Pro/Cons of JUST using Google Analytics

[JohnW-UK]

I find myself in a situation where I am having to defend why purely relying on just Google Analytics for site data i.e. exit pages, keywords, bounce rate etc... is not good practise.

So I thought/wondered if other people have come up against this.

What are the Pro and Cons for ONLY using Google Analytics for your site data....

[JohnW-UK]

Totally agree using more than one tool is about verifying data! This is the argument I am trying to make but making sure I come up with a good list of points....

What tool(s) do you use?

[AgentsofValue]

I find Google Analytics very useful for understanding traffic and conversion KPIs, for Adwords analysis, and management reporting. I took a liking to it when I started out because it so easy to set up and one can collect visitor data in a matter of minutes.

However, I do not use it exclusively because I'm not comfortable with relying on just Google. It's a reliable service but I do remember an issue that caused reports with data from April 2011 to return 0 visits. Some of my friends are also not at peace with Google having access to their site data. Using another site data tool alongside GA also allows one to verify the data need ed for reporting.

[shiftins]

cause i check impressions and my link list with WMT and the GA for visits, time on site, and goal conversion.

If only they had 1 place to check all 5 lol....

but I'm sure if you wanted more macro data then the other features are useful.

[JohnW-UK]

Not arguing GA is not the best/good etc... It's about only using GA. You yourself admit you use WMA.... Why don't you just use GA?

[shiftins]

Why would you not use Google Web Master tools as well? I personal opinion is that Google info is as good as it gets. While it may not show everything I feel it gives you a good idea of what Google feels is important and looks at on a frequent basis.

the only stats i really look at is time on site, visits, and goal conversion. maybe cause my site is till new but I dont really need any other fancy tools.

I personally also only use WMT and Analytics. Nothing seems to index as fast as Google... obviously