The Ultimate Guide to Free Web Site Analytics
Published June 28th, 2007 in Tips & Tools.
So, you’ve got a web site and you need a good stats program. If your hosting plan doesn’t provide something like AWStats or Webalizer, or you just want to see some stats they don’t provide, you’ll likely look to one of the free services out there to analyze your traffic, but which one to choose? Wendy at EMoms@Home is running a second round of her “group research project” and asked for a post on how to choose and understand web analytics programs and since I’ve used most of the free ones I am taking the topic on from that angle.
Here are the major players in the free stats game, along with a brief review of each:
Statcounter - free service provides detailed stats on most recent 500 page loads. Easy to understand views of all major stats, including charts and graphs. The only big drawback is that the 500 page load limitation makes it very difficult to see any kind of aggregate data at the detail level, such as “how many visitors came from Google search last month?” It also does not show outbound links or file downloads. Various upgrade levels are available to increase the log file quota.
Google Analytics - free stats system offered by Google which provides highly detailed information, including charts and graphs. You can define the date range to look at aggregate info for any statistic. Nice features I haven’t found with other stats programs include views of average time on site and pages per visit by referrer or keyword. They also have a “bounce rate” metric, which is the percentage of visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page. This system also wraps in Adwords campaign tracking.
PMetrics - this April, Performancing re-launched their stats system using the GetClicky platform and I was instantly sold on it. I was a long time Statcounter user, but was feeling the limitations as my traffic grew. It includes all the basics in an interface that makes it easy to get an “at a glance” view of your stats for any date range and you can even set it up to track your Feedburner stats without leaving PMetrics. There are some really nice features that come with the upgrade ($20/year) such as tracking of outgoing links, file downloads, and you can even subscribe via RSS to have a variety of stats sent to your reader at whatever interval you like. PMetrics has a page that compares their program to the “other guys” if you’re interested. It’s their chart so, take it with a grain of salt, but I found it to be mostly accurate.
Other options:
SiteMeter - pretty decent, similar to Statcounter in scope, but be wary as they have reportedly made a deal with a company that will leave cookies all over your visitors’ computers, and can cause your site to load more slowly. I wrote a post about this back in April if you’re interested in reading more. It was enough to cause me to write them off for good.
103Bees - highly focused on natural search engine traffic analytics. If you’re particularly interested in where you’re falling in the search engines for which keywords, check this one out. You can see how many hits you got from keywords where you ranked 1-10, 11-20, etc. and get a good view of “long tail” search terms.
CrazyEgg - this is one you should definitely try at least once. You can test different versions of your site, various ad placements, etc. It makes it easy to see who is clicking where and how often.
If you use WordPress there is a stats plugin that looks pretty good, though I have not tried it. It allows you to view your stats on a single page from your dashboard.
Other options include the MyBlogLog and Feedburner stats, though frankly, I don’t know why you’d want to mess with that since there are more efficient and comprehensive options.
Which one to use?
That can depend on what your needs are at any given time:
- Focusing on SEO and keyword rankings? Use 103Bees.
- Want to see where the visitors are coming from that are clicking on your ads? Use Crazy Egg.
- Want to know how long traffic from specific referrers are staying on your site? Use Google Analytics.
- Need to know how many people are downloading your e-book? Use PMetrics Premium
- Don’t want to get too in depth, but just want a quick view of your visitors? Use Statcounter or WordPress Stats plugin
My conclusion:
I really think the best stats analysis is available by using a combination of PMetrics and Google Analytics. I get my day to day stats from PMetrics and at times drill down through Google Analytics. By the way, PMetrics has an affiliate program too, in which you can earn 20% commission from everyone who signs up for the premium service through your link (that’s my link above). That’s not why I’m recommending them- I’d do that either way, but it’s a nice addition to their program.
Ok, I’m sure I missed something, so help us out by letting everyone know what stats program you use and why. Are there free ones I’ve missed that you think are better than the main ones I’ve mentioned? Disagree with my assessment of the options that are out there? Leave a comment!
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53 Responses to “The Ultimate Guide to Free Web Site Analytics”
- 1 Pingback on Jun 28th, 2007 at 9:55 am
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Great roundup, but you missed one - Reinvigorate.
I was using Google Analytics exclusively until they launch their new interface - which I really don’t like as much as the old one! Reinvigorate came to the rescue though, with a system that’s as good as Analytics, but without all the stuff that nobody really uses - and they offer a WP plugin to make it work!
