Google Analytics, does it really work?

mypreviews · 10-05-2007, 01:39 AM

would like to know some answers about google anayltics, my site seems to have a decline of about 99% traffic in the last 2 weeks, the site [link removed] has been optimized, advertised in many search engines and even promoted offline and I can assure you that the tracking code is placed in all pages, however google analytics indicates that the visitors have gone from an average of 200 a day to about 5, I was getting very depressed to know that the moon gets more human visitors than my site but I checked the log files and I found that there are still many more than what google says I get, I get at least 40 or 50 a day, a lot less but no the way analytics describes in the reports, why is this happening, why there is a big different in uniques count between my logs and anaylitics? Is google losing track? is there a trick to make me buy more traffic feeling that I need more visitors? this is very weird, what do you think, please check out my site, perhaps there is something else wrong with it, I really appreciate your help, thank you, Jenny

x3mario · 10-05-2007, 09:39 AM

Google really works. Try to reconfigure your Google Analytics.

qbert_seo · 10-06-2007, 10:35 AM

Sometimes the results are delayed. Google Analytics works fine, but there is a reason they let webmasters use the program for free.

coolguy27 · 10-06-2007, 02:04 PM

You can put statcounter and Google analytics in your site... You can compare which is ok...

If you put this two you can see you different stats results...

skysoldier · 10-06-2007, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolguy27

You can put statcounter and Google analytics in your site... You can compare which is ok...

If you put this two you can see you different stats results...

Yes, both are useful once, Analytics is a good tool indeed!

K-Max · 10-07-2007, 10:25 AM

I agree. I would usually use two trackers just to make sure of consistency and it's always good to use another source of web traffic feedback.

Narutoboy · 10-07-2007, 11:59 AM

Yes, Google Analytics works fine, at least it does on my website. I've tried other tracking software and Google Analytics seems to give me the best results.

scottdizzle · 10-08-2007, 05:59 AM

Quote:

You can put statcounter and Google analytics in your site... You can compare which is ok...

If you put this two you can see you different stats results...

That's exactly what I do. I like what statcounter tells me more cause it always says I had more visitors

corlock · 10-08-2007, 08:43 AM

there are different traffic monitoring tool available in the other than google analytics. why not try statcounter and awstats if you are not satisfied in analytics? In my case, I used analytics and statcounter at the same time and having to compare the two.

interwebhunt · 10-11-2007, 06:28 AM

I use both analytics and awstats - then take the average of the two. I don't think any traffic counter / analytic system is going to be 100% accurate, but if you have at least two and average them you should get a fairly accurate assessment.

charms1 · 10-11-2007, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by interwebhunt

I use both analytics and awstats - then take the average of the two. I don't think any traffic counter / analytic system is going to be 100% accurate, but if you have at least two and average them you should get a fairly accurate assessment.

Whatever your hosting company has for stats will be the most reliable. That said, some are useless as they do not really tell you anything.

I do like awstats for our site. not the most comprehensive, they do tell me where people come from and what keyterms they use. Unfortunately it does not give you up to the minutes stats and they are a day behind (mine anyway.)

I do use statcounter but have found they inflate the numbers where the visitor has JS enabled. Where the visitor does not, they do not count them at all.

Good luck,

michael

Steven_D · 10-15-2007, 04:41 AM

I have my own stat counter, each page records a hit, referrer address, users IP, cookies I placed on their site etc.

Google analytics picks up every person that visits but it also picks up some spiders and crawlers (Only some) it seems that some spiders like swift or something like that create sessions and cookies as they crawl.

zagu060807 · 10-17-2007, 12:45 PM

Google Analytics is effective, it measures your traffic in your site as well as the goals conversion, traffic sources, and other features.

CSPro · 10-17-2007, 04:03 PM

A delay but that's ok with me.

tophost · 10-18-2007, 07:19 AM

It's really better to use two analytics programs. Google's doesn't deliver live stats, but it has many good parts. If you want to know what happens on your site NOW you should probably go for a paid program.

zagu060807 · 10-18-2007, 02:11 PM

Yep, try other tools like statcounter or other traffic measuring programs.

Steven_D · 10-18-2007, 02:59 PM

just remember that there is no really definitive way to track users.

Analytics requires javascript to be enabled so some people / browsers and bots wont be recorded

Paid programs work by placing cookies on peoples PCs but some people dont allow cookies so if they visit 5 pages it will count as 5 hits