Google has announced a new feature; the ability to share your Google Analytics data with the public and Google. At first this may seem counterintuitive especially for companies who guard their Analytics data; however there are some very useful instances to consider data sharing.

There are two aspects to the Data Sharing feature of Google Analytics:

Share with Google Products Only (by default)
It’s important to note that by default Google will share your data with other Google services unless you’ve opted out. The real plus of this feature is the benefits you’ll gain with Google Conversion Optimizer. Assuming you are using Google AdWords. Conversion Optimizer will offer automatic bid management tied to your maximum CPA goals. But Conversion Optimizer hasn’t been released just yet, so we’ll have to wait to see how good this really is.

Share with Google Products and Benchmarking Service
First off, it is all anonymous. The concept behind the benchmarking service is sort of a “I’ll show you mine, you show me yours” approach to industry trends. By opting in to the service you agree to submit your Web traffic data to a greater pool of annoymous statistics. In theory once this is available you’ll be able to better compare the performance of your site verses the industry.

A Recommendation to Google
Give the site owner the option of showing snippets of analytics code on their Web site. This would be useful for any site which is ad revenue driven. It would give advertisers greater transparency to the performance of various advertising channels.