Google Analytics is free - what's the motivation?

[rogoff]

anyone know why google are offering this for free? what are google doing with the stats (if anything)? or are they just a lovely bunch of people who like helping people?

[netchicken1]

Does it mmatter?

Whats the worst they could be doing? Better understanding the net by analysing your website linkages and traffic?

Whats good for google is good for me I think.

[thinkaholic]

Analytics are integrated into Adwords to track campaigns and ROI. I'm sure they could also introduce adsense ads to the stats layout at some point if they wanted to, similar to Gmail.

[Wlauzon]

And I am sure this is also some kind of beta test for some kind of full fledged thing that they will eventually charge us for.

[rogoff]

maybe it doesn't matter. maybe they get a better understanding of your website which they can use to help determine your ranking and, in turn, you get a good analysis tool. i guess it's nothing more than that.

so if you have a high PR and low traffic, you might want to think before you implement it? i'm not in that position so i think i'm going to just go for it.