Yahoo! Web Analytics 9.5 Launched
I am extremely happy to announce the new edition of Yahoo! Web Analytics (#YWA) which is rolling out to clients as we speak (YSM post) – an upgrade process which should be finished by end of May for everybody, you know, if we are on schedule and all. Beyond all the work one would expect in regards to general backend and scalability issues, we also had the opportunity to implement some exciting NEW features, such as:
- New Demographic Dimensions
- New Psychographic Dimensions
- New Charting Capabilities
- New Path Analysis
- New Negative-Segmentation opportunities
- New version 5 tracking code (I describe the upgrade in my Yahoo! Web Analytics book)
- ..and 30 other smaller updates like e.g. native PDF export, use up to 50 actions (goals), introduction of 38 custom fields – and purplefication of the tool, well, you probably don’t care too much about the latter. :-)
The really exciting fact is that, the Demographics Data is not just presented in pretty reports, but much more importantly, as information that you use to filter other reports with. (Note: You might remember this type of sampled data from Microsoft’s adCenter Analytics – link to Ian’s launch post)
The dimensions are Age and Gender, which have the following properties:
- Age (0-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-54 and 55+)
- Gender (Female, Male)
The Psychographic Dimensions, which is called Interest Groups within Yahoo! Web Analytics, hold similar characteristics as Demographics, in the sense that you can filter and segment on this data.
The Interests are categorized as follows:
- Automotive
- Consumer Packaged Goods
- Entertainment
- Finance
- Health Pharma
- Life Stages
- Miscellaneous
- Politics
- Retail
- Small Business and B2B
- Sports
- Technology
- Telecommunications
- Travel
Please note that the data in reports, based on these two new exciting dimensions, are based on Yahoo! Visitor Interest data and may not be available for all your website visitors. YWA generate the output based on a sample of your visitors with their behavioral data, and YWA will only display the numbers meeting a certain confidence level.
This confidence level reflects how confident YWA are that the sample accurately reflects the makeup of your site visitors. You can actually reduce this confidence level to see more data, where you of course have to understand that by lowering the confidence level you are viewing numbers that one should be less confident are accurate for your actual site.
We also upgraded, as you can see from the screenshots below, the actual charting and visualization area of each individual report. This included opportunity to change the default visualization for the data, the opportunity to apply other data dimensions (such as coloring a bar chart based on a metric), visualize multiple metrics at the same time, visualize the true long tail using e.g. 500 data points, Introducing Bubble Charts, introducing the opportunity to use both trend charts and bar charts at the same time, having report filters and sorting reflected in the actual visualization etc.
Well, enough talk!
One note before you go down and have a look at the screenshots; with this release YWA is opening up for managed Yahoo Search Marketing Accounts, so go CALL your account manager to get access – Don’t mind the data below, the screenshots was done in a staging environment and this post is not about the insights you can get with the new features, I’ll get to that in a later posts. I just want you to go have a look at some of the new features and preferable get excited as a marketer.
Imagine YWA being able to tell you, as a travel sector marketer, that those successful individuals who bought the trip to London in June where primarily interested in Politics, Female and between 35-54 years old. Sexy eh!?
Cheers :-)
@dennismortensen
Link to last post, when we rebranded, which includes pictures of the more general feature-set: Indextools is now Yahoo! Web Analytics
Appendix - (Yahoo! Web Analytics 9.5 Screenshots)
.
April 28th, 2009 at 8:30
Congratulations on the Launch Mate,
The system is looking great and the new functions are looking pretty powerful. Look forward to seeing how it performs on some of my accounts.
April 28th, 2009 at 8:51
Congratulations Dennis, I’m very exited about all the new features. Good things!!! Juan
April 28th, 2009 at 8:53
Looks reaaaaaally nice. Where do you get the demographic from? I could fear that countries where Yahoo! only have a small marketshare, will have strange data on this part?
