Are you looking for the best analytics blogs on the Internet?
Here (in no particular order) is a list of blogs and sites can help you wrestle the topic into submission.
1. Analytics Talk
Analytics Talk is the personal blog of Justin Cutroni, the Analytics Advocate at Google, so he’s in a great position to provide relevant information on this topic. This is a good place to get a handle on what the latest Google updates mean for you. Recent posts cover universal analytics, cohort analysis and the Analytics tag manager and this recent post (which includes a code snippet) outlines A New Method to Track Keyword Ranking using Google Analytics.
2. Business Week Business Exchange
You’re probably wondering why Business Week is on this list, as it doesn’t run an analytics blog. However, it does provide a useful feed of the latest marketing analytics news via Business Exchange. No pick from this one, but it’s a great destination to find the latest updates and strategies that you’ve missed.
3. Crazy Egg
Given that we analyze your site with heatmaps, you’d expect us to be interested in analytics – and we are. The analytics section of the Crazy Egg blog covers the intersection between analytics and conversion optimization, with a look at the related areas of copywriting and web design. A popular post from this category compares the analytics available for those using URL shorteners. It’s called URL Shorteners and Analytics: Which Ones Deliver Results?
4. Google Analytics
This is the official blog of Google Analytics. As you would expect, it keeps readers up to date with feature improvements, looks at issues around conversion and social media and features case-studies of Analytics users. Our top pick outlines some strategies for optimizing Google Analytics. It’s titled 5 Ways To Ensure Google Analytics Is Running Perfectly.
5. SEO Takeaways
Run by Himanshu Sharma, the SEO Takeaways blog looks at PPC, SEO and analytics. Warning: some of the content is a bit geeky, but if you can stand it, there’s some valuable info and insight. A prime example is The Geek guide to Determining and Reporting the Real Bounce Rate which gives a tip for optimizing your analytics code for better bounce rate measurement.
6. Hubspot
Inbound marketing specialist Hubspot is well known for quality information, and the analytics section of its blog doesn’t disappoint. As well as several posts on general marketing analytics, Hubspot covers must-see metrics, conversion and more, with particular emphasis on social media ROI. A post that’s well worth reading explains how to get actionable data from your Twitter stream: How to Use the New Twitter Archive to Analyze Your Marketing Tweets.
7. KISSmetrics
KISSmetrics takes a people-centered approach to analytics, tracking every business interaction online – and offline. The analytics posts on the blog cover conversion funnels, resources, essential features and using analytics for business improvements. A popular post, What Your Analytics Software is Hiding From You, goes deeper into some Google Analytics data that some might not understand.
8. Mixpanel
The early posts on Mixpanel’s blog are mainly about its product and service, but seeded among them are useful articles on measurement and tracking. There have also been a couple of recent post on metrics that are worth a read. Our pick, BS metrics, looks at what’s worth paying attention to and what matters when it comes to metrics.
9. Occam’s Razor
Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik has dozens of detailed posts on every aspect of web analytics and digital marketing. The blog covers qualitative analysis, competitive intelligence analysis, analytics tips, web metrics and more. If you’re interested in analytics, it’s a must-read. Check out the custom reports Avinash provides to get more from your data. There are so many useful posts here that it’s difficult to focus on just one, but this recent post gives the author’s take on the best analytics tools (he should know!): Best Web Analytics 2.0 Tools: Quantitative, Qualitative, Life Saving!
10. Online Behavior
Online Behavior is a marketing measurement and optimization blog. As part of that it covers social media, implementation and segmentation of analytics. There are dozens of articles aimed at unlocking the mysteries of analytics for business users, and this one explains how to make this technical data understandable: 10 Best Or Worst Ways To Visualise Web Analytics Data.
11. Search Engine Watch
Search is central to our whole web experience. While Search Engine Watch is best known for its coverage of everything from SEO and PPC to local, social, mobile and video search, it’s got a pretty robust analytics section too. Here you will find the latest analytics stories as well as tips and tools. Our pick helps you use Google Analytics more efficiently with 7 Time-Saving Google Analytics Custom Reports (and yes, I DID add some of these to my own Analytics account).
12. Web Analytics World
Web Analytics World has a special section dedicated to Google Analytics and there are some excellent think pieces there, as well as tips and tools on custom reporting, UTM tags, bounce rate, exit pages and more. Our pick (for the title alone) is Google Analytics! So you’re a spy, right? which takes a look at the ethics of digital analytics.
What do you think are the best analytics blogs on the Internet? Leave your vote in the comments section.
