What Is Web Analytics?

Date First Published: 21st September 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Services

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 4/10

Learn more about what web analytics is in this article.

Web analytics is the collection, analysis, tracking, and reporting of web data to get an overview of the behaviour of visitors on a website and have a better understanding of the usage data. This data can be used to improve website traffic, perform business and market research, and personalise the website to users that frequently visit it. Most websites have some form of analytics tools, such as Google Analytics to monitor website traffic. The results of web analytics are displayed in the form of tables, graphs, and charts.

Note:

Web analytics is not only a process for measuring website traffic. It can also be used for market research purposes and improving the effectiveness of a website.

What Data Can Be Collected Using Web Analytics?

Data collected using web analytics can include:

• The number of page views.
• The number of unique visitors.
• Which pages users have visited.
• The bounce rate for specific pages.
• The exit rate for specific pages.
• The amount of time spent on each page.
• The referral URL.
• Demographic data, such as country.
• New vs returning visitors.
• Operating system.
• Web browser.
• Conversion rates.
• The type of device.
• The screen resolution of the device.

Note:

Users who block cookies and users with certain browser extensions and ad filtering add-ons will block the web analytics code from running, preventing their data from being included in the reports

Types Of Web Analytics

Web analytics comes in two types, including:

• Off-site web analytics - The process of measuring web data outside a website in order to measure potential audience and performance compared to its competitors. Data is collected from public sources across the World Wide Web, including search engines and social media. It is usually available for anyone to read. Because this type of web analytics does not use a piece of JavaScript code or read data from log files, the data is not as useful as on-site web analytics, cannot measure website engagement as well, and the data provided will not be as detailed and accurate.
• On-site web analytics - A more common type of web analytics. On-site analytics is the process of measuring web data inside a website, such as site engagement, which pages are frequently visited, bounce rate, dwell time, exit rate, etc. Webpages can contain a piece of JavaScript code that connects to a web analytics service, known as a 'tag' or log file analysis. The 'tag' can also generate a cookie to track individual sessions and determine repeated visits. Log file analysis is the process of analysing data in log files, which contain every action performed on a web server. Google Analytics is an on-site web analytics service. On-site analytics data is only available to the owner of the website.

Web Analytics Tools

Four examples of web analytics tools include:

• Google Analytics - The most widely used free web analytics service offered by Google used to track and display website traffic along with other data, such as bounce rate, referral URL, average time on page, and demographic data in a report. It was launched in 2005.
• Cloudflare Insights - A free web analytics service offered by Cloudflare used to provide insights for website traffic that they cannot find elsewhere along with monitoring of threats and web crawlers.
• Optimizely - An A/B testing platform that allows businesses to test and optimise their online experiences and marketing efforts, such as conversion rate optimisation.
• StatCounter - A web analytics service that helps people track, analyse, and understand the visitors on the website. Basic features are available free of charge, whilst advanced features require a monthly fee.

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