But i really look forward to get my own fingers into this product. I guess Omniture is having stress right now ;-)
@webanalytiker
April 28th, 2009 at 8:57
Hey John,
Prepare to be WOW’ed :-)
- and this is especially interesting for a search expert like you, as one can combine this Demographic reporting with targeting actions in either YSM or AdWords. (I’ll actually plan to write a post on this later, as I find this super powerful)
Cheers
d.
April 28th, 2009 at 9:00
Well done Dennis/Yahoo – I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and revel in the purple …. I mean the Data!
April 28th, 2009 at 9:05
Hey Jacob,
>>Where do you get the demographic from?
The Demographic data is derived from sample data (a HUGE sample though, as it is from the entire Yahoo! network)
>>I could fear that countries where Yahoo! only have a small marketshare, will have strange data on this part?
NO. If you go have a look at the Screenshots, you will see that we added a “confidence level” – so your worst case scenario is that we DON’T show any data and you can then chose to accept that fact (that we don’t have enough data) or lower the confidence level. Does this make sense ?
>>I guess Omniture is having stress right now ;-)
I used to say 80% of Omniture for FREE, perhaps I should change that to Omniture + additional 10% for FREE. BUT I promised Yahoo! legal not to say stuff like that anymore. So the before is just a reference to the past :-)
Cheers
d.
April 28th, 2009 at 9:06
[...] Take a look to some screenshots or get more information visiting Dennis blog [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 9:14
Hurray! Congratulations to you and the team Dennis!!
I can’t wait do dig into all the changes and play with them (yes this means my IndexTools is still “boring” blue, waiting the sexy purple version : ).
-Avinash.
April 28th, 2009 at 9:16
Hey Dan,
>>I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and revel in the purple …. I mean the Data!
LOL!
d.
April 28th, 2009 at 9:20
omg i want one, Dennis mate this stuff looks amazing!
April 28th, 2009 at 9:23
Hey Avinash,
Thanks a lot. AND as you did indeed write the foreword for my Book, I believe that entitles you to a quicker upgrade.. let me ping engineering.
cheers
d. :-)
April 28th, 2009 at 9:25
Hi Dennis!
Fantastic! I was waiting to see this post in your blog. It looks great ;)
I want to use it soon.
Felicidades! Congratulations!
- Elena Enriquez -
April 28th, 2009 at 9:29
Congratulations! Can’t wait to play with it. I’m excited to finally have access!
I still don’t understand the origin of the demographic information. “From the entire Yahoo! network” isn’t explaining it to me. Sorry to be dense — where exactly are the visitors originally entering their demog info?
April 28th, 2009 at 9:33
Hey David,
>>omg i want one, Dennis mate this stuff looks amazing!
Looks!? ;-) it IS amazing.
thanks mate
cheers
d.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:03
I am weeping with joy. The 3D effects have been toned down. They’re still present (BAD BOY!!) but it’s a big improvement in usability
April 28th, 2009 at 11:16
Hey John,
>>The 3D effects have been toned down. They’re still present (BAD BOY!!)
Never surrender! – so a slow but steady march towards a world view of Stephen Few and perhaps even Edward Tufte (or John Marshall actually) :-)
cheers
d.
April 28th, 2009 at 13:07
This is excellent…
I’m really excited about the demographic and pschographic reports…
April 28th, 2009 at 13:12
[...] two great pieces of news – first, Yahoo! Web Analytics 9.5 Launched – got the news directly from Dennis R. Mortensen who is a good friend, Entrepreneur and currently [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 15:46
Nice feature set, congrats on the massive work!
Let me rephrase what Jacob asked a little: If Yahoo has close to NO marketshare in a country, then you can’t really show any data even if the confidence level is set really, REALLY low?
And I’m of course thinking of Denmark here, where Google has a 96% market share and Yahoo’s is barely measurable:
http://www.afdeling18.dk/blog/2009/4/7/soegemaskineandele-i-danmark.aspx
April 28th, 2009 at 15:54
Hey Soren,
>>Nice feature set, congrats on the massive work!
