Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums

Agota · 10-28-2011, 08:24 PM

Okay, I have google analytics plug-in running on my blog.

The problem is that Hostgator stats and Google Analytics stats are VERY different: yesterday, Hostgator shows 83 visits, meanwhile Google Analytics shows 22 visits.

I know that stats should be different because Google doesn't count bots etc., but when one shows almost four times more traffic than the other, I get confused. Is this normal, or did I install the plug-in incorrectly?

WarrenG · 10-28-2011, 10:54 PM

Google is always lower, and stats based on server logs are always higher than what you really want to measure. Google doesn't measure people with Java turned off (or is it JavaScript? I can never remember), server logs have their flaws too, yes they measure bots and sometimes get confused about what constitutes a page (the 'page' with the most traffic on my site is actually an image). My Google analytics page is more than four times less than Awstats.

Also, make sure you're not comparing visits to unique visits.

But that's pretty normal. I prefer looking at Google, because there's so much more you can do with the data in there, and I think relative changes in traffic are more useful for making decisions than absolute figures. Like seeing which topics are getting the most traffic compared to the others, which topics draw people further into the site versus which make people bounce, and so on. You can find all that in Google analytics.

Orionjoel · 10-29-2011, 08:38 AM

Don't worry you are not the only one that is confused by this.

I have one website that Google Analytics shows 116 visits this month, whilesite stats are showing 1600, that is a variance of about 14 times....

At the end of the day i think it is best to pick the form of stats to trackand watch how that changes based on what you do. But more importantly as WarrenG says track what content is getting the visits.

svitla · 11-04-2011, 12:18 PM

Google Analytics doesn't count bots, spiders etc and as it was mentioned above people with javascript turned off. I suggest you to always consider your GA stats for measuring your blog traffic.

Justin Mazza · 11-09-2011, 11:00 PM

Agota,
Have you tried Get Clicky? It's an alternative to Google Analytics.

Peter T · 11-14-2011, 07:54 PM

There is nothing to be confused about. Google analytics is most accurate tool but its default settings does not show repeated visitors coming from same IP.

10-28-2011, 08:24 PM	#1 (permalink)
Agota Family Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Barleylands, United Kingdom Posts: 1,257	Google Analytics confuse me! :( Okay, I have google analytics plug-in running on my blog. The problem is that Hostgator stats and Google Analytics stats are VERY different: yesterday, Hostgator shows 83 visits, meanwhile Google Analytics shows 22 visits. I know that stats should be different because Google doesn't count bots etc., but when one shows almost four times more traffic than the other, I get confused. Is this normal, or did I install the plug-in incorrectly?

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10-28-2011, 10:54 PM	#2 (permalink)
WarrenG Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 595	Google is always lower, and stats based on server logs are always higher than what you really want to measure. Google doesn't measure people with Java turned off (or is it JavaScript? I can never remember), server logs have their flaws too, yes they measure bots and sometimes get confused about what constitutes a page (the 'page' with the most traffic on my site is actually an image). My Google analytics page is more than four times less than Awstats. Also, make sure you're not comparing visits to unique visits. But that's pretty normal. I prefer looking at Google, because there's so much more you can do with the data in there, and I think relative changes in traffic are more useful for making decisions than absolute figures. Like seeing which topics are getting the most traffic compared to the others, which topics draw people further into the site versus which make people bounce, and so on. You can find all that in Google analytics.

10-29-2011, 08:38 AM	#3 (permalink)
Orionjoel Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Brisbane Australia Posts: 255	Don't worry you are not the only one that is confused by this. I have one website that Google Analytics shows 116 visits this month, whilesite stats are showing 1600, that is a variance of about 14 times.... At the end of the day i think it is best to pick the form of stats to trackand watch how that changes based on what you do. But more importantly as WarrenG says track what content is getting the visits.

11-04-2011, 12:18 PM	#4 (permalink)
svitla Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: San Francisco Posts: 1	Google Analytics doesn't count bots, spiders etc and as it was mentioned above people with javascript turned off. I suggest you to always consider your GA stats for measuring your blog traffic.

11-09-2011, 11:00 PM	#5 (permalink)
Justin Mazza Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Monkton, Maryland Posts: 262	Agota, Have you tried Get Clicky? It's an alternative to Google Analytics.

11-14-2011, 07:54 PM	#6 (permalink)
Peter T Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 15	There is nothing to be confused about. Google analytics is most accurate tool but its default settings does not show repeated visitors coming from same IP.

Personal Development for Smart PeopleTM Forums

Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums