WebProNews

It's time for data hounds to start drooling.  Jerry Yang still isn't ready to toss a Google Analytics competitor to every person who asks, but this afternoon, his company did announce that some people are being given access to the new Yahoo Web Analytics.

Yahoo's work on the product dates back to its acquisition of IndexTools.  About 13,000 small business customers, along with an unknown number of advertisers and developers, will be the first to see the fruits of its labor.  Then, a rollout is planned to continue through next year.

As for what's on the table, a fresh homepage says that Yahoo Web Analytics "provides real-time insight into visitor behavior on your website.  With powerful and flexible tools and dashboards, Yahoo! Web Analytics helps online marketers and website designers enhance the visitor experience, increase sales and reduce marketing costs."

A success here could go a ways towards bridging the gap between Yahoo and Google.  On the other hand, Yahoo's investors have to be running out of patience, and every tiny screw-up further endangers the company's independence and Jerry Yang's job.  The timing of this development could go take us in either direction; think "great work under pressure" versus "last gasp."

Anyway, Yahoo Web Analytics at least represents something for data-hungry sorts to anticipate, and an official FAQ and some screenshots are available in the meantime.