Google Analytics is outclassed by many other tools, but it has two features that make it essential (along with its brethren, Google Ads tracking) for most enterprises.

One is the Search Console integration, which is the only way to see what Google search queries led people to your site.

The second is Google Ads conversion tracking and remarketing, which is de facto required to advertise with Google because it can easily 10x your Return On Advertising Spend, which is a key metric for digital marketing teams.

Without those two features, Google Analytics would be easy to drop. Many big companies already have other first- or third-party analytics tools they prefer.

> One is the Search Console integration, which is the only way to see what Google search queries led people to your site.

Don't most analytic tools have this? I know Plausible has Search Console Integration.

The Google Ads conversion is the killer feature Google Analytics has in my opinion. But the reality is, most use it because it's defacto and free.

Didn’t Google add a hop so the Referer header no longer provides the actual search URL?

Breaking standards to protect a moat

Ew

Yea but plausible integrates with the search console. Google probably has to provide some intergration ability which is why it’s possible.

Ooooooh that's why search results redirect to /url?...

I thought it was just for click tracking on my end.

Ha!

We are adding Google and Bing search console integration to https://wideangle.co, should arrive rather soon :)

As other posters mentioned, there are numerous GA alternatives, with varying degree of compliance and features.

Search Console is reporting how many Google searches have resulted in page impressions or clicks to your site, with what ranking on the respective search query (keywords/phrase) etc.; works without ga.

Maybe I'm missing something, but you can use the search console just fine without Google Analytics?

> One is the Search Console integration, which is the only way to see what Google search queries led people to your site.

I can see this on sites without GA just fine. Are there some kind of advanced insights you’re referring to?

You can see the query in the http referrer can you not

How can that be if companies don't get a good ROI from online advertising? So that means you need to get Google Adwords in order not to waste practically all your ad spend?

Are they free?

Some yes, some not. Im using https://umami.is/ that is free (but I’m hosting it DigitalOcean VPS for few $/month). Better than pay a fine for using Google Analytics.

If there is some value in analytics, then paying for it shouldn’t be a problem. If the amount you are willing to pay is zero, then the value is so low that collecting the data probably doesn’t make any sense.

And for those that don't want to dive in to VPS/Dedis there are services like PikaPods[1] that spin up services for a good price. I've been running a Matomo instance for a couple months and didn't have to do any backend command line stuff

On some apps they also give a percentage back to the developer so you'd be supporting them.

[1] https://www.pikapods.com/apps#analytics

Here is a good list of European alternatives to Google Analytics. The products with free plans are marked as such in case you are specifically looking for them: https://european-alternatives.eu/alternative-to/google-analy...

There are also some that are open source and can be self-hosted. Those are marked with an "open source" flag.

>There’re lots of other analytics services

Not really. The only actual competitor to GA is Matomo Analytics, the rest are just copies of each other with the same very basic feature set.

Actually there's a broad spectrum of alternatives out there covering different bits of functionality. GA4 particularly is a much broader product than the original Google Analytics.

We keep a list here:

https://isgoogleanalyticsillegal.com/alternatives

Yea but most of us only need a very basic feature set. Therefore all these other competitors you say aren#t actual competitors are competing and taking users away from Google.

Here is also a good list of european alternatives that can be used instead of Google Analytics: https://european-alternatives.eu/alternative-to/google-analy...

Adobe Analytics is a fantastic web analytics platform. You seem to be misinformed.

I'm always wary of a price of "Get in touch." At least give me a range so I know if it's worth getting in touch.

https://business.adobe.com/products/analytics/compare-adobe-...