Thanks :-)
>>Let me rephrase what Jacob asked a little: If Yahoo has close to NO marketshare in a country, then you can’t really show any data even if the confidence level is set really, REALLY low?
Let me rephrase as well. If we have NO data (or decent sample), then we can show NO information (I agree on that). But it is important that you don’t confuse Search Share (which in Denmark is indeed low to non-existent) with our ability to collect Data. They are related but NOT the same.
I am excited to see how this works in smaller territories as well. I’ll keep you posted, if you do the same :-)
Cheers
d.
April 28th, 2009 at 16:30
Hey Dennis
This is the ultimate PURPLE COW and I wanna milk it now! :-) And as one of your biggest fans I couldn’t help but set up a Facebook group
Yahoo! Web Analytics for free and for everyone!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=92462054858
On a different note though, we’ve all noticed GA API recent public release which is a powerful feature. With 9.5 YWA strikes back easily but I haven’t noticed pretty much anything about YWA’s API so I’d like to ask about that and where does it stand compared to GA’s API.
Cheers, Jiri
April 28th, 2009 at 18:03
Sweet!! It’s not only nice to see this very impressive upgrade in compelling functionality, but equally important to get this wonderful tool into the hands of Yahoo’s user community. Congrats!!
April 28th, 2009 at 18:11
[...] V té chvíli ovšem u nás ještě nikdo netušil, že Yahoo chystá něco velmi zajímavého. Dennis Mortensen dnes oznámil spuštění nové verze Yahoo Web Analytics 9.5 s těmito [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 18:59
Looks absolutely amazing – paid “enterprise” analytics should take a look at their pricing models.
April 28th, 2009 at 21:05
[...] VisualRevenue | Yahoo! Web Analytics 9.5 Launched (tags: webanalytics yahoo) [...]
April 29th, 2009 at 3:09
Finally it`s happening. I have been waiting for this a long time Dennis. This looks promising indeed.
Tor
April 29th, 2009 at 4:28
I can’t wait till YWA is available to everyone! This is exciting, Google is finally getting a fair competitor! I have a feeling though that I’ll be getting your book before the actual tool :)
April 29th, 2009 at 4:42
Dennis – we are really very excited about this over here in the UK.
I see you guys stealing a march on the competition here as things are dominated either by GA or the big guns (Omniture, Coremetrics etc) We think YWA is just as good for what we need, and well, you don’t get better than free right?!
Well done, and keep us in the loop as things progress
@dcjarvis
April 29th, 2009 at 4:46
Fantastic stuff Dennis, really looking forward to getting to have a play with the new reports. Extra actions and some self-definable custom fields are going to really come in useful.
April 29th, 2009 at 6:54
[...] Y! Properties zu Interessenkategorien. Die Reports sind über Segmentierungen verfügbar und sollen bei einem demographischen Targeting für Yahoo Search Marketing-Kampagnen helfen. Yahoo! Web Analytics wird demnächst auch wieder im Einkaufsführer Web Analytics gelistet werden. Nachtrag: Zur neuen Version siehe auch: searchcowboys.com: Yahoo Web Analytics 9.5: “Prepare to be WOW’ed Dennis Mortensens Blog: Yahoo! Web Analytics 9.5 Launched [...]
April 29th, 2009 at 8:50
Congratulations to you Dennis and the entire team. I have really enjoyed using YWA. The “old” version has a ton of reports that I love. Can’t wait to get my hands on some of the new features.
Again, great job!
April 29th, 2009 at 10:01
Hey Jiri,
Our OWN Facebook group. COOL!
Let me know if you need anything.
Hey Bill,
Thanks. We try out best. YOU know how hard that can be sometimes. :-)
Hey Tor,
>>Finally it`s happening. I have been waiting for this a long time Dennis.
