Adobe Analytics vs Google Analytics: Why not both?
In this blog series, I will explore probably the most explored topic of our industry on the web. As of this writing, searching for Adobe Analytics vs Google Analytics shows About 179,000,000 results on Google for me. To put that in context, other comparable comparisons in the field show these results:
We are talking about more than 5 times more content than the next comparable topic. What has not been said about this perennial comparison?! You will find that here.
In this series, I will not do a feature by feature comparison. You can find that in the other 178,999,999 results out there (with this comparison by Nikolay Gradinarov being one of my favorite up-to-date ones). Even though first-page results as of Q4 2020 say Adobe Analytics lacks support for advanced attribution modeling (not true since 2018, see Attribution IQ), and there is no mention of Google’s incredible Analysis Hub (also available since 2018) which is a better comparison to Adobe’s Analysis Workspace than Data Studio… Who knows, maybe I will come around and do an updated feature comparison matrix because it does seem like we need it. For now, we will have to live with outdated myths for a while longer.
Instead, I am going to do deep dives into how to approach real-world scenarios with either Adobe Analytics or Google Analytics; applying learnings from both to use each other in the best possible way. Having audited, implemented, and gathered insights across both solutions for over 10 years I have gone from a Google fan, to Adobe fan, back and forth a few times over. Also, together with Softcrylic’s expert minds, over the last couple of years, I have helped develop specialized products that address common challenges for implementors and admins of both Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics. You can see those:
For either analytics solution, I have read the blogs, cliff-noted the documentations, and ran the experiments. During this whole time, it was a rare occasion that I came across this type of scenario-based side by side comparisons being explored. What I have found are technical deep-dives that were extremely insightful, but were usually limited to being specific to one of the tools. All of this certainly helped shape my own point of view that I find helpful to help explain the essential difference between both tools.
It’s not about which one is better. When you work with Google Analytics you are working with recipes, while with Adobe Analytics you are working with ingredients. I don’t know about you, but I love cooking, and I enjoy following a recipe as much as creating a new one… as long as the end result is delicious! I hope you will come to this realization along with me.
I will do my best to reference other articles I have seen because the industry advancement stands on the shoulders of these smart people with amazing points of view. Think of this series as your reference to bridge the gap between Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics. Use this as your guide to cross over from one solution to another, from recipes to ingredients, or use it in your evaluation criteria when comparing Adobe Analytics vs Google Analytics.
It is difficult for me to predict how many parts the series will have, where it will go to next, or if it will ever end. I will certainly cover classics like how to measure eCommerce performance, content effectiveness, or campaign measurement. I will explore the edge cases like Adobe Analytics merchandizing eVars vs Google Analytics product scoped dimensions. Some scenarios may go into the more exciting analysis topics or more mundane ones such as sharing a report, while others will bleed into integrations with additional tools in the Marketing Technology stack. Whether it be tag management systems and concepts that go with that toolset like data layers, or point-solution integrations like Google Analytics and Google Optimize vs Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target. After all, we live in an Integrated Marketing world and we should think about Analytics in a multi-solution environment.
I would also love to hear what you are most interested in exploring. You can always submit your requests using an anonymous form at the bottom of these blog posts, or DM me through LinkedIn. Be as creative as you would like, I don’t think there is any measurement requirement that cannot be achieved in some way or another by Adobe or Google. This “some way or another” is what I want to shine a light on in hopes that with this comparison you can form a better decision when comparing both solutions.
The industry is transforming, and with the ever-evolving digital landscape, I think we are at a defining turning point for Digital Marketing. New technology is popping up, older tech is being re-designed and re-integrated from the ground up, and startups continue to be absorbed by huge players to extend existing capabilities. Third-party cookies are on the way out, server-side tagging is on the rise, and behind all this is digital data privacy accelerating how the industry reshapes itself. These are just some of many industry trends starting to converge to redefine how the industry operates.
And during all this change? Digital Analytics continues to be at the center of this transformation. More than a decade ago Adobe purchased Omniture and Google purchased Urchin. While there are certainly very interesting alternatives in the market, it’s difficult to ignore that Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics continue to pave the way to intelligent decision-making in the digital world. We are in for a ride, it will be an exciting one, and I hope together we can contribute to the fun times ahead.
