Google Analytics stats vs Webhost stats

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   NateB11posted 10 years ago

   It is something that's bugged me for a long time how there is a discrepancy between GA stats and the stats my webhost provides for my website. Most people say GA is more reliable, but that wasn't making sense to me for many reasons. There is a very convincing argument that the stats that are derived straight from your log files at the webhost are more reliable than GA that takes time to read a page and doesn't count visits from people who've disabled javascript and cookies. Here's more that I found on this subject: Which is mre reliable: Google Analytics vs AWStats?
   
   Mostly, it never made sense to me that the webhost stats would show twice as much traffic as what GA showed. Not even with the fact that GA doesn't count bots.

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      tsmogposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you. I feel there is contrast between HP and Google Analytics too. Since I do not understand the methods, programming, and the science I look for relationships as much as numbers. Usually the primary purpose I use GA is to see how much time on the article, what time of day read most, and where in the world. You have to play a little, but those are available. I expect a 100% bounce rate being a one page article. If less and a lot then I wonder.
      
      I have little knowledge of SEO and analytics. I know enough to know a page visit and a visitor as counted are not the same. Bounce rate is interesting too. I still only am grasping that by finger tips.
      
      From the article you shared I would imagine the web host is more accurate. It is probably specific, yet I just dun'no.

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         NateB11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I'm still learning this stuff myself. I think the commentary from the link I gave is accurate; it makes sense to me, because the webhost gets stats straight from the log. The log comes straight from the visits and page views. GA has to be able to use javascript on a site for it to read anything.
         
         I like your point about time on page and bounce rate; GA is definitely good for that. It also is good for seeing a general trend over time in terms of traffic. I still use GA, in addition to stats from my webhost. I think at the very least the webhost gives a good general idea of activity on the site, including crawling from bots.
         
         The other thing good about GA is you can see where people went on your site; I believe it's called in-page routes. There's a couple ways to find that data on GA, I think the other one is called visitor flow. Anyway, it tells you what pages a visitor goes to and if they bounce or go through to other pages.
         
         Thanks for your input and insights.

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