The future of analytics: How Tel Aviv is shaping the way we manage our websites

Tel Aviv’s rise to the forefront of the technological world has been nothing short of breathtaking. Israel has long been known as the ‘Startup Nation’, and for a country where an average of 1-per-1,400 people sets up a new company compared to France’s rate of 0.112, Germany’s 0.056 and the UK’s 0.21, it’s fair to say that the moniker is justified. 

(Silicon Valley may well be king of the hill when it comes to startups, but Tel Aviv’s rise has seen the city virtually reach parity with the technological juggernaut in terms of startup output and funding. Image Source: Courtesy)

While the data shows that California’s Silicon Valley may take some beating in the startup stakes, Tel Aviv has all but caught up with the might of the USA’s finest when it comes to startup output and funding. Tel Aviv’s talent, quality of support and mindset should be cause for great pride, too. 

The rise in quality startups has had a profound effect on the technology industry within Israel. Startups like Wix and SimilarWeb are rapidly changing the way we process web analytics with an emphasis on bringing unprecedented convenience to website owners worldwide. 

The world’s fastest emerging tech hub

When Wix entered the digital landscape in 2006 from within their Tel Aviv headquarters, few could’ve predicted the Israeli company to go on to challenge the hegemony of web development. 

Today, the presence of Wix is not only felt the world over but the organisation was even able to announce itself on the world of advertising’s biggest stage = the Superbowl halftime commercial slots. 

With over 154 million active users, it seems too easy to state that Wix’s success was no stroke of luck. The company stands as a testament to Israel’s capacity for innovation. 

As of 2018, Wix is a leading website builder worldwide, holding an impressive 22.61% of the market share. 

However, it’s important to point out that platforms like WordPress aren’t included in the chart below as WordPress is technically a CMS (Content Management System) as opposed to a website builder. 

In 2016, Wix became “the world’s first technology platform that combines website design and content creation with artificial intelligence to enable complete websites to be created in a matter of minutes,” according to company CEO Avishai Abrahami.

Wix isn’t the only Israeli innovators on the scene. SimilarWeb has been helping the lives of website owners for over 10 years now, and are showing no signs of letting up. 

The power of the research tools at SimilarWeb’s disposal are certainly difficult to beat – even in the omnipotent domain of Silicon Valley. By tapping into the rich data available at SimilarWeb, users can not only monitor the performance of their websites and dedicated mobile apps, but also compare them to the performance of their competitors – as well as monitor market share and growth over time. The depth and accuracy of SimilarWeb’s analytics has led it to be repeatedly labelled as the most accurate website traffic estimator online – with a 1% margin of error, as recorded by ScreamingFrog. 

• SEMRush: -42%
• SimilarWeb: 1%
• Ahrefs: -36%

On a side note, SimilarWeb is one of the most desirable Israeli companies to work at. 

What’s next?

The influence of Israel’s technological boom is already being felt worldwide, but what’s next for the companies leading the way in web development tools? And could there be an industry gold rush on the horizon? 

Transitioning into the next decade of advancements will be a challenging shift to make for many companies. We’re already perched at the dawn of voice recognition, advanced AI and bigger data, and many will have a tough time keeping up. 

Kate Bronars, Digital and Web Recruiting Specialist for Burtch Works, believes that the future of web development will be filled with demands for fresh data sources after the widespread implementation of chatbots: “With usage rates continuing to climb over the next few years, many companies are wondering how to integrate this data source in their digital and web analytics strategy.”

However, Bronars believes that the next gold rush could come in the form of harnessing the power of Voice of the Customer (VoC) experience. “On the digital and web side, this might mean using web data to understand the customer journey and funnel, including matching search terms with website analytics to better understand how customers are interacting with your brand,” Bronars explains. 

While Tel Aviv’s greatest innovators will have their sights set firmly on closing the gulf between themselves and Silicon Valley, if they’re to keep their status as a developing nation of startups and tech pioneers, they’ll have to be wary of threats closer to home. 

Silicon Valley may rule the roost when it comes to web development and analysis – but if Tel Aviv can keep up momentum alongside Israel’s support for fresh startups, there could well be room for a small technological powershift to begin over the next decade.