Google Analytics subscriptions suspended

IDG News Service - Google Inc. has temporarily shut the door of its Google Analytics hosted service to new users after the company was unable to keep up with demand once it began offering service for free last week (see "Update: Google offers its Web analytics service for free").

Visitors to the Google Analytics sign-up page are met with the following message: "Thank you for your interest in Google Analytics! Google Analytics has experienced extremely strong demand, and as a result, we have temporarily limited the number of new signups as we increase capacity." The company had previously charged $199 for the service.

Users are now being asked to submit their names and e-mail addresses so that the Mountain View, Calif., company can notify them once it begins accepting new accounts again.

Formerly known as Urchin on Demand, Google Analytics lets users monitor visits to their Web sites to track, for example, the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns and determine how to modify Web pages to improve sales conversions.

This is the latest snafu to hit Google Analytics since last Monday, when Google began to offer it for free. That same day, Google Analytics began to experience serious performance problems as new and existing users alike struggled to access the service. The availability problems lasted through Tuesday but seemed to stabilize on Wednesday, according to several users contacted at the time by IDG News Service.

"The demand for Google Analytics was much higher than we expected," a Google spokesman wrote via e-mail when asked for comment on Wednesday. "The service is now completely restored and full service is available to everyone."

However, demand continued to grow so quickly that Google officials decided on Friday to temporarily stop accepting new subscribers. The company hopes to resume sign-ups "very shortly," a Google spokesman said today. He declined to say how many users signed up last week. Existing users should be having no problems with Google Analytics, the spokesman said.

That's the case for Jeff Saville, consumer direct marketing manager at Deckers Outdoor Corp., a Goleta, Calif.-based footwear company that has been using Google Analytics for about two years. Saville found the service a bit slow last Monday but said it stabilized and was functioning properly today. "It's working quite well," said Saville.