Clicky is an alternative to Google’s Analytics which offers sevel levels of analysis that Google’s free package does not provide, we have a full clicky review coming soon but here are the edited highlights. Google also have a paid version of Analytics which does go a lot further towards providing those in-depth analytics requirements that larger organisations may have but that option is out of reach for most of us.

Clicky.com is a free of charge package too but it does include a number of facilities that are simply not there on Google Analytics – more of those later – but the real advantage, if you want to call it that, is this – when you use any Google product, including Analytics, you are implicitly giving Google permission to record and store data about your website and your own web browsing activities – What? You didn’t know that? Oh dear!

Why is that a problem? Well, for many of us it isn’t but for those engaged in anything even slightly off the well trodden path, it could be.

In particular, Google Anlaytics is a no no for anyone who is engaged in any kind of paid link building or similar practices. If you have a PBN, (Private Blog Network) then you certainly don’t want to make it easy for Google to work out what you are up to. A lot of SEO work includes some kind of microsite or blog network activity – most of it harmless – but Google may not see it that way. Placing a tracking code on your site and inviting Google to take an in-depth look at everything you do may not be such a good idea in that instance.

Enter Clicky and other non-Google alternatives to Analytics reporting. Clicky.com uses its own tracking code, i.e. not the Google Analytics one, and in return offers you pretty much everything that Google does plus a couple of very useful extras.

First of all it is realtime reporting. Now Google Analytics does have a limited realtime option that tells you how many people are on your website right now and where they are from, but with Clicky, everything is realtime which really ups the ante when analysing data and taking rapid action.

Next there are heatmaps – these help you to work out where people are going, not just on your website, i.e. which pages are visited, but whereabouts on those pages they are going – this can be very useful in analysing bounce rate and exits.

Clicky Heatmaps

The next feature you will really like. This is something that you can pay hundeds of pounds, or dollars, for and it’s here for free. I’m talking about Clicky’s “Individual visitors and actions” function. Yes, Clicky lets you see every visitor to your website and track every action they take whilst they are there. Furthermore, you have the option to attach each visitor to custom data, e.g.  usernames and email addresses therefore enabling  you to analyse each visitor individually and take a peek at their full browsing history on your site.

Installation is a breeze with their wide range of plugins and apps so there’s really no excuse – give clicky.com a go and see just how useful anaytics can be for your online business. As ever, other Analytics packages are available so take a look at the full directory listing here.

Clicky is a free to use platform.