This document provides a comparison of the web analytics tools Sitecatalyst, Webtrends and Google Analytics. It compares various features across categories such as data collection, custom variables, data visualization, campaign attribution, segmentation, integration, service and support. For each category, it provides details on the capabilities and scoring for each tool. Sitecatalyst generally scored highest across categories, followed by Webtrends, with Google Analytics scoring lowest for some categories that lacked more advanced features at the time.

1. Sitecatalyst, Webtrends and Google Analytics
A Comparison
Aman Singh
September 2011
@sandhuaman
sg.linkedin.com/in/amansandhu

2. The Web Analytics Adoption Curve

3. Forrester’s Web Analytics Ecospace

4. Consideration Factors For Web Analytics Vendor Selection
July 2009 “The Forrester Wave™: Web Analytics, Q3 2009”

5. A comparison
Each tool scored across attributes

6. Data Collection

7. Ease of Implementation
• Integration exists with CQ5
• For a simpler installation and with CQ5
Integration, the Code to paste and Java Script File
can be extracted from the Admin UI in Sitecatalyst
and copy pasted to CQ5
• This can be added to each page and the variables
8 required from within the CQ5 Interface
• Integration exists with CQ5
• Very Simple, less than 2 Minutes for a simple
installation
• After giving terms and conditions you are given
7 tracking code
• Final Stage where, depending upon whether its a
simple site, a site across multiple domains, or
mobile site you are given the code
• No CQ5 Integration yet with WT10 yet
• Tag Generator exists to automate tag creation
• New Profiles can be created by applying filters
5

8. E Commerce Integration
• Default Shopping Cart Variables available
• Funnels Analysis
• Custom Drop Out report Builder
• Ability to capture additional custom Variables via
evar/sprop/transaction id
• Breakdown revenue by source, product, custom
variable
8
• Set Variables with Integration with Third Party
Shopping Carts
7 • E Commerce Section with data available in UI
• Default Variables exist for E Commerce
• Has a default set of variables for capturing
revenue, product name, units sub total, tax etc
8 • Breakdown revenue by source, product, custom
variable

9. Data Collection, Filtering and Sampling
•JavaScript Tags SaaS
•The product provides IP-based filtering plus custom
filtering by any attribute using VISTA rules
•No Sampling of data except in Discover
•Tracks traditional Web pages, rich media, mobile
devices and Apps
•Social analytics helps integrate with
7 Facebook/Twitter at extra cost
•Search Center Integrated with Facebook Ads
• The product offers page tags, event tracking,
AdWords integration, Social (Twitter /Facebook
actions on site),eCommerce tracking and Mobile
Apps Tracking
• Sampling occurs when there are more than
200,000 visits
5 • Filtering not retroactive
• No Off Site integration with Facebook Ads/Twitter
or Facebook Monitoring or measurement
• The product offers page tags, Web server log
files, Apps, Mobile Devices
• Leverages tags as well as multiple log file formats,
sessions can be custom defined
• Does not sample at all unless explicitly requested
8 • Filtering retroactive
• Social Media Integration with Facebook/Twitter for
both monitoring actions on site, Monitoring activity
on external accounts and even Facebook ad data

10. Custom Variables
 Clients may track up to 150 custom variables
and 75 events
 V15 will allow context variables, which
essentially an unlimited number of context
variables with no character limits (meaning that
developers don’t need to worry about eVarX,
propX, etc.)
9
 5 Custom variables
3
 Any Number allowed at no extra charge
8

11. Data Latency and Implementation Testing/Validation
• Real Time-15 Min Delay
• Digital Pulse-in house solution
• Automated with Maxamine /Observepoint/WASP
9
• 24 Hours delayin data as per the SLA
• 3rd Party tools –WASP/ Manual
3
• Lag time between data collection and availability
of reporting data is about 15 minutes
• Automated with 3rd party tools like Maxamine
9 /Observepoint/WASP

12. Historical Co relations and Back Processing
• Datawarehouse lets a user get data retroactively
when a metric/breakdown not enabled by default
• If not enabled on, data gets delayed
• ASI Segments can be used to create a filtered
view of the data, but as a subset of an existing
report
7
• New correlations can be viewed over any time
period of data.
• Filters can be applied on data moving forward, but
no way to get data not captured retroactively
8 • Segments can be applied using custom reports
• New reports can be applied by using filters
• Any new correlation can be applied to historical
data or to new data only at the user's option
• There is no limit to the number of correlations that
8 can be created nor an extra charge for new
correlations created by the user.

