Snoobi vs. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool offered by Google. It  provides basic information about a site's visitor traffic and the success of one's Adwords campaigns.

When compared, Snoobi's strengths include

  1. Service

    Snoobi’s web analytics experts are at the customer’s disposal for consultation, training courses and support in using the service and how to utilize the results that the Snoobi web tracking tool has been generating. Either by phone or in a face-to-face meeting, our consultant makes an analysis of the website traffic and then makes recommendations on how to improve the company’s web-based activities. The support is provided based on the customer’s needs and the nature of their business.

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  2. Ease of use

    The basic configurations for the Snoobi web tracking tool can be via Snoobi’s settings, while Google Analytics requires that changes are made straight into the source code and into filters, which might prove to be difficult (for example, setting it to track advertisement). With Snoobi, the URL-addresses can be transformed into more easily readable page names by adjusting the settings (for example www.index.php?pageID34 -> Products). However, in the Analytics, this has to also be done at the source code level. In Snoobi several features are automatic, as the tracking of downloadable files or filtering the list of companies that have visited your site. Because automation in Google Analytics is done at thesource code level, many features end up unnoticed, unused or tricky to implement.

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  3. Filtering of ISPs

    Filtering of Internet Service Providers means that visits which can’t be traced back to any specific organization can be hidden from the list of organizations that have visited the site. In Google Analytics these ISPs cannot be removed or hidden from the tracking results. In Snoobi, the ISPs can be removed from the list by the click of a button. This is crucial when you want to put the organizational data to good use; as leads in sales or for marketing purposes. Usually 10-50% of all the visiting organizations are recognized by Snoobi, depending on the branch of business.
     

  4. The paths of the visitors

    Snoobi can show you in which page order visitors browse your site. This means that you can track the specific behavior of the visitor, for example which search term the visitor used, which products the visitor has browsed trough and how long the visitor has looked at a specific page. Google Analytics only reveals which pages have received hits.
     

  5. Actual search phrases as used in the AdWords campaigns

    In AdWords campaigns, Snoobi reports the actual, full search phrases as typed into the search field by the ad visitors. With Analytics, you have to make a chose between being able to view a search term’s cost or being able to view the actual search term. Choose one, lose the other. For example, let's say "train" has been defined as a desired search term. Analytics doesn't reveal that the visitors may have arrived using the words "TGV train", "Trans-Siberian train" or "train-wreck"; the Analytics report simply truncates all these to "train". In contrast, Snoobi provides you with the full search phrase, making it possible to truly evaluate and improve the selected search phrases in AdWords and avoid wasting budget on bad search terms.


    It is theoretically possible to gain this data from Analytics, but those who know how to do this are few and far in between.
     

  6. Accessing data retrocatively

    When tracking is begun, it is not always clear what tracking data will become essential or important for your business. Some of the patterns that occur on the website will be surprises and it may even take a year of tracking before it becomes evident what data is needed. All the information can be analyzed retroactively with Snoobi. Snoobi’s settings can be reconfigured afterwards to reflect on all of the history data, making it is easy to set new goals, sections or rate the visitors according to new rules, giving you a chance to re-evaluate the old data.
    In Google Analytics, the reports cannot be modified afterwards. The configurations made to Google Analytics come into effects only after the modifications have been saved.
     

  7. Processed, local information

    Snoobi provides local, refined information about your online environment. Snoobi recognizes local search engines, Internet Service Providers and online company directories/listings. Refined data makes the report is easier to use and gives you quick answers.

  8. Sectioning

    With Snoobi you can view separate parts of your site as their own groups, sections. For example, data about a specific product group or branch can made into their own reports. Sections can be created easily from Snoobi’s settings at any time. This means that you can view how the visitors of a particular section are behaving; which pages they have visited on anywhere on the site or whether they convert. This type of sectioning cannot be done in Google Analytics, Analytics only provides the possibility to create several accounts, where you can’t interlink the data from other sections.
     


Eric Peterson, one of the leading authorities on web analytics johtavista auktoriteeteista discusses whether it is worth using a free analytics tool. Fred Aun has criticized free tools for the risks that they may impose.