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Web Analytics Tools: Which is most accurate?
Nwosu Mavtrevor
The accuracy of web analytics tools gives the likes of me great concern. Having dif f erent numbers f or my
report gives me great worry as I cannot ascertain which is more accurate than the other. Shouldn’t they
report the same numbers? Have you been wondering why dif f erent analytics tools report dif f erent
numbers?
Why different numbers?
We of ten try to reconcile absolute numbers between dif f erent web analytics tools, we also of ten f orget
that they are dif f erent systems and as such collect their data dif f erently. There are some f actors that may
af f ect the data and thus af f ect our reports. Some of these data include the f ollowing; Data
Collection, Filtering, Cookies etc.
Data Collection:
While the data collection has to do with all
the methods of collecting data, example
f rom web server log f iles or using
JavaScripts, they all have their various
problems. Let’s look at collecting data
f rom web server log f iles, when visitors
surf a site, it is cached on their browsers
and also proxy servers of the network
provider. Some network providers have
proxy web servers that cache your site
(save a copy) so they can easily serve it
on request easily to save bandwidth and
cost. So when a page is requested f rom
such network, it is saved and recorded on
the web server log f ile and subsequent
requests may not be recorded because
they were served f rom the proxy servers.
Same thing happens with a browser cache
and this will also af f ect the number you get on your web analytics tools.
JavaScripts are used to record data by some web analytics tools but when a visitor leaves the site bef ore
the JavaScript records such visit, it will also af f ect the records. An ef f ective method would be to place your
JavaScripts on your site’s header but this may slow down your page load speed and I won’t advice such,
placing it on the f ooter is better.
Must Read: My Favorite Web Analytics Tools
Filtering:
Sometimes robots and spiders crawl our sites looking f or inf ormation, it could be search engine crawlers or
other types of crawlers. I of ten see Google adsense crawlers on my site. Dif f erent web analytics tools use
dif f erent methods to determine visitors to our sites and some of them may consider dif f erent user agents
in dif f erent ways. This def initely af f ects the numbers and the reports these web analytics tools give us.
Cookies:

2. Dif f erent web analytics tools use dif f erent methods to determine unique visitors to a site, most of ten
times use cookies. Google analytics use 1st party cookies to determine visits to a site, some other web
analytics tools use 3rd part cookies to do same, some people block cookies on their browsers and as such
make it dif f icult to track such users and thus af f ect the data collected f rom such users.
Web Analytics Tools Accuracy:
It will be ideal to say that NO web analytics tools CAN prove to be EXACTLY ACCURATE with its numbers.
The above mentioned f actors and in f act a whole lots of more can cause variations in values. I will consider
it a waste of time chasing ABSOLUTE accuracy f rom any web analytics tool as you may never f ind one
that can totally address all the issues that af f ect its result as most of the f actors are determined by the
visitors and not the analytics tools.
So asking which web analytics tools is most accurate is not simple or easy to answer. I see the analytics
report as a measure of trend simply to know when I am doing well or not and I do not need ABSOLUTE
f igure to do so. When your site traf f ic improves f rom 1000 visitors a day to 100,000 a day, no analytics tool
will report it 200 a day.
I use Google analytics tool with Statcounter and I am used to the variations in result but I enjoy using these
tools to monitor the progress of my blog and it’s enough f or me. But if you are really worried about the
result, maybe you should consider some advanced and PREMIUM web analytics tools and I bet you will f ind
a lot of them on Google search.
What web analytics tools do you use on your site? How much do you trust its reports? How do you
ascertain its accuracy? Which web analytics tools can you say is the most accurate? Share your views with
me using the comment f orm below, remember to subscribe to my RSS f eed.
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