Google Updates

Anthony Parsons

Anthony Parsons

Well-known member
Hmmm.... I hadn't checked my stats for a couple of months on my main site, as the case tends to be nowadays. Took a look earlier and found traffic had doubled, from 7k daily to 15k.

The only thing I had done was move servers to a dedicated, which changed locations from the East coast to West coast, USA. Did a little checking, and it seems Google also happened to make a significant change in August. Guess that explains that one.

Now thanking the timing on having to shift from a single core to a dedicated server, as this would have crashed the hybrid I was previously hosted upon, yet barely works the new dedi. :cautious:

http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change

Anyone else see such dramatic changes, either way, in their site traffic due to Googles August changes?
 
Anthony Parsons said:
Hmmm.... I hadn't checked my stats for a couple of months on my main site, as the case tends to be nowadays. Took a look earlier and found traffic had doubled, from 7k daily to 15k.

The only thing I had done was move servers to a dedicated, which changed locations from the East coast to West coast, USA. Did a little checking, and it seems Google also happened to make a significant change in August. Guess that explains that one.

Now thanking the timing on having to shift from a single core to a dedicated server, as this would have crashed the hybrid I was previously hosted upon, yet barely works the new dedi. :cautious:

http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change

Anyone else see such dramatic changes, either way, in their site traffic due to Googles August changes?
Click to expand...


It was not until September 1, 2012 when you can clearly see a sudden BOOM from Google Analytics

www.google.com 2012-9-13 21:41:29.webp


But I admit I do not 100% rely on Google. So many of our members have script blockers, privacy blockers, ad blockers, and other such things, that none of it loads for them.

Yet this is still a good thing I guess.

Ironically, I find when I'm trying to improve my numbers, things go very bad. But when I'm not doing anything and almost don't care, everything jumps up...... Go figure.
 
Anyone comparing their raw server logs against analytical services such as Google?

I see everyone talking about Google Analytics, but no real comparison to server log analytic tests. I'd expect a difference, since visitors can't hide from the server logs. :)
 
Just wanted to add a comparison we see for a new site that was launched in January of this year:

This is a comparison of raw server logs and the latest GA report for 1/1/12 - 9/14/12.

pl_site_2012.webp
pl_site_2012_ga.webp
 
With it coming to school time, I see a decrease in users during the week and nice numbers on the weekend. Roughly about a 10k unique swing. But this is in a low season for my site with not many good games being released. Usually picks up during the holiday season with the new CoD and Halo coming out. I'm hoping to see some surges then. Only then can I really compare xF to IPB then.

Right now though, not much change with the Google update on my site.
 
Webalizer via cPanel? Everything .... No matter if it is Google or something else .... Reports a lot more than Webalizer.

Webalizer would tell you that I've only gotten 5,615,920 hits in the last 6 months

That would only be about 935,986.66 hits per month (on average).
 
Too lazy to screen but I only went up about 50% in visits per day for about a week. Then it went back to normal :( I need to research SEO again.

Based on my google analytics.
 
Adam Howard said:
I agree. If you can name another reliable alternative.....

And yet something that isn't blocked easily.... Let me know
Click to expand...
Well I guess you would start at what kind of server, what technology it's running. There is no reason why anyone shouldn't be able to know everything that happens on their site, even if users are using script blockers or whatever you guys were talking about.
 
Adam Howard said:
Webalizer via cPanel? Everything .... No matter if it is Google or something else .... Reports a lot more than Webalizer.
Click to expand...

Sorry, what? That didn't make much sense to me. You are using Webalizer for raw log analytics?

In my example above, we're using a modified AWStats version to basically scrutinize every transaction sent or received by the web server. We know that people block things, so reconciling the two services, gives us a more clear picture of what's happening.
 
Brandon Sheley said:
Well I guess you would start at what kind of server, what technology it's running. There is no reason why anyone shouldn't be able to know everything that happens on their site, even if users are using script blockers or whatever you guys were talking about.
Click to expand...
Currently, I'm not using a dedicated or VPS, but rather a resell account from another web hosting provider (at this time).

Google and such can all be blocked by Ad-Block Plus (for example) or Do Not Track Plus. Even Mint Analytics is blocked.
 
Brandon Sheley said:
Well I guess you would start at what kind of server, what technology it's running. There is no reason why anyone shouldn't be able to know everything that happens on their site, even if users are using script blockers or whatever you guys were talking about.
Click to expand...

NoScript on FireFox was being used a lot to just flat out block things like Google Analytics. The raw server logs were the only true metric available, where it doesn't rely on a third party's script to collect information.
 
Our traffic went up ~50% in the last week, came down back to normal and is currently 70% of what it used to be. I'm not sure what's going on in the Google Camp.
 
For those wanting to analyse raw logs, there are programs around: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_analytics_software

After Google purchased Urchin, and with Googles success in this sphere, many closed up shop in this market, as Google Analytics is quite accurate when compared to a true raw log analysis. Awstats and Webalizer are anything but raw log analysis, or accurate. They are solid when used as a comparison against itself, but they're nothing close to true raw log analysis. They record everything as a visit / hit, which as a majority won't be real visitors, but bots and other electronic communications.
 
Anthony Parsons said:
For those wanting to analyse raw logs, there are programs around: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_analytics_software

After Google purchased Urchin, and with Googles success in this sphere, many closed up shop in this market, as Google Analytics is quite accurate when compared to a true raw log analysis. Awstats and Webalizer are anything but raw log analysis, or accurate. They are solid when used as a comparison against itself, but they're nothing close to true raw log analysis. They record everything as a visit / hit, which as a majority won't be real visitors, but bots and other electronic communications.
Click to expand...

Your statement is partially true. But, these do pull all of the raw server logs so you can see exactly what's happening vs. manually dumping the logs into a local DB for manual analysis. (which I've done, because I love math...) Users that block tracking/analytics, won't be shown in GA or other similar apps. At least in our case, we've adapted AWSats to identify a wider range of bots and what we consider to be non-human requests.

Additionally, with raw log analysis, we've been able to identify problems that weren't otherwise noticed or reported by admins, mods or end users. I just thing it's misleading to discount the value in closely evaluating what's happening on your site, especially larger sites.
 
The addon isn't really needed - all you have to do is add the Piwik code snippet to e.g. one of the ad templates
 

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