Has anyone compared Google Analytics to other stat counters and found Google Analytics was very very conservative on the counting. That Google Analytics would return much lower traffic and impression numbers than other counters do. Do they do this on purpose? Also, is it necessary to use Google Analytics over other stat counters to report traffic to potential advertisers? Or would any stat counter due in your opinion?
Compared to other stats counters, Analytics is a bit stricter when it comes to filtering out spam, bots, and other crawlers. So, one thing you may have noticed is that you don't see a lot of suspicious traffic in Analytics compared to other platforms. The downside to this is that stats and impressions tend to be reported in lower (but more accurate) quantities due to the stricter controls. It's not necessary to use Analytics, although it is my personal preference for reporting and recording web traffic.
According to Darb Google analytics uses stricter methods of counting but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It isn't a fact that I was familiar with so I and others I sure will appreciate the information. Accuracy is more important than numbers that are inflated by spam, bots and crawlers. Google analytics is a great tool and the more accurate reporting might be a disappointment when it comes to the numbers but that feature does show a more truthful version of your traffic and that allows you to make the necessary adjustments to get your numbers more in the range where you would like to see them.
Yes, Google Analytics tend to be conservative, but that actually is helpful. They tend to give a pretty true picture of your traffic which can help you to make decisions about your site based on reality. Inflated stats don't help you to make sales or bring in money. Real, conservative stats can help you know where you should change things to make your site better.
Are bots busier than they have been before? Someone told me bots have much higher crawl rates now and could hit your site many many times in a given day. I guess that is obvious since Google is ranking sites much faster now. They even do PR ranking like weekly now.