Web Analytics with JavaScript Page Tagging and Server Log Files : Comparison of 2 Analytical Methods
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Kingsley Tagbo February 08, 2007
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Kingsley Tagbo |
Kingsley Tagbo is a web analyst and the author of Best Kept Secrets of
Web Traffic Analysis – “How to Find Gold in Your Web Traffic Data".
Kingsley writes regularly on Web Analytics and Web Traffic Analysis at http://www.kdkeys.org/blogs/
You can subscribe to his web analytics or web traffic analysis articles by email at FeedBlitz or to his RSS/XML Feed at FeedBurner.
You can also reach Kingsley directly at his blog with any questions you
may have on Web Analytics, Web Traffic Analysis, Web Usage Mining or
Web Data Mining. |
Kingsley Tagbo
has written 1 articles for JavaScriptSearch. |
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Introduction There are 2 primary ways to collect and analyze web
server log files. The first way is through the use of JavaScript code
embedded between the [head] metatags of each page you need to analyze.
The JavaScript code is executed when the page loads. An example of this
service is Google Analytics.
The second way to analyze web traffic data is with web
server log file analysis software like Analog or AwStats. Most web
servers record the data about each visit to a web page to a log file on
the computer. These log files are then used by log file analysis
software to create web usage activity reports.
Comparing JavaScript Page Tagging and Web Server Log File Analysis Software
Both web server logs and JavaScript code are useful tools for
collecting web usage and activity data. However each is limited in the
type of data it generates, and both are dependent upon their
environment (web server or browser settings).
Here are the major differences between JavaScript page tag and Web server log file analysis.
Execution
Some visitors disable the ability for their browsers to execute
JavaScript code so, if you rely on JavaScript code tagging, you will
not have any web traffic data for their visits. On the other hand, some
web hosting services will not give you access to your raw log files and
if you do not have access to your raw log files you will not be able to
analyze your log files. This is especially true for some blog hosting
services.
Data Collection Some web traffic data like monitor
settings and resolution can only be accessed through JavaScript page
tagging software. Some types of web traffic data like file downloads
from a website is recorded in the log files but not easily tracked by
JavaScript page tagging methods.
Page Caching This affects the accuracy of web
traffic reports. Using JavaScript the effect of page caching may be
minimized because the JavaScript code executes each time the page is
requested.
Page Size Adding JavaScript code to your web pages
increases the size of the individual pages and eats into your
bandwidth. On the other hand, web server log files do not eat into your
bandwidth or add to your page size.
Installation JavaScript code has to be added to
every page that is tracked. Web server log file does not need to be
added to the pages being tracked. Generally your web server will record
your web traffic to a log file without any special customization.
Reliability Web server file logging tends to be
more reliable than JavaScript page tagging methods. With web server log
files, the same server hosts your website and records the requests for
your pages. With JavaScript page tagging, your browser has to send your
web traffic data over the internet to another server. Sometimes, this
will fail because of general network issues or because the remote
server is unavailable.
Conclusion In this post I described and compared
the 2 best practices used for web traffic data collection and analysis.
Personally, I use both practices for collecting and analyzing web
traffic data for my sites because each best practice has its strengths
and weaknesses and neither is superior to the other. |