Yahoo's launch of a Web Analytics software falls in line with its new strategy of putting acquisitions to good use. The purchase of Index Tools in May 2008 announced their intention to compete with search engine giant Google's Analytic software. Yahoo's offering is more reason to cheer for search engine optimisation firms since it packs a whole host of features that promise to aid marketers in their site analysis and tracking process. Yahoo Web Analytics describes itself as a "...comprehensive website reporting system designed to help you increase sales, reduce marketing costs and encourage visitor retention".

• Executive Analytic Dashboards
  The customisable dashboards built into the software allow SEO experts and webmasters to track key performance metrics as per precise needs and preferences. Users can set goals, track a website's progress and identify potential risks. Multiple dashboards with a different view on your website can be used by different people across your company.



• Comprehensive Custom Reports
  Web analytics also allows you to create tailor-made reports with a Custom Report Wizard that can add categories to pre-defined reporting items. This lets your reports be customisable as per your organisational requirements. The custom fields in the report can be manipulated as per your needs.



• Advanced Campaign Management
  Track your marketing campaign with an in-depth view of all the vital metrics including cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-impression (CPM), cost-per-acquisition (CPA) and return-on-investment (ROI). These allow you to adjust and fine tune your budget when necessary. Combine the customised categories with these metrics to correctly select your next move forward for your campaign.



• Real Time Visitor and Cost Analytics
  As changes are made to major search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN, this data is aggregated and integrated to measure the cost, ROI and price information of your campaign. In addition, you can track different groups of visitors and their behaviour in response to different variables on your site. This allows you to tweak the user experience to match it effectively with that of your target group.



• Product Reporting
  Online retailers will benefit immensely from the comprehensive product report system that identifies purchase patterns, tracks product purchases and creates in-depth reports to help promote profitable products. Here you can view your customers' purchasing habits such as product combinations as well as cancelled orders and changes to order amounts. Combined with the product costs you upload, yahoo analytics will calculate the overall profitability of your campaign.

Yahoo Analytics packs features that make it all-inclusive online marketing software for everyone from business executives, to SEO experts and individual site owners.