the same outcome, bugs and frustrated users waiting years for fixes ... I have very rarely been able to contact a real person from Google.  This is probably the biggest problem, not just with Analytics, but Adwords, Adsense and a whole range of other mission critical Google products for websites.


2. Deleting profiles and accounts without admin access - power users of Analytics will know what I'm talking about here.  You've been managing a clients stats in the past as a report user and then the incompetent customer loses their admin details.  You are stuck forever with this dud account.  There is absolutely no way to delete the profile/ account from your Analytics and it just sits there festering away for years annoying you and Google does not seem to feel it is an issue and can't or wont help.

3. Moving profiles from one account to another is not possible - We've all been through it.  Google Analytics accounts and profiles can be can be confusing at the best of times.  You're never sure the best way to manage it.  But what's worse is that if you make a mistake, you're stuck with it.  There is no way to move a profile from one Google Analytics account to another.  This is a truly terrible situation and a source of frustration for many.  Again, Google seems unwilling to find a solution due to design issues and the problem of Analytics IDs.

4. Exporting and importing data profiles is not possible - This would probably make #3 a little easier and solve a number of other issues, such as archiving and restoring a website statistics profile after a hiatus.  But again it is not possible to export and import data from one profile to another and Google does not seem to have any current plans to support this.

There are obviously more issues but these are my top gripes as from my own perspective they are pretty serious flaws and it is disappointing to many including myself that Google does not address them.

So I've been looking at alternatives to Google Analytics and found a few helpful blogs along the way.  Some look promising, although some are free and it is a question of whether you put up with the above to persist with an otherwise good free product.

Anyway, here are some blogs reviewing some free alternatives to Google Analytics:

http://regulargeek.com/2010/05/29/25-free-google-analytics-alternatives/

http://www.harshajmera.com/blog/2010/04/best-alternatives-to-google-analytics/

Anyway I'll let you know what I find once I've tried a few.

"Switch to a different publisher ID" doesn't work - More Google uselessness

It would be great if I could scrape up all the pennies from blogs I've published under a different name. But when I try to use the Google standard "Switch to a different publisher ID", it doesn't work and just does nothing.

Judging by their support response, apparently Google aren't really keen to fix it either ....

URL cannot contain a google host - My latest Adsense headache

So with the release of Google Knol, it appears that Google Adsense are no longer allowing you to track Adsense revenue for their web applications, which of course includes the popular Blogger tool ....

It is very disappointing to discover when I already have several sites tracked under Adsense.

When you go to add a new Adsense Channel for Blogger or Knol, the following message appears:
"URL cannot contain a google host"

I have checked the Google blogs and support and they don't mention anything of these new restrictions.

A real shame and very frustrating indeed.

Figured a workaround for Google Adwords My Client Center

After agonising over no support from Google regarding their My Client Center not sending request emails to clients, I discovered that only once you have set up your client's first campaign through their login, it will prompt them to accept the link invitation. While there isn't much documentation on this from Google, it worked.

Still waiting to hear back from since the issue was "escalated" some time ago though in their last email they indicated that the problem was "of some concern" to them.

But at least I'm able to now use Adwords for my clients, though having to request their login details to do it, does kinda defeat the purpose of the whole My Client Center concept ;)

Googling Google and Other Google Issues ...

I wonder if Google have noticed that when you type any query with "Google Help Centre" as keywords, it enters a circular abomination of a search.

Google redirects you to "Google Help" search. But when you click one of the links, it simply refreshes the screen with the keywords "Track ASP" (whatever that means) in the Search field.

Google Help is a misnomer, because it is completely not helpful, nor are their support staff, most of which don't have a clue what they are doing.

I have now waited 3 weeks for a reasoned response to the reason why my whole Adwords My Client Center broke down for me:

I've decided to escalate your issue to our technical team, which will perform a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the issue. These investigations can take some time, but I'll contact you to let you know when our specialists have found a resolution.

But after no response for some time, I emailed out of frustration ans here is the response that I received:

First, I would like to inform you that according to your screenshot which shows that there is no password field available and this is exactly the way it is. I apologize for any inconvenience caused due to any mis communication in the help center.

I note that they have since updated their Help Centre documentation on this, but for a while their documentation was completely wrong and they kept sending me incorrect advice. Unfortunately changing it does nothing to help my situation where clients are in limbo and cannot authorize me to manage their accounts.

And Analytics support is just as bad. It confounds me that in order to delete duplicate unused accounts that the delete button is greyed out and that you have to contact support, but then they don't actually tell you how you can contact support and do their best to discourage you. Then when you do manage to contact support through their online form and provide all the necessary information, this trivial issue requires toing and froing of about 10 emails until they understand what you actually want, but still can't manage to do it.

Hopefully Yahoo or someone else realises just how bad Google's service really is. There is a definite market there for any savvy competitor who can provide reasonable support and customer service. Afterall, it is not rocket science. I have no idea why Google decided to make their login systems so complex and convoluted that even they can't get a grip on them ....

Google Adwords Login Issues driving me nuts

Trying to set up anything Adwords or Adsense related on Google is like trying to teach a baby to walk.

While managing Google's My Client Center, the amount of times I've dealt with emails not being sent by Google for Adwords invitations is unheard of.

And don't get me started on the whole "This account is already a login to another AdWords account. Please select a different Google Account login to access this account." mobius loop.

This thread at Webmaster World typifies the sorts of Google garbage I have to deal with on a daily basis.

Furthermore, Google's own Adwords Learning Center, at least for me, appears to have completely wrong details on how to link accounts. It says it can do it easily by:

1. Retrieve your client's AdWords external Customer ID and account password (which establishes your client's permission to link the account to yours).
2. Log in to your MCC.
3. Click the Link existing account link above your client accounts table.
4. Enter your new client's Customer ID and account password into the appropriate fields.
5. Click Submit.

However in my "My Client Center", there is absolutely no option to enter the account password and when I click submit - nothing happens. No email to the client, no notification in their Adwords account - nothing !

I'm nearly fed up with the then I get support people who don't even know what they are talking about and sent generic mail merged responses. If only they realised that if their systems were usable and they answered their support queries, they might actually get less of them.

No wonder advertisers are moving to Yahoo. Pretty soon I'll be one of them.