Google is a powerhouse when it comes to the internet. They are involved in everything from search engines to applications to advertising and promotions. It has everything that a modern business could hope for and one of their best ideas that would benefit businesses is their Google Analytics.

Google Analytics has an array of features that restaurants can use to help track their customers and increase their effectiveness. According to Google, it is used on 57% of the top 10,000 internet sites which makes it easy to see that somebody thinks it works.

The first feature is an Analysis Tool which can be used to help create reports and view all the data which Google Analytics collects. It has real-time reporting which measures the activity on a restaurant's website as it happens. Restaurants can create custom reports with only the information that is important to them. Google Analytics also lets a restaurant segment their customers and find out why they make the choices they do online. There is a dashboard which makes seeing all this information easier and the data that is gathered can be shared with everyone involved. The Analysis Tool also shows the path that customers take while on a restaurants website so restaurants can see how they interact with their pages.

Google's Content Analytics measures the content that is placed on a restaurant's website and how effect it is. Site Search shows a restaurant what their customers are looking for and can help them speed up their search rate. The In-Page Analytics shows a restaurant how their customers move while on their website and Site Speed Analysis shows if they are having any trouble loading the pages. Restaurants can also check how many times customers are clicking on their links and downloads.

Mobile is becoming ever important and Google has adapted and added Mobile Analytics. This measures how mobile is affecting a business. Restaurants can see which devices and operating systems people are using to access their website. They can also track where the mobile traffic is coming from. Mobile Analytics will measure the performance of a mobile app and see if it is successful or if changes need to be made.

Conversion Suite is designed to go beyond the data and tell a restaurant why their customers behave the way they do. It tells how customer behavior leads to sales and what they are most likely to do while visiting a restaurant's website. It has Ecommerce reporting which will identify the best-selling products and promotions. This feature will also help restaurants follow the channels that direct their customers to their site. Attribution Modeling helps restaurants decided which marketing channels are working for them and eliminate the ones that are not successful.

Social media is all that everyone is talking about right now. Google Analytics has social reports which tell a restaurant which of their social media is making the biggest impact on their customer base. Restaurants can see which social media sites their customers engage most in and see what their customers are sharing and where.

The last feature that is available is Advertising Analytics. This measures how well a restaurant's advertisements are working for them online. It gives tips on how to increase search engine marketing and help restaurants understand how display advertising helps them. It goes in depth with how mobile advertising is different from online and how to effectively advertise online. Advertising Analytics also does a campaign measurement which shows a restaurant what they need to do more of and what they need to rethink.

Google Analytics is a very informational and effective means of collecting data about a restaurant's website. It has invaluable features which can give restaurants an edge against the competition. By using this creation from Google, a restaurant can gauge the effectiveness of its online presence which will in turn help increase its customers.