Yahoo announced some changes to Yahoo Web Analytics. Specifically, it is discontinuing services for analytics-only customers and the Yahoo Web Analytics Consultant Network.

“In 2008, Yahoo! acquired IndexTools to offer web analytics and deep insights for small-and-medium business customers leveraging the Yahoo! Store platform to effectively sell goods and services online,” writes Yahoo’s Emer Kirrane on the Yahoo Web Analytics Blog. “While this one-click integration with Yahoo! Web Analytics proved to be very popular, with more than 80 percent of Yahoo! Stores using the platform to optimize their online presence, we’re committed to continuously measure and scrutinize what’s working and what can be improved.”

“We will continue to support this community of Yahoo! Store customers and a limited number of other customers (e.g., Right Media Exchange seat holders) with the same Yahoo! Web Analytics services they know and trust,” says Kirrane.

Daniel Waisberg points to some research from CardinalPath, indicating that Yahoo Web Analytics was only used by 3% of the top 500 retail sites (as of last October). That’s compared to 64% for Google, 33% for Adobe and 19% for IBM.

Existing Web Analytics projects will become read-only starting at the end of August. They will still provide access to historical data for two months.

Yahoo suggests removing YWA tags from your site, as they’ll no longer populate data to your YWA account.

There’s a data export feature, for those who wish to retain historical data. Users will have until the end of October before all Yahoo Web Analytics projects scheduled for discontinuation will be shut down.