13. Support Network/Blogs/Social
• Omniture can be used to extract Facebook/Twitter
data via the API and copied into an sprop/evar for
co relation with site data
• Social Analytics is a new service offering has been
launched which allows Social Monitoring for
Facebook and twitter
8
• Google Analytics has a Social Component that
has been introduced that tracks Social
Engagement on the site(Likes/Tweets) from within
3 •
the site
Can not be used to Monitor Campaigns
• Webtrends10 has introduced Social Tracking and
Monitoring in a big way
• Sites, Facebook Pages, Facebook Apps, Androids
Apps, BlackBerry Apps, iOS Apps,Windows
Phone Apps., Other mobile apps in one place
9 • Custom Dashboards for Social Media
Management, Monitoring and Reporting
campaigns and Social Performance

14. Reporting And Analysis

15. Default/Custom Dashboard
• Customizable Dashboards with the ability to add
new metrics and reports
• Shipped with a default dashboard
• Add custom metrics and view dashboard by
applying a segment on the fly
• Customize the layout by dragging and dropping
the widget
7
• Customize Multiple Dashboards for multiple
analysis
• Its widget-based and highly customizable. There
are four types of widgets: Metric, Pie Chart,
7 •
Timeline, and Table.
Customize the layout by dragging and dropping
the widgets
• Dashboards available for Spaces, Space(Profile),
page and campaigns
9 • Ability to add metrics and customize

16. Reporting Structure
• Reporting Structure similar to current Omniture version
• Ability to add new segments and apply existing
segments to reports on the fly
• Reports can be scheduled, bookmarked, added to
dashboards and exported as csv, pdf, excel and word
• Reports can have direct access permalinks that can be
shared
• Omniture provides vertical-specific reports, which are
8 set up based on industry and vertical best practices as
part of its Fusion implementation methodology.
• Simple Navigation Bucketed into 5 main Sections and a
custom Reports
• Each Section has a Summary landing page from which
more reports can be accessed
7 • 4 Segments can be added to any report
• Report Drilldown options available, but limited to a single
dimension, except in table view
• Industry benchmarking available
• Reports Divided across Bookmarks, Overview and
Dashboards, and detailed reports appear under
Marketing, Commerce and Content in v9
• V10 has a new interface
• Reports can be scheduled, exported and Bookmarked
• Report Display can be edited to show/hide graphs and
8 tables
• Custom report creation is limited to 200 reports
• Industry Specific reports available

17. Report Sharing/Saving/Distribution
• Ability to Share reports, Save reportlets and add
to dashboards and share as CSV, Word, PDF or
Excel
• Reports can be scheduled to delivered at pre
determined granularity
8
• Ability to Share reports, Save reportlets and add
to dashboards and share as CSV, Word, PDF or
Excel
• Reports can be scheduled to delivered at pre
7 determined granularity
• Ability to Share reports, Save reportlets and add
to dashboards and share as CSV, Word, PDF or
7 Excel

18. Campaign Attribution
• Last and First Touch attribution available as
default
• Every Touch can be customized via a simple code
change
• Channel manager rules allow for extensive
customization
• The tool also allows users to import offline data for
true multicampaign impact analysis.
9
• Multiple channels enabled by default in Late
August
• Default template available which can be edited
7
• The product offers attribution across multiple
channels, provided that offline campaign data has
been uploaded via its lookup table interface
• Channel Attribution not available as native in
Webtrends
6 • Required custom set up
• Will require clean up and some excel analysis to
make sense of the data

19. n-Dimensional Segmentation for ad hoc queries
• Omniture v15 promises to have the ability to have all
metrics available
• Forgiving when it comes to breakdowns that have not
been made available
• Discover has the ability to have any segmentation for
any metric available on the fly
• Any type of variable or data stored (i.e., classification
data, appended data, cross-session data) can be used
9 to create a segment.
• Has pre built segments and can have upto 100
segments
• Pre built variables upto two dimensions
• Allows limited breakdown for pre fixed metrics
• Custom Reports need to be built for multiple
segmentation
7 •
•
Segments can be shared using permalinks
Pivoting and Secondary Dimension shows cross tabular
view
• Can be used on historical data
• Report Drill down can be used to determine more
detailed dimensions for a report
• Any combination of parameter values and/or fields
appended to the data (via lookup table) can be used to
identify segments.
• Any segment can be created for one-time/temporary or
7 persistent use, and in either case, it can be used
immediately.
• Segments can not be applied to historical data
• Segments can be shared

