No matter how much I think Google’s domination of online markets is dangerous I still have to say they impress me again and again.

Google Analytics which must be one of the most adopted web analytics packages by now is now available on Google Code. So now you can extend Google Analytics as you need meaning you can have a custom installation for each website if needed.

I love Google Analytics and can always be found looking through all the pretty reports it generates for various websites I am involved with. I never cease to be amazed at the various routes people find a website.

One major downside of Google Analytics however is its reliance on JavaScript which makes some things on a website difficult to track. One example of a figure I would love to know is the true number of subscriptions to an RSS feed.

I’ve found a half way house solution to this posted by Hamlet Batista which tracks people clicking on RSS links on a website using the same code I use to track conversions on dynamic pages. For your reference this is:

<a href=http://www.digital-rant.co.uk/feed/ title=”Subscribe to my feed” rel=”alternate” onclick=”javascript:urchinTracker(’/tracking/feed’);”>

Or if you are using the latest Google Analytics code:

<a href=http://www.digital-rant.co.uk/feed/ title=”Subscribe to my feed” rel=”alternate” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/tracking/feed’);”>

Where “/tracking/feed” is your goal URL setup in Google Analytics.

 However this code makes the following assumptions:

1. Everyone subscribes using the RSS links within the page and not the RSS details in the page header (picked up by various browsers).
2. Everyone that follows an RSS link actually subscribes to the feed.

If anyone has any other suggestions to overcome these problems give me a shout - I’d love to know! In the meantime I’ll have to survive on these approximate figures.

Of course if I had the cash I’d upgrade to Google Analytics’ big brother Urchin 6 which recently came out of beta which sorts these issues but as I don’t have $2995 I’ll have to carry on as I am.