Google released seven new features for its analytics product yesterday, the most noteworthy of which perhaps the advanced segmentation.

The advanced Segmentation feature allows users to isolate and identify subsets of traffic. Select from predefined custom segments such as "Paid Traffic" and "Visits with Conversions" or create entirely new custom segments. Users can then apply one or more of those segements to current or historical data, and compare segment performance side by side.

Google's analytics evangilist Avinash Kaushik (who contributed to Website Magazine's August edition with the article Understanding Consumer Behavior with Web Analytics), has just posted a blog on how to use Advanced Segmentation which is a must-read to quickly learn how to take advantage of this powerful feature.

Other features released yesterday include custom reports and motion charts, but a whole slate of future improvements (currently in beta) have been outlined including a data export API and integrated reporting with AdSense.