Interesting use of data by University

using stats for redesign feedback etc

[Shak]

"Right now, we're actively using it because we're redesigning the Princeton home page," he said. "Mainly, though, we use it for stats just to understand what people are searching for."

[dailyprincetonian.com...]

Shak

<edited title for clarity, and the fact that i got it wrong 1st time round>

[edited by: Shak at 9:37 pm (utc) on Oct. 22, 2003]

[ukgimp]

Nice find shak. :)

[your_store]

I got the impression that Princeton is using the statistics from their Google powered search engine not an Adwords account.

Anyone else see it that way, or am I missing the obvious as usual?

[Shak]

here is another 1, which gives a lot more information:

Along with a free version of tracking software, Google also offers a more personalized web service. For a fee of $28,000, Google provides a two-year license on hardware and software that can be tailored to each university. Some benefits of a paid Google search report are daily system updates of a university's server and more prompt indexing of sites.

[badgerherald.com...]

[GoogleGuy]

Hmm. That sounds like a Google Search Appliance (GSA). The GSA gives you lots of control over what to crawl, and I wouldn't be surprised if you can pull some nice stats off of it and make it do lots of fun tricks. :)

[richardb]

Don’t suppose there’s a unlimited, free trial, GG? I don’t seem to have $28K on me this week ;)

Rich

[amznVibe]

Wait, so if I use the handy Google Toolbar to search instead of their internal search, does Google have access to their index? And does Princeton have access to Google's stats of my search (other than the referer? if I block it?) I doubt both cases which means their stats could be radically off depending on visitor habits.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

Well, this last question is out of my realm, so I'll ping GoogleGuy and see if he can visit and shed some light. (Probably Wednesday)

GoogleGuy?

[GoogleGuy]

amznVibe, the Google Search Appliance is a standalone box that doesn't have to communicate with Google at all (it has to be that way so that companies can run the GSA behind their firewall). There's no communication between the toolbar and the GSA, and Google doesn't give any stats to Princeton. The GSA is completely independent hardware product that people can buy for $28K and lets them search their intranet. This will make it more clear:
[google.com...]