Microsoft has recently released its own version of web analytics called Microsoft adCenter Analytics which is a rival of and similar to Google’s own free version of Google Analytics. More information can be found at this link – adCenter Analytics
The software is still being tested but it is worth having a look at and it is a useful exercise to compare your Google Analytics data with your data from Microsoft adCenter.
Features of Microsoft ADcenter Analytics
You will be able to monitor your website's user engagement and online marketing campaigns performance and easily track audience behaviour from click to conversion, segment data demographically and optimize your website at the right time for the right audience.
The types of data you can monitor include:
-
Traffic & History
-
Visitor Loyalty
-
Pages & Content
-
Referrals
-
Goals
-
Commerce
-
Funnels
-
Visitor Information
At the moment, there are the eight report categories available for your website with each category offering enhanced 2 and 3D data graphics. At the moment, no reporting features are currently installed and nothing can be exported to PDF or excel etc. It is hoped that this functionality will be rolled out as each new version of the software is released.
There a few interesting features with adCenter Analytics, it will be capable of providing insights on the traffic and visitors from any type of campaign that you are considering – from paid search to display to e-mail and more. Customers need only to update adCenter Analytics campaign settings with the pertinent information for a campaign.
-
Campaign Summary
-
Banner Campaigns
-
E-mail Campaigns
-
Offline Campaigns
-
Paid Search Campaigns
Microsoft have provided clear instructions on how to use adCenter Analytics and these can be found at – AdCenter Analytics
Comparisons With Google Analytics
In terms of what Google Analytics is currently offering, adCenter Analytics does have a way to go to compete with its online rival. The exporting and reporting aspect of adCenter Analytics does let it down compared to the robust report formats offered by Google Analytics.
Setting custom date ranges and comparing data from month to month is also a little clunky on adCenter compared to Google.
In terms of the categories available for recording data, it is very similar to Google which is good. For example you can track Google Pay Per Click Campaigns with adCenter. However, overall, Google is still the better performing analytics package with more data reporting and category functionality.
Microsoft adCenter analytics does have potential and it will be interesting to compare it with Google as new version of the software are released. As a free analytics tool, we recommend you do sign up for it and give it a try.
Microsoft AdCenter Analytics
Post date 14/03/2008
 Back to All News |
