Should a Small Business Use Google Analytics?

Google Analytics announced a major facelift today, and though I haven’t taken it out for a spin yet, the feature tour makes it look pretty darn spiffy.

Whenever Google Analytics is in the news, it’s pretty easy to find a few voices saying you shouldn’t use the service; they say you don’t want to let Google see underneath the hood of your Web site.

Thing is … I don’t think there’s much logic in that, at least not where the vast majority of small businesses are concerned.

If I’m a Big Company, or a Big Advertiser on AdWords, yeah, I’d think long and hard about using Google Analytics — and in that scenario, it probably doesn’t make sense to use it. But if you’re a small business owner, you’re kidding yourself if you think Google cares about the 150 unique visitors you had yesterday and their behavior on your site. If you’re spending $200/month on AdWords, Google doesn’t care which keywords bring the most traffic to your site. Don’t take it personally; it’s just that they have better things to do, y’know?

So, in a word, should a small business use Google Analytics? Yes.

In a few more words: It’s a very good analytics tool, which offers too much data for many small businesses. But you can’t beat the price, and even if you only use it as a starter tool for your metrics analysis, you’ll be starting out smartly.