Analyzing Traffic - What to Trust?

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by Sutocu, Oct 1, 2007.

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  1. #1
    I've only used StatCounter for traffic analysis for the last few months. Now I'm comparing the data from there with the data from access logs through AWStats and Webalizer... I'm seeing completely different stats.

    Which should I trust here?

    The data for StatCounter:
    Day Loads Visits Unique Returning
    #5 80 53 50 3
    #4 54 31 28 3
    #3 371 240 238 2
    #2 268 180 179 1
    #1 33 18 18 0

    AWStats:
    Day Hits Files Pages Visits Sites KBytes
    #1 1092 905 439 201 113 9404
    #2 6104 5543 962 531 443 53002
    #3 1134 951 427 237 138 9992
    #4 1144 972 453 287 198 10666
    #5 1444 1157 485 267 167 12725

    Webalizer:
    Day Visits Pages Hits Bandwidth
    #1 100 404 842 7.19 MB
    #2 425 897 5457 46.75 MB
    #3 118 413 892 7.53 MB
    #4 125 359 813 7.74 MB
    #5 138 538 1140 9.65 MB

    Which stats are considered the most reliable?

    Sorry for the poor formatting :p
     
    Sutocu, Oct 1, 2007 IP
  2. John84

    John84 Active Member

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    #2
    Personally, I use Statcounter and Google Analytics. I found statcounter to be the most accurate when counting actual visitors. Google analytics is great because of all the different statistics they show.
     
    John84, Oct 1, 2007 IP
  3. Sutocu

    Sutocu Active Member

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    #3
    Oh, I was thinking that the logs would be more accurate. StatCounter need JavaScript and cookies enabled, so it could miss some users. On the other hand, they get better referrer stats, because of JS, I guess...
     
    Sutocu, Oct 1, 2007 IP
  4. KNEB

    KNEB Peon

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    #4
    I go with Google Analytics and AWStats.
     
    KNEB, Oct 1, 2007 IP
  5. rknuppel

    rknuppel Well-Known Member

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    #5
    Google Analytics and Awstats for me as well.
     
    rknuppel, Oct 1, 2007 IP
  6. tonybogs

    tonybogs Peon

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    #6
    GA is probably the best out their for the price (which is nothing hehe)

    Although my highest traffic site receives around 25 million page views per month and the GA stats are waaaaaaay off, it seems to have trouble keeping up.

    Although for studying your goals you cant beat it, even if the stats are off its all relative.

    Good Luck
     
    tonybogs, Oct 1, 2007 IP
  7. Sutocu

    Sutocu Active Member

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    #7
    Awstats over Webalizer then? Ok.

    I like the ease of use in StatCounter, but if it reports less than half of what I see on Awstats, there must be something wrong with one of them, right?
     
    Sutocu, Oct 2, 2007 IP
  8. Raithe

    Raithe Well-Known Member

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    #8
    Google analytics > *
     
    Raithe, Oct 2, 2007 IP
  9. PHPGator

    PHPGator Banned

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    #9
    I was using awstats which seemed quite reliable but was having problem with it listing views from files I didn't want it to include in the stats. I use Google Analytics now and it appears that it is quite accurate. It is as simple as inluding the code in the pages you wish to see stats for. I would highly recommend it. :)
     
    PHPGator, Oct 2, 2007 IP
  10. Sutocu

    Sutocu Active Member

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    #10
    I guess I'll try GA then. I've just seen some sites load slowly because of it, and I don't want the same for mine.
     
    Sutocu, Oct 2, 2007 IP
  11. brd1984

    brd1984 Peon

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    #11
    Google Analytics everytime! Although I use statcounter aswell. I don't trust my own server logs.
     
    brd1984, Oct 2, 2007 IP