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Google Website Optimizer, a powerful tool that allows website owners to split traffic and test the effectiveness and conversion rates for an array of variables, has traditionally required a lot of back-and-forth between any given site and the Website Optimizer interface.

With the release of a new API, announced today, Google is allowing site owners to conduct multivariate and A/B testing from their own platforms. Part of Google Analytics, Google Website Optimizer (GWO) is a free tool that "handles splitting a website's traffic, serving different variations and crunching the numbers to find statistical significance." For site owners, these minute variations can widen conversion funnels and lead to exponentially greater engagement and profit if changes are executed correctly.

Webtrends has launched the ninth version of its Web analytics platform for the enterprise, and it's impressive indeed. In addition to a standards-based interface that's data-driven and accessible, three new features make Webtrends 9 stand out from the crowd.

First, there's a selective RSS overlay to let you match site activity with key feeds. Second, you can now generate URIs and REST urls to export your data and embed it in applications and Excel spreadsheets. Last, but definitely not least, is the story view, which automatically turns your entire analytics report into a short narrative for use in emails, reports, and presentations.

Analytics firm Webtrends has acquired testing and optimization services company Widemile, as announced this afternoon in a blog post by Webtrends. Webtrends provides analytics on customer activity online to big name companies such as Microsoft, Virgin Atlantic, ShopNBC and McAfee. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

What Webtrends is getting from Widemile is technology that boosts their ability to do multivariate testing and optimization based on real-time analytics. By integrating additional testing and optimization into their services, Webtrends is fast becoming a top outlet for businesses looking to do comprehensive analysis of their online presence.