Analytics questions - Awstats / piwik / google

Dean

in memoriam
I use awstats that came in cpanel at this time to get traffic information.
  • What information do programs like google analytics & piwik give that awstats do not?
  • Is there a way for any of them to track by which forums / subforums? e.g. xf.com -> suggestions statistics vs xf.com -> offtopic forums?
I've looked at some of the documentation, but cannot find anything specifically regarding forums.
 
I use awstats that came in cpanel at this time to get traffic information.
  • What information do programs like google analytics & piwik give that awstats do not?
  • Is there a way for any of them to track by which forums / subforums? e.g. xf.com -> suggestions statistics vs xf.com -> offtopic forums?
I've looked at some of the documentation, but cannot find anything specifically regarding forums.
I've never used Piwik, but Google Analytics offers some valuable tools for me (Mostly their overlay feature for tracking).

I stated somewhere else, but I also use Mint, which I use for downloads/search and a few other things.
 
can't answer on your 1st question , because i'm using only Piwik ..
as for the second question , yes , you can track forums / sub-forums and not only that

forums , subforums and other pages are in bold

piwik_forums.webp


i clicked on "tutorials" sub-forum here and i can see stats of the threads

piwik_forums2.webp
 
Google Analytics - others don't even come close
  1. it has everything that Awstats/piwik offers
  2. easy to implement
  3. integrated with Adsense ( check ad revenue per page / clicks / impressions / ctr / ecpm / etc )
  4. integrated with Adwords ( which ad version has a high ROI / etc )
  5. Goals & Funnels ( measure the effectiveness of your interface / conversions )
  6. Advanced Segments
  7. Custom Reports
  8. Navigation Summary ( how effective is your navigation )
  9. it's free
  10. it's frequently updated by Google ( no need to get your hands dirty )
  11. etc, etc

Navigation Summary

navigation-summary.png



Funnel

funnel.png
 
AWSTATS is a useless overall program for website analytics. AWSTATS is a statistical software, and extremely inaccurate, as it just measures everything, including bots. Google provide analytics, which are far different from statistics. Analytics allow you to track your users through your website, shows you your strengths and weaknesses, so you know what not to touch, and what needs improvement, ie. 90% of people hit this page and stay for x time to read it vs. 90% of people hit this page and leave immediately.

You cannot tell any type of analytical analysis from AWSTATS.

Whilst there are better programs that use your raw log files, which provide better accuracy than Google could, they are also expensive vs. Google is free. If you use Adwords, Google is directly tapped into their own software for tracking.
 
Google Analytics - others don't even come close
  1. it has everything that Awstats/piwik offers
  2. easy to implement
  3. integrated with Adsense ( check ad revenue per page / clicks / impressions / ctr / ecpm / etc )
  4. integrated with Adwords ( which ad version has a high ROI / etc )
  5. Goals & Funnels ( measure the effectiveness of your interface / conversions )
  6. Advanced Segments
  7. Custom Reports
  8. Navigation Summary ( how effective is your navigation )
  9. it's free
  10. it's frequently updated by Google ( no need to get your hands dirty )
  11. etc, etc
Navigation Summary

navigation-summary.png



Funnel

funnel.png



What settings did you use for the goal funnel - I set mine up but it says zero completions when I know I've gotten a bunch of new registrations
 
What information do programs like google analytics & piwik give that awstats do not?
It does not add up your stats across multiple years. Awstats does not tally up the amount of keytypes of the keyword. It does to an extent, but not as clear as Google. On top of that, Awstats while a great program for stats tracking, it's kind of confusing to see exactly where your visitors are coming from. Google provides a clear, concise look at your traffic source, and your exits.
Is there a way for any of them to track by which forums / subforums? e.g. xf.com -> suggestions statistics vs xf.com -> offtopic forums.
Google allows for tallying up pageviews for each forum/page, whereas, awstats does it within' limitations. It doesn't tell you the percentage of visitors are new, or returning. It doesn't tell you a lot about the page. On the flipcoin, Google doesn't tell you where the visitors are coming from on each page view. Not a lot of server software technologies do. Its something that needs solving.
 
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