Opting Out of Google Analytics

You heard right people! You can now now opt out of Google Analytics. I’m going to tell you how to do it, and why I believe this to be a bad idea.

Google Analytics doesn’t reveal any personal information currently but they should be offering users more choices and control whenever it’s possible – which has been their feeling all along. This promoted them to launch a beta version of their much anticipated “Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on”. This is what they are officially calling it.

How to Opt out of Google Analytics

There seems to be one catch associated with this opt-out process. You will need to download and install some “add-on” for your browser on your computer. Why you need to install something to disable something else is beyond my understanding. This add-on will halt data from being sent from your computer when visiting sites that use the Analytics Javascript (ga.js) code to track the site’s visitor usage. After installation of the add-on, the information from your online visit doesn’t get sent to Google Analytics or included in its reports.

Beta Version: Download the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on

The opt-out (beta) that Google released on May 25, 2010 is available for these browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome. If you would like to download it please visit this link: Download the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

What’s This Mean for SEO Statistics?

While I wouldn’t personally want anyone to download the add-on that visits this SEO blog, I do understand the privacy factor for some people. Since there’s no personal information collected and returned to the website owner who researchers their Google Analytics – there should be no reason you “need” to block another individual from seeing your statistics. It only helps website owners get a better understanding of how their visitors might be using their site. What pages are more visited, and how many minutes are spent reading those pages are both ways that the Analytics can help a website owner.

Now there is still some of you reading this, thinking:

“I track my conversions through Google Analytics and now those numbers are going to be off because visitors can opt out.”

While that is true, let’s discuss the scope of this process. Will this change the landscape of SEO statistics as we know it? I would say no. Firstly, many people aren’t going to add another slow add-on to their already clustered browser windows. The majority of the people will never even find out about this browser add-on. You didn’t know, and it’s been out fro a month already. Most people just don’t care enough to install something that is going to block something else. If they have an issue with privacy that much, they are going to fear the install as much as the reporting of the Analytics.

How is this going to affect you?