brand marketing blog

Google has announced that it plans to develop a browser plug-in that allows individual web visitors to ‘opt-out’ of being tracked via Google Analytics. They cite privacy concerns as a key reason, but with tracking generally up to localised city and IP address level, it’s really not easy to trace down to individual user.

This ominous post http://bit.ly/cKvJhL on the Google Analytics blog sends a concerning message to web marketers and site owners. As marketers, we rely heavily on our analytics to understand visitor dynamics. Cutting out a critical factor will, to a more or lesser degree, skew the results. It’s surprising that Google should make such a great tool and provide it free for everyone to use, and then chop out one of the primary value propositions that it offers i.e. the ability to track EVERY visitor.

How can we make smart decisions if we don't have accurate data? It reduces the highly valued trackability of online tools down to the level of traditional, less dependable market research methods. The introduction of the 'opt-out' plug-in would be a sad day indeed and a giant step back for online marketing.

Analytics is a massive indirect money spinner for Google. All AdWords campaigns are tracked and managed via this tool and I wonder how the browser plug-in might impact the trackability of incoming PPC visitors if they have disabled tracking.

We need to collectively voice our disagreement. Blog, tweet, post, comment, FaceBook, start dsicussion threads on LinkedIn etc... just make some noise. Who knows, Cadbury was forced to back done on palm oil by it's customers - maybe we can influence Google's plans.

What are your thoughts on this thorny issue?