That is a really helpful analysis of all the different options. I use my Awstats that comes with my hosting plan and a combination of MyBlogLog on some of my sites, Google Analytics and I may be putting Crazy Egg back on some of them.
Thanks Paul- I knew I’d miss some. I’ll have to check out Reinvigorate!
I’m a big google analytics fan, but do like the look of the pmetrics. I may have to check it out
My approach is to use a few and compare, you are taking a risk relying on one supplier too much.
Eg. It’s a shame that Wordpress stopped tracking feed usage, we need several competitors to feedburner - feedburner is so flaky you can’t use it to make decisions, what looks like a mass defection turns out to be a problem with their system
I totally agree Chris - Feedburner is the flakiest reporting I have ever seen. Today no e-mail subscribers are showing in my stats, which makes two of my niche sites look like the subscribers dropped by half. It’s unacceptable the way their stats break down like that. Maybe Google will be able to bring some good improvement there.
I hope so, one thing Big G has in abundance is huge-brained geeks
I’ve been seeing my reader stats fluctuate wildly also… I keep losing people using Google Reader - only to see them all simultaneously return four hours later!
However, I suspect that this is the *result* of Google’s takeover, and not something for them to improve!
HitTail is pretty similar to 103bees for showing keywords based off of searches that lead to your site.
Nice article, I was using statcounter for a while before moving to Google analytics. I enjoy some of the google analytics services like bounce rate and average time spent on the site. I’ll take a look at Reinvigorate and pmetrics.
Thanks for leaving me the suggestion on eMoms about the wordpress plug in. I’m glad I’ve picked one of the tools you recommend: Google Analytics. I’m still a bit confused as to how to interpret the data but I’ll have to spend more time on that next week.
Aruni
Google Analytics is great, although personally I find it too detailed for everyday use.
For daily use I take a quick look at MyBlogLog, because it’s handy for social networking too.
I’ll probably get the stats plugin for WordPress though.
Nice post, Randa. Dugg.
I’m currently using StatCounter and Google Analytics, but have been looking at Firestats as well. Seems promising.
Another good one is called AwStats. Its built in Perl so not the easiest thing to install if you are not farmiliar with the language. However, it does provide most of the important things you want to know about your hits all on one page in a nice graphical interface. Another good thing about it is that when used with cPanel it allows you to view the stats for each domain.
Good post Randa. I’m a Google Analytics user myself but haven’t really tried anything else. Now I know where to come if I feel like experimenting with other options. Post dugg
PMetrics all the way! I’ve been a fan of Analytics but since ive started using PMetrics, i just cant seem to go back to Analytics. But the one feature I miss is the graph at Analytics where it shows a steady growth (or fall) in your traffic for a certain period of time.
thanks for the advice, i will definitely be checking it out.. PMetrics is good but i’d like to see how this is too
Hello I have been using GoStats.com , I have used numerous services on the web , however I am in love with GoStats due to their comprehensive visitor log.
Google Analytics is pretty, but it’s overkill for my needs. I take a look at it each month. However, I’m considering deleting the Analytics code from my blog. For day-to-day stats I rely on the simple overview furnished by the WordPress Stats plugin–it suits my needs. It’s a great plugin, and I’m surprised they haven’t offered different versions of that plugin for those users who wish to drill-down a little further.
I wonder why we’ve moved away from using sever-side stats? Why are we using additional code in our pages, when we could be making good use of the raw logs that are kept by our servers.
@John - that’s a good point, except that not everyone has access to the logs on their servers. I have the cheapest hosting package available, so I don’t get those.
” a combination of PMetrics and Google Analytics.” - right!
That is a great idea: I use my Awstats that comes with my hosting plan and a combination of MyBlogLog on some of my sites, Google Analytics and I may be putting Crazy Egg back on some of them
Best wishes
Lotto
Raw logs only log a certain amount of information. For example, you can’t tell from a log file who has Javascript enabled on their browser, or who is running Flash, and what versions those plugins are!
This is where remotely hosted JavaScript solutions come into their own… But if you don’t need that kind of feedback then raw analysis is certainly the simpler solution!
Hey Randa,
GREAT post!
I second the motion for GA + pMetrics, side-by-side. As a new user/lover of pMetrics for little over a week…I have to say I’m highly leaning on pMetrics if I had to pick one.
I like its interface better, find the stats better *much quicker* than GA’s, and well…can’t write them all up.
But, GA is the big-picture, and pMetrics is for each visitor.
