How long before your website stats become public domain? The entrance of Google Analytics into the search world is no small thing - now Google will have far more information than ever to determine if a site is effective. After all, that is the holy grail that every search engine is looking for to determine its rankings. It is reasonable to suppose that other search giants will come out similar offerings - the case is too compelling to ignore.

The problem is, not every site will be tracked by Google Analytics. Some will be tracked by its competitors, leaving Google in an interesting position - should it favour those sites it knows have good conversion? This would improve the search results without question, at the risk of penalising those who have opted for another stats package. Adwords already provides features to track a PPC click through to conversion - does Google use this information elsewhere?

A logical outcome to the scenario is this - we will need to tell all the search giants that our websites can convert visitors into customers, how many and how often. This information may be given directly or through a neutral intermediary, but it is surely necessary as search becomes an ever more important part of our lives. Who knows, it may even become law someday. Then, of course, we have the problem of authenticity - but that's a discussion for another day.