In terms of software testing, "beta" is the second phase of testing, usually public, which follows internal "alpha" testing. It is important for merchants to note that using Yahoo! Web Analytics in its beta release will not affect the customer experience when visiting and navigating your site, or during the checkout process.

Using Yahoo! Web Analytics on your site will not impact page-loading times. Tracking code is placed after the body content of your pages, below any footer links.

Why is Yahoo! Web Analytics a beta release?

By releasing Yahoo! Web Analytics in beta, we acknowledge the following:

• Merchants may experience slower report generation times.
• While the beta release already features an extensive set of reports and features, additional features are planned for the general release.
• Merchants may, at times, encounter interface error messages. The interface error messages in no way affect data collection, or the accuracy of the data collected and reported.

Although in beta release, Yahoo! Web Analytics delivers a core set of features that are extremely beneficial for understanding your online business, and can help you make changes to your site to increase sales and revenue.