I know. I Know. But it’s here now. all you have to do a wait for the upgrade to the NEW data center and everybody is happy. He he
Hey Keemo
>>I have a feeling though that I’ll be getting your book before the actual tool :)
I race to the end my friend
Hej DJ,
>>Well done, and keep us in the loop as things progress
Of course!
Hey Justin,
>>”..ton of reports that I love..”
Insights Justin. Insights! ;-)
Cheers
d.
April 29th, 2009 at 12:43
[...] 9.5. Det er fantastisk spændende, og vil give både helt nye features og forbedredede rapporter. Læs Dennis Mortensens blog om [...]
April 29th, 2009 at 12:57
great! thanks for the info, really good!
April 30th, 2009 at 3:58
Congratulations Dennis, looking forward to both your book and the 9.5 version, this will take YWA another step ahead.. Looks “superfett ut”. /johan
April 30th, 2009 at 7:26
Hej Johan,
Thanks! and I believe it is “Superfedt” he he :-)
cheers
d.
May 4th, 2009 at 5:46
[...] il lancio di Yahoo! Web Analytics 9.5 con nuove funzionalità [...]
May 6th, 2009 at 14:56
[...] Well, today’s the day! The book is out: Yahoo! Web Analytics: Tracking, Reporting, and Analyzing for Data-Driven Insights. I am super excited about this – and even better, this coincides beyond perfect with the recent launch of YWA 9.5. [...]
May 7th, 2009 at 6:10
Looks great..I am so sad i dont use it any more :)
May 9th, 2009 at 18:35
So this will be released to the public soon?
May 9th, 2009 at 19:17
Hey Mark8t,
It IS released. But you need a Y! account manager to get access. OR a Y! store Account or….
Cheers
d.
May 13th, 2009 at 13:55
[...] Analytics is incredible. Dennis Mortensen announced the launch of Yahoo Web Analytics 9.5 on his blog Visual Revenue on 28 April 2009. There are a lot of new useful and wanted features. It is impressive upgrade in [...]
May 20th, 2009 at 3:07
[...] containing screenshots and information about the latest version 9.5 of Yahoo! Analytics. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Why Yahoo is where it is [...]
May 31st, 2009 at 10:45
@Dennis, what I meant was when will be available like Google Analytics… Free..
May 31st, 2009 at 11:10
Hey Markt8,
>>@Dennis, what I meant was when will be available like Google Analytics… Free..
It is FREE! :-)
..but access is not provided to everybody and I think it is unlikely that you will see this going-to-market strategy change.
dennis
June 18th, 2009 at 9:32
I hate to ask, but any chance of Rubix being released and of course being free ? (or at least being released!)
June 18th, 2009 at 11:14
Hey Gerry,
You should expect (as you’ve seen with the upgraded visualizations in 9.5) that we incorporate items from “Rubix” into the main tool.
sorry mate
Cheers
d. :-)
June 29th, 2009 at 11:07
[...] recorded a 30+ minute DEMO (screencast) of YWA version 9.5 the other day – and am publishing the outcome below. The tone of the Video is less advert-like and [...]
July 7th, 2009 at 11:27
Jiri – right now the API is experiencing some rather strange problems. It has had an extensive and powerful feature set for a while (all the way back to early 2008), but there’s just been some severe lag issues. These seem to be related to the migration.
September 23rd, 2009 at 21:25
[...] sources of demographic data: Google Ad Planner (via Jeff) and Yahoo! Web Analytics (via Dennis) and compared data from the same site, an established multimillion dollar online [...]
October 31st, 2009 at 11:28
[...] sources of demographic data: Google Ad Planner (via Jeff) and Yahoo! Web Analytics (via Dennis) and compared data from the same site, an established multimillion dollar online [...]
April 14th, 2010 at 17:09
[...] already been a year since Dennis announced the launch of Yahoo! Web Analytics 9.5 on this blog. And one of the shiny feature announcements then, was the addition of demographic data, such as [...]