AW Stats vs Google Analytics
-
Hey Moz Community,
I am looking to get opinions on the best practice for analytics/traffic analysis. From experience I know that AW Stats reads high and Google Analytics reads low for traffic for reason in this article http://www.smartz.com/blog/2009/01/23/analytic-confusion-%E2%80%93-awstats-vs-google-analytics/
It drives me a little nuts how far off both are for some pages. I have one article that shows 100 views (GA) and AW stats shows 5 times that number of views.
Any suggestions or systems you recommend? Thanks
-
I did a major overall on all my sites to the new tracking in July 2011. However, I'm not sure when the new tracking was released. Definitely in 2011.
-
Also you have to tell AW stats what types of file counts as a page view. For instance I had to be sure my IT guys told it to not count flash files as pageviews as the flash file we had on the home page at the time was doubling the numbers of views when someone hit the home page
-
Kyle do you mean a couple months ago as in February or so? I dont think the placement has changed since then eh?
-
As far as I can tell the tracker is placed properly..I think the diff is AW gives false counts for images loads as multiple page loads.
-
Thanks for the considered response Charles; good point about focusing on actual traffic increase vs. getting wrapped up in total accuracy.
-
Hands down I use GA much more than AW Stats.
AW Stats has it's place, but the segmentation of users, user defined variables, events, goal tracking, and e-commerce tracking all tied up with adwords data easily trumps AW Stats.
AW Stats is great for getting info on bots, 404 errors, bandwidth usage, and hits, but these are used more for diagnosis and less for business level decisions.
Also, the variations you are talking about between the two rarely matter unless you think the variation is due to large portions of your traffic not being tracked correctly by one or the other.
The reason why I say these variations don't matter is that both methods of tracking have their quirks, and what you are really using them for is to see the trending of the data.
As long as you know the data is as accurate as you can get it, and you know how/why you are getting the data you are getting, then that data becomes actionable based on the trends you see and not based on the explicit value of the number.
As an example lets say I see in GA 1,000 visitors this month, and 1,200 visitors next month, and I see in AW Stats 10,300 visitors and 12,500 visitors. I care less about the differences in the numbers in the systems and more about the 20% growth in that statistic. Considering I can find out the "why" easier and with more clarity in GA I usually don't even look at AW Stats for this type of data.
I also might take a look at AW stats when first setting up analytics to be sure it looks like key indicators are showing similar trends so I know I am not missing a huge chunk of the site or something similar.
-
Perhaps the GA code isn't executing in time? Do you have a slow loading page? Where is the GA tracking code placed within your page?
The numbers shouldn't be that far off, that's for sure.
-
I always go with what Adwords says in regards to clicks. That number will be recorded no matter what user level settings are. In regards to when someone navigates to your site there are many softwares and browser settings that can be done to defer or disable analytics tracking.
Edit: disregard my post - i miss read and thought you where talking about Adwords vs Analytics results not Analytics vs AWStats. THB brought up a good point in regards to load time. A couple months ago analytics came out with a new tracking code that goes in the of the document as well that way it gets called first rather than last.
Good luck! - Kyle
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
No-indexed pages are still showing up as landing pages in Google Analytics
Hello, My website is a local job board. I de-indexed all of the job listing pages on my site (anything that starts with http://www.localwisejobs.com/job/). When I search site:localwisejobs.com/job/, nothing shows up. So I think that means the pages are not being indexed. When I look in Google Analytics at Acquisition > Search Engine Optimization > Landing Pages, none of the job listing pages show up. But when I look at Acquisition > Channels > Organic and then click Landing Page as the primary dimension, the /job pages show up in there. Why am I seeing this discrepency in Organic Landing pages? And why would the /job pages be showing up as landing pages even though they aren't indexed?
Reporting & Analytics | | mztobias0 -
% Change - Google analytics - how to calculate?
