Google Analytics Users Out There?

I use the free version of Weebly to host my site and it offers only basic pageview/unique visitor statistics so I also use Google Analytics, but only because I find the data interesting. Anyway one thing I noticed that I find interesting is that Google Analytics consistently records roughly 20 - 30% of the number of views that Weebly's statistics record.

Now I know that Google Analytics requires JavaScript to work, there are a few browsers that don't support it and others can disable it, but it seems a little bit of a stretch to assume that 70 - 80% of my viewers either don't support JavaScript or have it disabled. Anyone else out there notice large discrepancies such as this or have any ideas as to why this is the case?

There are addons like Ghostery that can block Google Analytics. The best way to get exact statistics is to record them yourself with PHP or whatever language you use, assuming you can do that on a free host. The statistics provided by them should be accurate too.

reply to post by SpearMint


It's really not that important to me, just think the stats are interesting, I only check analytics every couple of weeks or so. Perhaps most of my viewers really enjoy their privacy . Google Analytics doesn't really provide anything about the person though, just statistics about my pages and where views are coming from.

Originally posted by Symbiot
reply to post by SpearMint

 

It's really not that important to me, just think the stats are interesting, I only check analytics every couple of weeks or so. Perhaps most of my viewers really enjoy their privacy

. Google Analytics doesn't really provide anything about the person though, just statistics about my pages and where views are coming from.

The referral information is useful too if you're trying to increase traffic to your site.

reply to post by SpearMint


I check the referral info from time to time, but I'm not trying to increase traffic. It would appear people have little trouble finding my site on their own.

Apparently my PsyOps page was pretty popular from search engines there for a while, but I recently changed that post. Lately I've decided to limit the amount of conspiracy related material and just stick to what I know best. If I have something conspiracy related to say maybe I just say it on ATS no?

Nothing beats reading the listings of words and sentences that has brought your site to someones attention on google and such. All those weird searches that brings someone to your site that don't have anything to do with the content of your site. Someone mention "product market penetration" in you comments? watch google dropping in perverts searching for "porn tube public penetration in market"

reply to post by ShadowBase


There are some interesting search phrases that find my site, but most of'em seem to be searching directly for my site. Phrases such as "PsyOps weebly," "1337atr PsyOps" or "PsyOps causes suicide." I also get a lot of game related searches such as "1337atr games."

I must admit when I noticed all the direct PsyOps searches my interest was peaked. Some of the off the wall ones can be funny though, nothing porn related for me yet. "Space rocks that are green" was a fun one. Aside from PsyOps my game Sovereign was the second biggest search engine hitter.

reply to post by Symbiot

You made me want to check again, been a while. Btw it's a web-developer website, thus the wtf factor.

Most used search : "Happiness" (sounds great, but I really don't see why this sends them to me or why its even more used than searching for the actual name of the site)

Some wtf ones:
- "what perfume regurgitation" (excellent grammar)
- "fat lump at the anus"
- "toe cancer"
- "amphetamine + body odor"
- "crossdresser shoes"

If what these guys search for don't have their own articles somewhere someone should write them. Those would make great titles.

reply to post by ShadowBase


Just searched for "What perfume regurgitation" for the heck of it. Apparently a british boy stumbled upon extremely valuable whale vomit, referring to ambergris heh.

For me:
"Love the person you want them to be"
"there is nothing civil about civilization"
"Glowing space rocks"
"meter rocks from space"
"universe expanding because time slowing"
"3dmissilegame on weebly"
"alien stealth craft"

Some of that stuff is rather related to my site, but generally most of my searches are clearly for me:
"1337atr sovereign"
"1337atr.weebly"
"1337 wallpapers"
"1337atr"
"defenderwerks" They spelled it wrong

"atrlogo" surprised people were searching for my logo, maybe they meant the band
"PsyOps+depression"
"PsyOps gallery"

Kinda surprised I don't get more hits on the Space Rocks game page, it's my personal fav, but people seem to like Soul Survivor which is my girlfriends favorite. Lately I've been tossing around the idea of doing a turn based strategy since that's one of my favorite types of games. There's a lot involved in the development of a strategy game though, we'll see.

Many web designers and developers complain about the limitations of Google Analytics. At first glance, it doesn’t seem as powerful as some of the other web analytics suites out there because it doesn’t let you track outbound links or see data in real time. So, developers flock to premium products like Clicky and Mint, but those services can be expensive, especially if your web project isn’t generating any income yet. Also, while they fix some of the limitations inherent in Google Analytics, they lack some of the Google-only tie-in features, such as Adwords and Adsense tracking.

originally posted by: SpearMint

Originally posted by Symbiot
reply to post by SpearMint

 

It's really not that important to me, just think the stats are interesting, I only check analytics every couple of weeks or so. Perhaps most of my viewers really enjoy their privacy

. Google Analytics doesn't really provide anything about the person though, just statistics about my pages and where views are coming from.

The referral information is useful too if you're trying to increase traffic to your site.

Yeah I would say it's useful how would you know what your visitors are reading and looking at without it? This allows you to gear your site to your readers. You could be posting images and content no one looks at, spend your time being more productive giving your visitors what they want. The only way to do it is with some sort of analytical package. Google is hard to beat for a small site and it's free. Google's webmaster tools are great for a free service.
If you have a money making site then consider some of the very good site stat analyzers softwares, they are a wealth of info.

My 2 cents