Like any Google service, we’re always working to refine the Google Apps Marketplace for our vendors and their customers. Normally we make small, incremental improvements and let the better experience speak for itself, but this week we think several of the new features are noteworthy enough to point out.

View Enhanced Analytics

A frequently requested feature has been improved analytics. If you have Google Analytics configured for your listing, your analytics profile will now receive the search terms and category selected by your customers.

When a customer searches on the Marketplace, the search results will all have two parameters attached: query and category. You’ll want to add these terms to your Google Analytics Website Profile. The query term will include all of the search terms the user entered into the search box, or it could be blank if the customer found your application through browsing. Similarly, the category parameter will be blank unless the customer narrowed his search or browse by picking the category you chose in your application listing, e.g. Accounting & Finance. Now you’ll have much better data about how a customer has reached your application, whether through browsing, searching, or a combination.

Count Installs

Another developer-focused enhancement we’ve made is adding a count of installs and uninstalls on each application’s listing when signed into the vendor account:

"Net install count" represents the number of current installs -- any uninstalls have already been deducted. If you add "Net install count" to "Uninstall count" you will have the total number of installations for the app since it launched. You are also able to retrieve this information from the Licensing API, but it is nice to have it easily accessible on your listing pages.

Sweep Away Those Dusty Apps

On the Vendor Profile page you’ll also that we’ve added the ability to hide unused applications (and show them again) so that you can manage your applications better and remove clutter on your dashboard. You still cannot delete applications, but you can sweep them under the rug! Note that Hiding and Unhiding are just for managing your list as a Vendor -- they do not change your Publish/Unpublish settings for each app. You can hide a published app as easily as an unpublished app.

Browse Staff Picks on the Home Page

Since announcing the Staff Picks program in May, we’ve featured a number of especially well-integrated and innovative applications on the @GoogleAtWork twitter stream and here on the Google Apps Developer Blog. Now we also feature Staff Picks on the front page of the Marketplace.

You can find four Staff Picks on the Marketplace landing page, chosen from the pool of apps selected as staff picks. See the Staff Picks page on code.google.com for more information on how we choose these apps.

Andy "Rufus" Rothfusz    blog Rufus is a Developer Programs Engineer working on Google Apps APIs and the Google Apps Marketplace. He has over 14 years of experience in developer programs covering a wide range of applications including 3D graphics acceleration, natural language processing, device security, video games and video streaming.

Last month we announced Google Apps Marketplace Staff Picks, an effort to highlight personal picks from the Marketplace team that have a combination of great functionality and ease of use due to their deep integrations with Google Apps.

Staff Picks are announced on the @GoogleAtWork Twitter account using #mpstaffpick, promoted on the Marketplace and summarized on the Enterprise Blog. We’ll also summarize the recent Staff Picks on this blog, with a stronger developer focus.

Recent Staff Picks are integrated with Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, Docs, Talk, Apps Script and more:

• Mavenlink (slideshow) - a project management solution for professional services delivery. Integrates with Calendar, Contacts and Docs plus provides a lot of great getting started information for new users.
• Solve360 (slideshow) - a CRM that integrates with Google Apps to help manage client projects. Provides a full-featured Gmail Contextual Gadget. Contacts sync is 2-way, and they also provide Google Apps Script code that allows customers to use Spreadsheets forms for lead generation, automatically populating submissions into Solve360.
• Smartsheet (slideshow) - a project management and collaboration tool based on a spreadsheet concept that makes it easy to keep track of tasks and deadlines. Great Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Contacts integration, allowing users to easily import data from and export data to Google Spreadsheets and collaborate with users in their contact lists. The Gmail Contextual Gadget allows to you receive alerts upon sheet updates, and automatically make changes from within your e-mail.
• GQueues (slideshow) - a task management app that lets you share lists, assign tasks, get reminders and stay organized. Integrates with Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, Google Talk, and provides great gadgets that can be used in Calendar, Gmail or iGoogle. They also have an offline-capable HTML5 mobile app, which the founder has blogged about recently on the Google Code Blog.

We hope that the deep and valuable integrations in these applications inspire you to develop additional integrations with Google Apps in your own applications.

For more information see the Staff Picks page on code.google.com. If you think your app should be considered for a future Staff Pick, fill out the Staff Pick nomination form.

Ryan Boyd profile | twitter | events Ryan is a Developer Advocate on the Google Apps Marketplace team, helping businesses build applications integrated into Google Apps. Wearing both engineering and business development hats, you'll find Ryan writing code and helping businesses get to market with integrated features.

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