When it comes to site analytics, Google Analytics vs Omniture is the battle we’ve been waiting for.

Both are run by massive global powerhouses and are considered essential tools for marketers. However, when you distil it down they both do the same thing – analyse your site – so you don’t need to use both!

So, how do you decide which one is right for your business? We’re here to help you figure this out. We’ve analysed each platform, its features and overall usability, so we can help you decide who your winner is in the battle of Google Analytics vs Omniture.

Google Analytics

This is a free website analytics service, offered by Google. It tracks and reports website traffic, and gives marketers great insight into what their visitors are up to!

For years, it has been the proud market leader in site analytics. Part of this is due to linking to other Google features (such as AdWords) and being part of the Google brand, the other part is its useful, easy-to-use features.

However, some of these features come with a cost. That’s why it might be worth considering Google Analytics 360 (formerly known as Premium), a subscription-based model. Google Analytics for Mobile Apps is also available, so you might want to consider whether you need this too.

There’s free product support and online training through videos, documents and forums, so you’ll always be able to find the answers to any queries you have.

So, what can you do with Google Analytics?

Accurate website analysis is Google Analytics' key goal.

The platform allows you to review online campaigns by tracking landing-page quality and conversions (known as goals). You can also gain a wealth of casual data, through its high-level dashboard function. Here, you’ll find useful KPIs, such as:

• Time on page
• Bounce rate
• Pages per session
• Most popular pages

You can also use it to obtain more in-depth information. By using Google Analytics, you can try visitor segmentation, e-commerce reporting and even cohort analysis, allowing you to better understand the behaviour of a group of users.

However, in the battle of Google Analytics vs Omniture, the former does have an Achilles heel (or three). Here are the platform's main limitations:

• Ad filtering programs and extensions can block the Google Analytics Tracking code, leaving 'holes' in collected data
• If users delete, or block, Google Analytics cookies, the platform cannot collect data
• It cannot identify individual user behaviour as this is against Google’s policies
• It doesn't offer any integrations with CRM software

At FABRIC8, we think Google Analytics is great for small businesses and websites. It’s easy to manage traffic as it samples large data-sets, it’s also straightforward to implement and doesn’t need a techie to operate it!

The basic tracking capabilities it offers are really useful, and the fact they come in real time is just a bonus!

However, creating custom variables on the free version can be tricky, and you’re only allowed five, so if you have specific goals in mind you might want to choose Omniture.

Despite this, Google Analytics provides a great foundation for online marketing analytics, and is constantly being developed and improved. Google's expected to bring in AI and automated software in the near future, so watch this space! This well-known platform could soon become even more effective.

Omniture

Omniture, the online marketing and web analytics tool, has been brought into the fold of the Adobe Marketing Cloud. This means it plays a huge part in a comprehensive end-to-end marketing solution that’s sure to benefit your business.

However, a downside to Omniture is that you do need some tech expertise to use it effectively. Not only do you need to understand how to collect data, how to use the data and change any variables, you must also be able to configure Omniture at a page level. This means manually coding each page to identify key measurements.

Larger firms, such as HP and Microsoft, tend to use the platform due to the expense and skills needed. It is also possible to integrate it with your CRM.

Omniture allows you to pull data from third-party APIs, like SalesForce or MailChimp, and can match sales info and web data to pin down individual user actions. This gives you a greater understanding of the conversion funnel and identifies any drop-off points.

So, what can you do with Omniture?

Through Omniture, you can analyse every aspect of user behaviour, and you benefit from a much larger capacity for tracking. With one report suite you get:

• 75 traffic properties - Counters measuring different traffic metrics (e.g. page views, visits and visitors)
• 75 conversion variables - Persistent metrics tied to different events (e.g. if someone is logged in or out)
• 100 events - Completed visitor actions on your site

That’s a lot of insight to collect, and all of it’s at an in-depth, granular level. You can also create new goals and segments, then apply them retroactively. (Another brownie-point for this platform in the battle of Google Analytics vs Omniture!)

However, Omniture does have its flaws, here are some of its limitations that might affect your decision:

• It's complicated and time-consuming to install
• Real-time data can be seen, but there’s a lag of around 2 hours
• It cannot integrate with Google products, such as AdWords

Despite this, at FABRIC8 we think it could still be worth it, because the insights you gain into individuals will allow you to market directly to users by sending out personalised and highly-focused content.

It’s a highly proficient and comprehensive system, with a strong customer support team in case something goes wrong. And, with its aim being web analytics and optimisation, you can be sure that you’ll see improvements by using it.

Google Analytics vs Omniture: How do they match up?

So, we’ve established that Google Analytics is great for small businesses, but not so good for individual data. Therefore, it probably fulfils about 95% of your marketing needs.

However, it could work well in tandem with user analytics software, such as Mixpanel, Kissmetrics or Amplitude.

Omniture, on the other hand, is a comprehensive system that fulfils all your marketing needs in one go! It’s great for larger businesses with a lot of traffic. However, it’s hard to integrate, needs a lot of dedication and technical know-how and is quite expensive.

At FABRIC8, we think both are really useful, practical tools for marketers. Google Analytics would be a great one to start off with. You could then build up to Omniture when you can justify the expense and when you need to focus on individual customers, rather than segments.

The key thing to ask when considering Google Analytics vs Omniture is which one do you have a better understanding of? If you're more comfortable with Google Analytics opt for that, if you’re a data-genius and feel like you'd be happy using Omniture, go for that one.

Neither will be useful if you don’t understand the platform; you’ll collect the wrong data and won’t be able to derive any actionable insights. Conduct your own research into both, and find reviews that will highlight potential niggles that may cause difficulties in the future.

That’s it, the start of your journey to website analytics success. Who was your winner in the battle of Google Analytics vs Omniture?