Why we shouldn't use AWstats to measure marketing efforts?
-
and what are the disadvantages of awstats compared to Google Analytics?
-
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.
-
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.
-
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!
-
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.
-
But why we shouldn't use it for measuring marketing efforts?
-
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.
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
-
What does 'Safari (in-app)' mean in Google Analytics browser traffic?
Hi, can anyone explain what 'Safari (in-app)' refers to in my browser sources? Also, it has a very high bounce rate - any ideas why?
Reporting & Analytics | | b4cab1 -
What are all the 5's in SEO Queries in Analytics?
Every small business client has the same thing. 5 impressions for keywords, row after row, every single month. Why exactly 5 and why month after month the same thing? I see this in every local business I work in - and for very important phrases! It's gotten to the point that I think those are fake and I just look at the impressions that have numbers great than 5. Obviously I have to get their impressions up, but what am I to believe about these?
Reporting & Analytics | | katandmouse0 -
Can you tell MUV data on websites using MOZ?
I want to write reports on other websites and need to know MUV data on them
Reporting & Analytics | | WeAreVillage0 -
Where have the 'most changed keyword rankings' gone from the weekly summary emails?
Since the change to Moz we have noticed that the weekly summary emails do not show the 'most changed keyword rankings' table. We found these extremely helpful and would be disappointed to see these go. Are these going to make a come back?
Reporting & Analytics | | RedAntSolutions2 -
Anyone notice a drop in results using site operator?
I set our site's preferred domain back on January 28. We had a www and non www domain being indexed. Since then, I've seen the number or results for our site site operator (site:) decline dramatically. Not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing. So, I'm trying to see if it's unique to our site. My gut is that the numbers are probably leveling out to where they should be and the duplicates are falling out, but I would think that as I see number of results for non www decline, the number of results for www would increase. Any thoughts? Anyone else seeing fluctuations in results using site: ? Lisa
Reporting & Analytics | | Aggie0 -
Trackbacks vs Links: What's the Difference?
Our Google Analytics social pages report isn't showing several of our links. And several links are from high quality sources, such as about.com. Does anyone know why this may be?
Reporting & Analytics | | nicole.healthline0 -
Something strange going on with new client's site...
Please forgive my stupidity if there is something obvious here which I have missed (I keep assuming that must be the case), but any advice on this would be much appreciated. We've just acquired a new client. Despite having a site for plenty of time now they did not previously have analytics with their last company (I know, a crime!). They've been with us for about a month now and we've managed to get them some great rankings already. To be fair, the rankings weren't bad before us either. Anyway. They have multiple position one rankings for well searched terms both locally and nationally. One would assume therefore that a lot of their traffic would come from Google right? Not according to their analytics. In fact, very little of it does... instead, 70% of their average 3,000 visits per month comes from just one referring site. A framed version of their site which is through reachlocal, which itself doesn't rank for any of their terms. I don't get it... The URL of the site is: www.namgrass.co.uk (ignore there being a .com too, that's a portal as they cover other countries). The referring site causing me all this confusion is: http://namgrass.rtrk.co.uk/ (see source code at the bottom for the reachlocal thing). Now I know reach local certainly isn't sending them all that traffic, so why does GA say it is... and what is this reachlocal thing anyway?? I mean, I know what reachlocal is, but what gives here with regards to it? Any ideas, please??
Reporting & Analytics | | SteveOllington0