Yahoo! Web Analytics is not part of any Yahoo!/Microsoft search deal. The signed deal between Yahoo! and Microsoft is strictly around search. This means that we’ll all get to enjoy Yahoo! Web Analytics for a long time!

Yahoo! Web Analytics is currently available for FREE to any Yahoo! advertiser with a managed account.

It is also currently available to anybody who works through one of great consultant partners which can be found here (consulting fees may vary): http://web.analytics.yahoo.com/ywacn.php

Hope this calms the nerves.

Matt Lillig
Yahoo! Search Analytics Lead

It is by far the best tool out there. We were an original Index Tools customer. There was a rough patch with the transition from Index Tools to Yahoo. In the interim, we played with Google and decided it just was not adequate.

Yahoo Analytics is by far the most comprehensive tool available. Since Yahoo has taken it over, they have even made some enhancements to include demographic data tracking.

So, I hope you are wrong. And, I hope that MS keeps its evil paws off of it. It is an excellent product that does not need MS intervention.

Tante grazie in anticipo.

So if a Yahoo!/Microsoft search deal does goes through, users of Yahoo! Web Analytics would continue as they have been.

The only analytics products that may change are the analytics reporting products within the Yahoo! Search Marketing platform, called ‘Full Analytics’ and ‘Conversion Only’.

By the way, I would say Dennis is definitely an “appropriate person” to speak to Yahoo! Web Analytics.

Kind regards,
Matt Lillig
Team Lead – Yahoo! Search Analytics

Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter platform…

Even if advertising disappears from Yahoo Strategy, they can always get back to capitalizing the tool. I don’t think they will run out of customers. Their platform rocks. I believe that just this is enough for it never to die.

While agree that MSN Analytics was not a perfect product, sluggish and heavy as the interface was running SilverLight. It offered some great features for larger websites such as automatic tracking of outbound links and also provided demographic information about your visitors within your reporting.

I have tested YWA as part of a competition and it seems very comprehensive and far ahead of bloated solutions like webtrends. But if you don’t open up your program to agencies to test it on their sites. How can you expect us to sell it as a viable solution to GA, even webtrends offers free trials to my clients…

Im sorry but for such a wonderful product why make it difficult for people wanting to test your product? Im not saying that I would have the experience at this stage to make best use of all its features, but if it runs alongside GA and is used to measure our SEM spend is optimised that has to be good for clients.

If Yahoo wants to win at SEM they need a platform that works well within their platform and allows their advertisers to get the best ROI. They cannot seriously consider giving up all this data to Google/Adobe and just hope they continue to accurately report on Yahoo PPC campaigns…

I think that suggestion might be putting a bit too much on the shoulders of YWA (I like your attitude though and applaud the importance you give our ol’ IndexTools). You will see Y! management (incl. Carol) use expressions like “Data-driven” and “Insights” – which are arguments to confirm the position all of our data offerings such as YWA means to us.

And hey; why is it that – I – am not an appropriate person ?

Cheers
d.

Dennis R. Mortensen, Director of Data Insights at Yahoo! (YWA)
Blog: http://visualrevenue.com/blog
Book: http://visualrevenue.com/blog/yahoo-analytics-book
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DennisMortensen

I wholeheartedly agree with your view that major online media should provide their advertisers with an accountability tool. The question remains if Yahoo! sees Yahoo! Web Analytics as that tool, or if Yahoo! follows Microsoft’s lead.

As I indicated above, I would prefer to see Yahoo! stay committed to Search Marketing – that of course includes the Yahoo! Web Analytics component. Yet seen from the outside, and as a person who has worked for two multinationals, I cannot help but harbor doubts about Yahoo!’s future plans for Yahoo! Web Analytics given the precedent set by Yahoo!’s planned disinvestment in search technology and their “Panama” ad platform despite knowing that, if executed well, significant profit opportunity exists as Google continues to demonstrate.

Certainly a definitive statement from Carol Bartz or an appropriate person on her behalf would be very useful in removing any doubts surrounding the future of Y!WA.

I like aggressive inputs, BUT this analysis is way off mate. If anything, its probably the complete opposite of what you suggest

Without providing you with insider information, I can say that, and expect us to agree on, the fact, that any major online media (*such as Yahoo!) need to provide two things to their customers (advertisers):

a) an impression input and
b) a data output.

We plan to communicate (the data output) to our advertisers (and actually non-yahoo advertisers in the head and torso end of the market) through Yahoo Web Analytics. We just don’t want to be free for all, we want to be free to anybody with a little bit of skin in the game.

So don’t worry about YWA, what you (the industry) should worry about is; what is MS to do when not having a serious external pre- and post-click analysis and reporting tool they can give to their advertisers ?

Cheers
d.

Dennis R. Mortensen, Director of Data Insights at Yahoo! (YWA)
Blog: http://visualrevenue.com/blog
Book: http://visualrevenue.com/blog/yahoo-analytics-book
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DennisMortensen

The purpose of buying Indextools was primarily to provide Yahoo! partners (over 200.000 I was told) with a good tool to measure and hopefully optimize their earnings (together with Yahoo’s). Microsoft and Yahoo! have very different business models, reason why I think Yahoo has finally given up search and teamed up with Microsoft.

I would be very very surprised if Yahoo! would let go his WA tool to Microsoft.

Dennis, please come and comment

Cheers,

René