Hi All,
Reporting & Analytics | | JohnPalmer
I have two dates with two different numbers I want to calculate the "% Change" like google analytics, The numbers of June 2015 - 127,931 sessions
The numbers of June 2014 - 90914 sessions please tell me what is the %Change. Best. J0 -
Google Analytics
Good Morning, I am trying to understand 2 issues in Google Analytics. 1. When look at : Traffic Source --> SEO --> Quesrios - i see the impressions column and its always a whole number 1550, 500, 5500, etc.. I never saw (for example) 702, 313, etc... impressions Can anyone explain why and how does it work? 2. In the same report i see my AVG. position for each query, the question is how come i have AVG, position of (290, 230, 190) for some of the queries and still i get clicks on these queries. My guess is that from time to time these queries have better position and the clicks are from these time. Do you familiar with a way to the the distribution of a specific query over time? for example: 1.3.2013 avg position = 4 2.3.2013 avg position = 7 3.3.2013 avg position = 2 4.3.2013 avg position = 8 etc... 3. This report say its for: "Top 1,000 daily queries" - What does it mean? Thank you and sorry for this long question SEOwiseUs
Reporting & Analytics | | iivgi0 -
Google Analytics Goals are not recording
Hello! I've set up Goals within Google Analytics and they aren't registering. I'm wondering if someone can review what I've set up to see if I've entered something wrong. I'm trying to track enrollments. Here's the site info: Enroll URL: http://www.careplusdentalplans.com/individuals/enroll-careplus/ Upon completion, the user goes to a Thank You page and our CMS generates a trailing URL parameter. For example: http://www.careplusdentalplans.com/index.php/individuals/enroll-careplus-thank-you/#123456789 My Goal info in GA: Goal URL: /individuals/enroll-careplus-thank-you/
Reporting & Analytics | | SmileMoreSEO
Match Type: Head Match (to disregard trailing URL parameter)
Goal Funnel: Step 1: /individuals/enroll-careplus/ I'm curious if the problem lies in either: The URL: Notice how the URL adds /index.php/ on the thank you page. In that case, should I enter the full URL in the Goal instead of the truncated URL? The Funnel: Is it necessary to show the initial Enroll page or if I'll see that in the Flow Visualization regardless? Thanks in advance for helping me out. Erik0 -
Custom Variables to track Vimeo plays on website with Google Analytics?
Hello Everyone, I'm trying to track how many times a Vimeo video is played on my site via GA. Does any of you have any knowledge of how can this be achieved? I've read the documentation and came up with this: After the iframe embed i insert this: Of course the GA is loaded in the header. Does not work, at least i cant see anything in analytics. I have set up the segment as per the attached image. Thanks in advance! Alex E6XnO.png
Reporting & Analytics | | pwpaneuro0 -
Disclaimer about using Google Analytic?
When using GA on my Website do I need to have a disclaimer that 'We are using Google Analtyic to Track information'?
Reporting & Analytics | | daracreative0 -
Google Analytics Goal Funnel Visualization Issue
I've setup a goal funnel but am having an issue when I look at the funnel visualization. It doesn't appear to be recognizing the 1st step of the funnel that I've defined in the goal edit page. The "Property Listing page view" is located at /listings/xxx where xxx is the number of the property. Within the funnel, I've added /listings/*, but when I go to see the funnel visualization, I see 0 counts for this step (even though it clearly shows on the entrance page to the left "/listings/622, etc". I've attached a .pdf with a few images to help make this clearer. Any thoughts? CRD-Funnel.pdf
Reporting & Analytics | | chrisfree0 -
Google vs Bing/Yahoo SERP results?
I see large differences in Google and Bing/Yahoo SERP results for many keywords. Google shows many of our primary keywords in their top ten, while Bing/Yahoo rank the same one 40-50 or above. Do you have any insight on their differences that might account for this variation? We are legitimate, long time, white hatters at a small manufacturer that is one of the leaders in our industry. The only thing I can think of that might describe this issue is PPC advertising. Their algorithms wouldn't be that inconsistent would they? (We do much more paid advertising on Google) But generally this should have no affect, right? Thanks, George...
Reporting & Analytics | | rhawk0