Quick question, though:
Wouldn’t you consider AwStats within ones’ webhost a ‘free website analytics program”? I’m addicted to mine
@Ponn - thanks for your comments! Yes, I suppose if AWStats comes with your hosting, then it would be a free website analytics program, but not everyone has access to that system or to their log files from their host, so it fell outside the scope of this article a bit. Glad you’re able to use it and that it provides you with useful information. I know it’s a good one.
Nice round up. But I don’t think I will need anything other than Google Analytics. It has everything that you need, except of course realtime tracking.
Nice guide. I will try out Google Analytics.
Great article Randa. I didn’t know Sitemeter could slow you site down :-/ I’m getting rid of that instantly.
I primarily use the Stat-plugin for Wordpress, but I tend to check out Google Analytics and MyBlogLog too.
Especially now after I moved to a new domain, it really hurts to see the traffic getting a bit lower.
Interesting, I’ve not looked into pmetrics at all. I did have a brief play with crazy eggs, which provide free heat maps and things but not enough to give an opinion of it,,
I mostly just use Google Analytics.
id designs is a professional website design company.
We have tried them all, including paid analytic software.
Google Analytics.
One word: WOW!
Yep beats them all in our books.
We now use it for all our clients and are in love with the goal tracking and advance ecommerce.
This has a nice description of the various available options.I have used Sitemeter and Google analytics and find these two quite interesting..
Thanks I have been looking for a good stats program to use. Mine is just not doing it for me. There is certainly a lot of options to choose from. I am thinking about using Gogle Analytics it seems like it would do the job.
Thanks a lot. A+
Good info here. Thanks for sharing your great tips.
Has anyone ever tried myRT? I am curious whether this program is worth a good look or not.
Nice overview. I am firmly in the Google Analytics camp, but also like to use a custom PHP object to more closely monitor sales avenues and enquires.
Thanks for this excellent list of resources. This will definitely come in handy. I think I will take your advice and go with pMetrics and Google Analytics.
I use awstats and webalizer mostly. Sometimes I just refer to my raw logs. I’d like to see a stat program that resembles a stock ticker chart, that would be cool. Some stat programs are more or less server intensive than others also depending if you use an internal or external one.
I’m doing a combination of Statcounter and Google Analytics right now. I use Statcounter primarily because it’s user tracking is the best among all the web site analytics out there. I don’t mind much the 500 limit as I check it often. Great information here, I’ll try your recommended analytics which is pmetrics.
Google analytics shows stats a couple of days late. but the tool is free to use and has a lot of options .
I don’t know why anyone would bother with a free stats script/program.. My webhost account comes with adequate stats for all subdomains.. and they are probably better anyway…
So far, I’ve tried on the list provided above and I do agree that the best is still Google Analytics. The stats are most detailed and with that I get to analyze and extract important information on traffic. Do provide us if there’s anymore worth trying. Thanks
Google Analytics is a great summary reporting tool. However sometimes you really just want to see the underlying detail. The great thing about hosting your own site is that usually you have access to raw logfiles, and to multiple pre-configured stats tools. My cPanel hosting account offers AWstats, Webalyzer, and raw logfiles. I still use Google Analytics, but I find that I go to a different program each time I have a stats question, because they each have their strengths.
I was going to add mybloglog, but someone already beat me to it. I had heard some good things about Mint. Anyone ever use it?
I use both StatCounter and Google Analytics, and I agree with you StatCounter is not making it easy for us by the 500 load limitation, but I still use it because I need live second by second monitoring sometimes, and I rely on Google’s solution for the rest.
Hey, I like your blog
Google analytics is by far the best–hands down. My only concern with Google analytics is how they use the data gathered. Will it affect my site that has a high bounce rate? In the strategy I use to generate income, my sites typically have a very high bounce rate–but I rely nearly 100% on search engine traffic. The pages I have go to the top fast, but if I were to put analytics on them, would they be pulled down? that is what I am currently testing. Till I make sure this isn’t the case, aw stats is working fine.
I think everyone using Google Analytics tool for their website to collect data of incoming traffic.
As for the outer source I suggest to use SEOAdministrator tool to find out all your ranks, backlinks and analize your code.
BTW rite now they have a limited offer where you could get free expert version.
I’ve been happy with the AwStats package which is included with my hosting plan at web hosting services, but I will probably give the WP plugin mentioned above a try since my blog downtowntrader.com runs off WP. Thanks for the info!
Very nice guide on choosing the right website analytics. I like Google Analytics and AWStats works out well too. But the best according to me is - Google analytics.