20. n-Dimensional Segmentation for ad hoc queries-Contd.
• Omniture's Web analytics capabilities are built around
providing robust ad hoc analysis. Capabilities include
custom correlations and drill-throughs, ad hoc data
queries and correlations, and unlimited drilldown by
dimension to individual transactions and data elements.
In addition, Omniture also provides reporting APIs that
allow programmatic access to all data and metrics for
9 analysis by other tools.
• Offers ad hoc analysis by accessing any variable within
Google Analytics and simply dragging and dropping it
into an ad hoc, custom-made report
• Users have access to dozens of dimensions (rows) and
metrics (rows) to create reports
pivoting and secondary dimensions that allow inline
7 cross-tabular analysis of data to do in-depth, on-the-fly
analysis.
• The standard Webtrends analytics UI permits ad hoc
queries, drilldown to up to 20 levels of dimension data
(consisting of standard, custom, or segment-based
dimensions), drill across to related reports ad hoc
filtering based on dimensional and/or metric values, ad
7 hoc searches, and visualized drilldowns
• The Visitor Intelligence UI (available for an additional
fee) provides advanced multidimensional OLAP
analysis,

21. Data Visualization
• Ability to change view from Line to Scatter,
Bubble, Pie, Bar as applicable and required
• API exists that can be used to extract data and
create custom reports/view
• Charts and graphs can be broken down by day
Month Week Quarter and year
• Comparative time period View Available
7
• Motion Charts available
• API exists that can be used to extract data
• Multiple tools via app library available for various
options
8
• WT10 has a visually rich interface
• Search term word clouds, Geo-visualization maps
Heatmaps in reports, Click to drill down further
Intelligent and campaign discovery
• Webtrends custom dashboards and scorecards
9 compile the data and metrics from multiple
sources distributed in a format as required ,
whether via web or excel via SmartReports

22. Click Overlay
• Exists in Omniture as click overlay
• Available via a Browser Plugin
• May Requires custom tagging in certain instaces
7 • Google as a Click overlay feature
• In beta, constantly updated
• Buggy as does not work sometimes and is
dependant on URL, so may not work in case of
static URL serving different pages
5
• SmartView overlay exists for Webtrends
• Gives Additional information like next flow from
the same Interface
9

23. Path Scenario/Funnel Analysis and Conversion/Goal Tracking
• Omniture provides path, funnel and custom flow
builder report
• Path Finder and Full Page Analysis for each page
• Conversion Events can be used to build funnels
9
• Conversion Can be Page URL, Time Spent or or
Goal based funnels can be created
• Segments cant be applied to Funnels
5 • Custom Funnels cant be built unless Goals are
pre defined
• Padi Code enables URL based funnels –External
Product
• 5-Point Scenario Analysis provides the unique
ability to view the entire scenario process in an
easy-to-understand funnel-like format.
8 • Visual Path Analysis -Transform complex path
analysis into easy to interpret visual diagrams

24. Calendar Events and Alerts
• Calendar Events can be added for tracking
historical trends
• Alerts can be set up to inform of any outages, rise
or fall in traffic or sales
8
• New feature allows for calendar events to be
appended
• They can be shared amontg users
8
8 • Has an alert set up to email, sms or Twitter DM

25. Integration

26. Data Import/Export
• Through Genesis Integration exists with various partners
including salesforce, eloqua etc
• The Data Insertion API allows Web analytics data to be
inserted programmatically for reporting within the
SiteCatalyst interface, SAINT API allows for additional
data dimensions to be imported
• Export data with multiple methods including: APIs,
scheduled raw data feeds and scheduled report
9 delivery..
• The product allows import of AdWords and Adsense
click, impression, and cost data that can be co related to
Transactions Purchase cost etc
5 • Date can be exported via API and Tools from the App
gallery
• The product allows data to be imported via FTP or
Web service API calls with any join key
 Export data or gain access via Ad hoc excel extracts,
Scheduled data feeds sent in file format or in XML,
8 ODBC driver, SOAP-based Web services, REST-
based Web services, Direct database access via any
BI tool, ETL for S/W Install

27. Campaign Management
• Search Centre Allows for campaign Management for
Search Engines and Now Facebook
7
• No Direct integration, have to access via Adwords UI, No
integration with Yahoo/Bing/Yandex/Baidu
3
•
Webtrends Search provides similar features as
searchcenter for Automating bidding and other
8 •
optimization
Also Offers Dynamic Landing page generation

28. Service and Support

29. Clientcare/Tech Support
• Accessible 24X7 Via Email/Chat/Twitter, Phone or
Online community (TheLink)
• Technical support is offered in multiple languages
• Omniture Training offered globally
• Escalate to Account Manager if query not returned
• Omniture includes implementation services applying
Fusion Methodology for all SiteCatalyst customers to
ensure correct measuring and tracking of key
8 performance indicators (KPIs) that are most important to
their business.
• No Support from Google except for Adwords clients
• Hire a Authorized Partner from network for questions
• Videos, Partner resources for Support
4
• Live support is provided 24x7x365 as standard
• Worldwide technical support is provided via a centralized
model based out of one support center in Portland, Ore.
8 (home office).
• Webtrends operates multiple shifts to provide direct
support to the super regions of the Americas, EMEA,
and Asia Pacific. This is done with a support staff of 44*.

