Web Analytics
An Hour a Day
Chapter One
Web Analytics-Present
and Future
On March 20, 2007, a search on Google for
"web analytics" + definition returns 642,000
results in 0.11 seconds. It is a testament to the
complexity and long history of this wonderful
topic (and to how fast Google can return results).
The Web Analytics Association () has
recently proposed a standard definition for web analytics:
Web analytics is the objective tracking, collection, measurement, reporting,
and analysis of quantitative Internet data to optimize websites and
web marketing initiatives.
The dawn of web analytics occurred in the 1990s. However, the preceding
definition-the very first standardized definition-was not proposed until 2006, a
reflection of how young the field is.
A Brief History of Web Analytics
At the birth of the Internet, things were relatively simple. One would type an address and
a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), a file with text and li ... read full excerpt from: Web Analytics: An Hour a Day ebook
