SEO's Wish List to Urchin Developers & Web Analytics Companies

Last Updated: 2/27/2004

Urchin's Web analytics software is outstanding and extremely useful for analyzing a Web site's traffic patterns. However, there are a few items that can be improved or changed in order to make it easier to use and more valuable. Namely, the ability to use a dual wan connection (two Internet connections from two different ISPs over a load balanced router) without being kicked off for security reasons, the ability to track impressions of other campaigns including email or banner ads and not just Google AdWords and Overture campaigns, and to implement funnel based goal analysis metrics into the campaign tracking module would all be wonderful additions to Urchin's Web Analytics software.

The first difficulty I have while at work is that Urchin keeps on logging me out with the message "Session Error - Sorry, the IP address you are currently using does not match the one used at the initiation of the session. Please log-in again." This is partially my fault because I have a dual wan router that loads balances two different Internet connections. So my IP is constantly changing between the two IP addresses and if I click somewhere and my IP changes, Urchin boots me. I can set my router to just assign me one ISP connection but I rather not do that. I rather see Urchin add a preference to the configuration section of the system to set whether I want this security feature on or off. I should say that they do have solutions for this. If applicable, you can give a client a URL that they can access and the system won't log them out. There is nothing really easy to do to override this security feature.

The second difficulty came up when I wanted to test out the Content (A/B) Testing section of the Campaign Tracking Module. I sent out an email advertisement and wanted to not only track clicks and conversions based on those clicks but I also wanted to track impressions (views of the ads). I have submitted the request to Urchin and they said that you can currently import this data for Google, AdWords and Overture but they have not yet built in a mechanism to track this with any other campaign. They said it is a fault in the specification and that they are currently working on adding this feature. What we can expect is the ability to add a one by one transparent gif to the graphic ad and Urchin will see how many times that graphic is called and use that number for impressions. It can then provide other statistics such as CTR, or click through rates and more.

The final feature request would be something I call "Goal Based Funnel Analysis". I have decided to allocate a single section to this concept, so please read on.

Concept of Goal Based Funnel Analysis »

Urchin 5.5 - Web Analytics Product Review Article Contents

- Overview of Important Web Analytic Features for the SEO
- Detailed Review of Urchin 5.5 and Campaign Tracking Module
   - Administrative Configuration
   - Reporting Review
   - Campaign Tracking Module
- SEO's Wish List to Urchin Developers & Web Analytics Companies
- Concept of Goal Based Funnel Analysis
- Web Analytics Article Wrap Up

- Back to SEO Articles

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