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Aug. 27, 2007

The WAA (Web Analytics Association) announces the publishing of industry standards definitions for twenty-six basic Web analytic metrics covering the specific category areas of site visits, site content and overall sales conversion rates.

The WAA's new industry definitions are designed to provide overall consistency and standards-based implementations of some of the most widely used terms across the Web analytics community.

They are final product result of a tedious and collaborative effort between WAA members, vendors, agencies, SEO practitioners and Internet consultants.

Created in 2006, the highly anticipated document from the WAA Standards Committee follows its previous release of Web analytics definitions and standards that focused on the 3 most important metrics across all analytics software and tools: unique visitors, visitor sessions and overall page views.

Once these terms were agreed upon and defined by the industry, the WAA expanded its attention to the many other foundational metrics that rely on these initial three definitions.

Standards Committee co-chairs Jason Burby, chief analytics and optimization officer for ZAAZ and Angie Brown, Web analytics manager and MD consult for Elsevier Inc., spearheaded this effort within the WAA, and the final document is more than eleven months in the making.

In implementing these newer and broader-based definitions, the Standards Committee has had active participation and consultation from a wide spectrum of individuals representing SEO and SEM agencies, industry consultants, Web analytic vendors, and industry advisors, resulting in a well-rounded and unbiased resource.

Over the past four to five years, important inconsistencies in the actual reporting and data from web analytics tools have been accurately identified and reported from many industry groups.

Often difficult at interpreting accurate data, Web analytic tools have nevertheless proven the value of various online channels that are increasingly important to Internet marketers and business strategists, in the light of more advertising dollars being channeled into the Internet.

The WAA is strongly encouraging analytics software developers and providers to greatly standardize on these basic terms in order to help promote a better overall understanding of web analytics tools and a strong foundation upon which the industry can grow and evolve in a more consistent and standardized way.

Avinash Kaushik, WAA board member said “the dedication and focus of the WAA, the close participation from the analytics community and the resulting twenty-six definitions are truly a sign of the maturing of our industry.”

Kaushik added “the global market for Web analytics tools is increasing rapidly and, with increased interest from all areas of online marketing, these new industry standards benefit both the users and its participants, and will hopefully accelerate the overall advancement of the analytics industry as a whole.”

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Source: The Web Analytics Association