Google analytics YES? or NO!

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Jozo

Jozo

Free Member
May 26, 2009
79
3
  • #1
    Have you always wanted to know where the traffic to your website comes from?

    Google Analytics shows you how people found your site, how they explored it and how you can enhance their visitor experience.

    With this information, you will know which keywords are working, which ad text is the most effective.

    From the data you can subsequently improve your website which in fact attract even more unique visitors.

    I find Google Analytics is a great Free tool.
     
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    apeebles

  • #2
    I agree especially as it is free! :) We automatically put it on websites we create so that clients have fairly decent web stats free of charge. You just have to make sure that if you have adwords you tick a couple of boxes so you see the search information coming through to your analytics dashboard.
     
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    D

    DotNetWebs

  • #4
    Bucking the trend but it's a big NO for me:

    Unnecessary JavaScript making calls to external servers. Plus do you really want to give Google that much information about your site?

    I prefer to use a decent log analyser. The only time I personally would recommend using Google Analytics is if your site is heavily tied into other Google systems such as Adwords etc. where you may benefit from the integration.

    Regards

    Dotty
     
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    P

    paretowasright

    Free Member
    Jan 2, 2009
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  • #6
    DotNetWebs said:
    Bucking the trend but it's a big NO for me:

    Unnecessary JavaScript making calls to external servers. Plus do you really want to give Google that much information about your site?

    I prefer to use a decent log analyser. The only time I personally would recommend using Google Analytics is if your site is heavily tied into other Google systems such as Adwords etc. where you may benefit from the integration.

    Regards

    Dotty
    Click to expand...

    Hi DotNetWebs,

    Would you mind recommending a couple of log analysers that show individual visits, entrance keyword, referrer and IP numbers.
     
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  • #8
    DotNetWebs said:
    Bucking the trend but it's a big NO for me:

    Unnecessary JavaScript making calls to external servers. Plus do you really want to give Google that much information about your site?

    I prefer to use a decent log analyser. The only time I personally would recommend using Google Analytics is if your site is heavily tied into other Google systems such as Adwords etc. where you may benefit from the integration.

    Regards

    Dotty
    Click to expand...

    Totally agree with the addition that analytics can be more than 30% inaccurate in its traffic count.

    Earl
     
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    DotNetWebs

  • #12
    bdw said:
    How do you know this?
    Click to expand...

    Goggle Analytics requires JavaScript to be active in the Browser. Some users will have JavaScript turned off and many internet-enabled devices do not have JavaScript capability (simple mobile phones etc.)

    The log files will record all page visits regardless of the capabilities of the browser used so it stands to reason that the 'traffic count' will be more accurate.

    Regards

    Dotty
     
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    G

    Gareth Beck

  • #13
    Hi,

    I would completely agree that web analytics is inaccurate but I would add that all solutions are inaccurate to one degree or another, for example log files can have ISP's caching the page (so the server doesn't know that someone's viewed the page) and, as it's using hits to determine the page, if the right filters aren't applied the page views will be inaccurate.

    But if the solution is consistently inaccurate in the same way then it's a great tool for indicating overall changes in traffic to the site and looking at how critical processes are working.

    Cheers,
    G
     
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    Lark

    Lark

    Free Member
    Sep 30, 2008
    92
    3
  • #15
    It seems okay to me but I am still not sure why so many rave about it. My host has cpanel and I find that Awstats gives the same information and in fact is easier and faster to use. But then I am new at this and there may be stuff about Analytics that I am missing or will become more useful when my site has more history and traffic.

    It's FREE though so why not use it.
     
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    G

    gploosley

  • #23
    We have all the usual cpanel analysis tools on our servers but we still use Google Analytics - it's quite Web 2.0 with nice Ajax interactive web pages

    Plus a lot of our customers are running Adwords. Adsense, etc

    Google are turning into another Microsoft though aren't they? "do no evil" pah!

    KPI Business Services
     
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    J

    jakesmith

    Free Member
    Nov 28, 2008
    1
    0
    New York
  • #26
    Jozo said:
    Have you always wanted to know where the traffic to your website comes from?

    Google Analytics shows you how people found your site, how they explored it and how you can enhance their visitor experience.

    With this information, you will know which keywords are working, which ad text is the most effective.

    From the data you can subsequently improve your website which in fact attract even more unique visitors.

    I find Google Analytics is a great Free tool.
    Click to expand...

    Hi Friends,
    I have always use this Google analytic to check How many visitors come to my site....
    and From where they are....
    Its very useful Tool for me....
    Its Grate....
    Thanks!
     
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    directmarketingadvice

    directmarketingadvice

    Free Member
    Aug 2, 2005
    10,887
    3,530
  • #29
    DJBROOK said:
    Ive used it, and its nowhere near as accurate as we are all led to believe. The most blaringly obvious error in the system is the daily visits a site gets, which it terribly exaggerates.
    Click to expand...

    How would it do that?

    How would it execute the javascript without someone visiting the site?

    (unless it's counting someone going from page-to-page as more than one person)

    Steve
     
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    amv1981

    Free Member
    Jun 5, 2009
    22
    1
  • #30
    Google analytics is really useful. If you don't have it installed on your website you should definitely think about having it. It'll tell you all sorts of useful things like how many visitors to your site, where they went and how long they stayed on the site.
     
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    M

    matt.chatterley

  • #34
    sirearl said:
    Totally agree with the addition that analytics can be more than 30% inaccurate in its traffic count.

    Earl
    Click to expand...

    Have pretty much seen this conclusively - ignoring 'non-human' traffic (spiders, etc), I'm pretty sure it doesn't add up all the time.

    We log all visits separately on most of our sites, and the values from there normally tie in well with the log-analyser we use, while GA tends to be lower.

    That said, we do still use it, and it's a good package!
     
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    G

    Gareth Beck

  • #37
    That doesn't seem to stop lots of companies using two.

    I think that it can slow the page down (as there are effectivley a call for each seperate Jave based package), so not sure that it's best practice.

    I've seem this with a lot of bigger companies and assume that the marketing team (or sales team) use the simpler sustem and the analysts use something bigger.

    I don't think that there is any point in comparing the two, in my opinion, as they won't be the same.
     
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    directmarketingadvice

    directmarketingadvice

    Free Member
    Aug 2, 2005
    10,887
    3,530
  • #38
    Gareth Beck said:
    That doesn't seem to stop lots of companies using two.

    I think that it can slow the page down (as there are effectivley a call for each seperate Jave based package), so not sure that it's best practice.

    I've seem this with a lot of bigger companies and assume that the marketing team (or sales team) use the simpler sustem and the analysts use something bigger.

    I don't think that there is any point in comparing the two, in my opinion, as they won't be the same.
    Click to expand...

    I'd agree.

    Unless you're getting key information from each one that you don't get from the other, I'd recommend you just go with one.

    The main point of google analytics isn't the 100% accuracy, it's all the features that tell you how different aspects of your site and your traffic are performing.

    And, in that respect, it's a great package.

    Steve
     
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