Today Google announced a new online course that will help interested parties prepare to get a Google Analytics certification. It costs $50 to take the test to get certified, but to me the more interesting part is the course itself.

You’re looking at step-by-step visual walkthroughs of every feature that Google Analytics has to offer, and while taking the test costs a little money, the course itself is free.

Web analytics are extremely important to the success of any online business, and knowing your tools inside out will only help you act upon your findings better. With this course, you can go straight to any section you’re a little hazy on or just go through the whole thing. You’re bound to come out more knowledgeable afterward. Let’s take a look at what the lessons cover:

First Steps

- Introduction to Google Analytics
- Interface Navigation
- Installing the Google Analytics Tracking Code

Interpreting Reports

- Guidelines
- Pageviews, Visits, and Visitors
- Time Metrics
- Traffic sources
- Content Reports

Fundamentals

- Profiles in Google Analytics
- Campaign Tracking and AdWords Integration
- Analysis Focus – AdWords
- Goals in Google Analytics
- Analysis Focus – Funnel Visualization
- Filters in Google Analytics
- Regex and Google Analytics
- Cookies and Google Analytics
- eCommerce Tracking
- Analysis Focus – Revenue Metrics
- Domains and Subdomains

In-Depth Analysis

- Custom Reporting
- Advanced segmentation
- Motion Charts
- Internal Site Search
- Event Tracking and Virutal Pageviews
- The Custom Visior Segment Variable
- Additional Customizations

That’s quite a bit of ground to cover, but ground that you will find more solid in terms of feeling comfortable in your web analytics skills, once you clear it. If you are looking to provide consulting to others, it probably wouldn’t hurt to go after the certification either just so you have some credentials. You just need a 75% on the test to pass.

If you don’t plan to do any consulting, the worst thing that happens is you get a lot smarter in your know-how of Google Analytics, and that can’t be a bad thing either.