30. Cost, Company, Innovation and Installed Base

31. Cost, Company, Innovation and Installed Base
• The SiteCatalyst product is priced on a subscription basis, with a tiered
pricing structure based on Web server calls.
• Small-traffic site — $5,000 to $10,000, list, per year.
Medium-traffic site — $120,000 to $240,000, list, per year.Large-traffic site
— $240,000 and higher, list, per year.
• Omniture Consulting Services Extra
• Discover/Searchcenter at additional cost
• Adobe Acquired –changes include integration with day Software(Cq5)
,Social Analytics, Searchcenter revamp and Sitecatalyst v15 architecture
7 update
• Free
• Cost of Implementation and Maintenance via partners
• Google Owned, steady addition of features including custom variables,
5 multichannel attribution, Custom Dashboard, Event based Funnels
• Webtrends offers a tiered pricing structure based on server calls per
month. Fees are as follows:
* Small-traffic site —start at about $5,000 per year. Medium-traffic site —
$50,000 and $120,000. A larger site starting at approximately $125,000,
depending on the amount of traffic and reporting needs.
• On premise Costs different
8 •
•
Consulting Costs additional
rd
3 largest customer base after Omniture and Coremetrics with 7,000+
customer base
• Webtrendsv10 including social integration and a new way to present data

32. Summary

33. Overall Score
• The Site Catalyst Product has accompanying products like Search Center,
Discover, Test and Target, Genesis, Digital Pulse and now Social Analytics
which make it the most comprehensive set of tools for success
• The Omniture client care support and consulting services make the product
• V15 promises huge improvement in the back end architecture
7.9
• The fact that the cost of ownership is free is misunderstood as the cost of
implementation and maintenance is equivalent for a complex custom
implementation
• Offers Website Optimizer which is a free tool, integration with adwords and
Google Admin Tool
6 • Third party Products can be used for Behavioral Targeting which integrate
with Google Analytics, but that would require in house technical expertise
• Webtrendsv10 including social integration and the concept of spaces as a
new way to present data
7.85

34. Feature Omniture Google Analytics Webtrends
Excel Reporting Tool
API
Tag Builder
n Dimensional Segmentation
Custom Metrics
Additional Variables 225 5 Unlimited
Click Overlay
Campaign Attribution
Geographic Reporting
On-site Advertising
BI Integration (ODBC access)
Pre-defined Segments
Custom Audience Segmentation
CMS (CQ5) Integration
Data Import
Data Export
Mobile Support
iOS/Android
Facebook Integration
Twitter Integration
Adwords/Yahoo/Bing/Baidu/Facebook ads
Integration
Custom Reports
Custom Metrics
Campaign Attribution
Report Sharing/Saving/Distribution
Client Care
Cost High Low Medium
Per Module Access Permissions

35. Report Omniture Google Analytics Webtrends
Onsite Advertising Reports
Referrer and Domain Reports
Search Engine Reports
Visitors Reports
Geography Reports
Onsite Search Reports
Pages and Files Reports
Navigation and Path Reports
Content Analysis
Parameter Analysis Reports
Browser and Systems Reports
Mobile/Video
Campaign Reports
Campaign Segment Reports
Email Campaign Reports
Custom Content Analysis
Custom Campaign Reports
Merchandising Reports
Product Campaign Reports
Facebook App reports
Facebook page
Performance Dashboard
Visual Path and Content Analysis
Basic Search Engine Reporting
Campaign Performance Dashboard

36. What does it mean for Your Company

37.  The real cost of Analytics is
 Tools- Cost of Ownership
 Process-Alignment with UX, Marketing, Technology Teams for implementation, testing, reporting
and optimization
 People-Training, Getting teams aligned with roles and responsibilities vis-a-vis a new tool
 Omniture’s primary advantage in addition to tool features is a fusion document describing best practices
 For a new tool training, getting up-to speed and value will take 3-6 months
 A new tool is not the solution, a web analytics process is
 Optimization via testing and targeting needs to take precedence as action items
 Evaluate not just web analytics but web optimization (testing and targeting offering from vendor as well),
and other tools being used/plan to use
 Google Analytics has a limited set of custom variables slots(5) which can be used per profile which is the
biggest limitation

38. Fin