Why we shouldn't use AWstats to measure marketing efforts?
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and what are the disadvantages of awstats compared to Google Analytics?
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I think the simple answer to this one is that Google Analytics is simply better. It provides way more functionality and the ability to actually track conversions, funnels and a whole lot more. AWStats gives you raw data almost, but Google Analytics allows you to make sense of it.
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I use both AWStats and Analytics. I actually find the unique visits , hits,page views to be more accurate on AWstats than Google. However Google can provide more in depth analysis which is actually more useful. I also think that Google Analytics is heavily effected by the EU cookie directive, as when this arrived I noticed a drop in Analytics figures. For example page views on AWstats for one client shows 1000 people where google Analytics shows 600. We know that the AWstats figures are more accurate from the responses from the example page. However the 600 we can drill down the data to find where else the users visited and also how long etc... So AWstats in my view are for the headline figures and Analytics are for the analysts and number crunchers.
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Pretty much agreed with Nakul and the reason is that AWstats might not provide you the tons and tons of data those Google Analytics posses in it.
Obviously you can use it technically as there is no harm in it but if you compare GA with AWStats there is no way you can compare!
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You can. It's just that Free Tools like GA, provide you a lot more data and reporting that AWStats can't. Still, there's no reason for you not to use AWStats if that serves your needs and that's all your care about in terms of basic daily/monthly reporting.
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But why we shouldn't use it for measuring marketing efforts?
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Awstats, back in those days worked wonders. One advantage it has is that it's Server Side, which is crunching Raw Log Files. Other then that, GA and similar Analytics are much more advanced today and provide an insane amount of data and reporting. You can do Week over Week, Month Over Month, Year Over Year kinds of analysis, and other custom reporting, which you can't do with AWstats and alike.
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