Google links Analytics with Play; eyes marketers

Google this morning announced that has integrated its Analytics and Play products to provide engagement information to marketers.

The change goes into effect today. (Users of the two services must choose to link their accounts to gain access to the cross-product capabilities.)

The unification of its business intelligence product and its application store is a boon for businesses that seek to understand how people discover an app, which devices they use, what they do when they use the app and how often they return to it.

In Google Analytics, a new "Google Play Referral Flow" report highlights which campaigns drive the most views, installs, and new users in Google Play. 

"For each campaign, you can see how many users viewed listing page in Google Play and how many went on to install your app and ultimately launch it on their mobile devices," Google Play product manager Ellie Powers writes on the company's Android Developers Blog. "With this data you can track the effectiveness of a wide range of campaigns — such as blogs, news articles, and ad campaigns — and get insight into which marketing activities are most effective for your business."

In the Google Play Developer Console, there are new app stats that demonstrate engagement based on Analytics data.

"This combined data can help you take your app business to the next level, especially if you're using multiple campaigns or monetizing through advertisements and in-app products that depend on high engagement," Powers writes.