Question re Google Analytics and its more accurate alternatives
-
Hi guys
There are two main issues we have with Google Analytics, and I'd really appreciate if anyone has the time to give an answer to that.
-
We completely miss organic traffic data before 7/22/2013 although our account is active since 2005. Any thoughts on that? Is it the not provided move that swiped out all data or something else?
-
Even for the data we do have there is lots of inaccuracies, and we are thinking on switching or at least adding a new analytics software, any recommendations? (FYI, it turns out we do not keep access logs on the server for more than 2 months, and we might fix that for future references, but now we are looking for external solution).
Any help will be much appreciated
Thanks
Lily
-
-
July 25, 2013 is when Analytics started using "Channels" as a dimension, so that is why it appears that there is no data before that--it doesn't mean there actually isn't any organic data.
As has already been mentioned, you can use a segment to see organic traffic before then--or you can choose "medium" as your primary dimension and select organic from there.
-
The major downside to Google Analytics is that it relies solely on Javascript. In other words, your clients' browsers have to load the JS, parse it and send the appropriate data back to Analytics. While this works for most visitors, it certainly doesn't work for all.
Log parsing is always the best solution because your server, by definition, gets all the traffic and can tell you with 100% accuracy your actual traffic. Most of the log parsers don't require you to keep your logs. Instead, they parse the logs and store relevant data in a database. The downside here is that you will have to have direct access to your server logs, which not all people have.
Some open source solutions include GoAccess and AWStats. There's also Cloudflare, which is more of a proxy but it can also feed you true numbers (although with less granular data, much like GA). There are numerous paid solutions as well.
-
Hi Lily,
For question 1 are you trying to see keyword related data or just organic traffic levels in general? If the latter you can use a segment to view organic traffic only. This would allow you to see organic traffic levels prior to 2013.
To do this click add segment located just below the top of the page (screenshot attached) and select "Organic Traffic" (second screenshot).
Give me a shout if you have anymore questions on this
Tim
109a77b3dc7befd3454e6103f8102277 ecaec5f322faefac26ea147aa3849dc9
-
Hi Lily,
1> You can still go to Acquisition >>Campaigns >> Organic Keywords to see historical data.***
For referral & direct traffic please check below URL once may be helpful for you.
============================
2>You can try Kissmetrics. (https://www.kissmetrics.com/)
Thanks
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
-
Tracking 301 redirect traffic in Google Analytics
if I 301 redirect www.mywebsite.com to go to www.yourwebsite.com, how can I track the traffic in Google Analytics that is coming from mywebsite.com?? I don't think that's a referral traffic, is it?
Reporting & Analytics | | Armen-SEO0 -
How does Google Maps/G+ traffic show up in Analytics?
Hi Moz Community, I've been trying to figure out how traffic from Google Maps (and G+) shows up in Google Analytics and am struggling to find a good answer online. If someone finds a business through Google Maps and then clicks on the website in the Maps listing, does that show up as a referral from Google Maps? Our site shows virtually zero traffic from Google Maps even though we have a number of listing. Two related questions: if someone clicks through to a G+ page from a Maps result and then visits our website from the G+ page, does that show up in Analytics as a referral from G+? Is traffic from Google Maps or G+ ALSO counted as organic traffic? (Would it be possible to accidentally double-count a visit as both organic and a referral from Maps/G+? Thanks everybody!
Reporting & Analytics | | JohnGroves0 -
Can you track two Google Analytics Accounts on one site?
If you have a site that had an old analytics account and then implemented a new one is it possible to run tracking code that records to both accounts without causing your site or data issues? We are doing this so we don't loose data at any point - ideally it wouldn't have been split between the two but making one redundant isn't an option. Ideally we would have merged the data from both accounts and had one - however the research we have done points to this not being a possibility - unless one of you guys knows different? It would be great if anyone has experience on any this.. Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | ChrisAllbones0 -
Tracking Google places (7 pack listing) traffic in google analytics
Is there a way to see Google Places traffic (traffic from users clicking through the 7 pack listings) segmented in Google analytics ? Normally is it just lumped together with the organic traffic ? Can you see the search phrases used to find your site, or do they also show up under 'not provided' when from Google Places. Im aware i can see some limited data in the Google Places analytics, but these seem to be 2 days behind when ever i view them.
Reporting & Analytics | | Sam-P0 -
Google Analytics - Still Seeing Keyword Data
Hi, I hope you can answer this question for me, obviously I'm aware of the changes regarding "not provided" in analytics however I am still getting keyword referral data in analytics (not much of course!) in the section Acquisition>Keyword>Organic Can anybody explain why I am still seeing organic keyword data even up until yesterday for the odd term? I cannot find an answer anywhere!!! Many thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | splendidapple1 -
Google Analytics for multiple languages on multiple domains
Hi folks A quick question in regards to setting up Google Analytics for a website with multiple languages on multiple domains. The domains that needs to be tracked are: www.example.com -> English www.example.se -> Swedish www.example.dk -> Danish To my best knowledge this can be acheived in Google Analytids using 3 different setups: Different accounts Different properties Profiles What would you guys consider the best approach?
Reporting & Analytics | | Resultify
Pros and cons? Have a great day Fredrik0 -
Expert Google Analytics: store with multiple languages and multiple sub-domians
I hope there's some hardcore Analytics shark out there, with a quick reply 🙂 I am setting up a store with multiple languages for a client and need to be able to track multiple sub-domains as a multiple languages in analytics. Example: dk.somedomain.com -> Danish language
Reporting & Analytics | | ReneReinholdt
www.somedomain.com -> English language
no.somedomain.com -> Norweigen language
.. and so on Now what the client would like is to have one single entity with multiple profiles in analytics, like this: somedomain.com
-> www.somedomain.com
-> dk.somedomain.com
-> no.somedomain.com
ex.. So if the client want's to see stats for the English language then he just vlivks the www profile and in case of danish he clicks the dk profile and so on.
problem here is I can't find an analytics help that addresses this specific issue. I have found this but that doesn't seem to cover it:. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. 🙂0 -
How do I best segment tablets on Google Analytics
I would like to find a way to best segment out my tablet traffic to measure performance; however I'm finding that there are road blocks. It doesn't seem that device operating systems or screen resolutions have clear cut differences in the tablet/mobile versions. Has anyone here found a good way to create a "tablet" segment in Google Analytics? Right now I'm having to lean on solely the ipad traffic to get indicators of tablet performance. Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | lvstrickland0