Day 10 Notes- Web Analytics

Day 10 Notes- Web analytics

Definition

Measurement/analysis of web user data

Server log files

 Record of all file requests to the web server.  Enabled by default on most web servers.  Download for analysis, or server provides analysis.

Typically contains:

 Date/time of request (server time)  IP# of client  File requested  Server response code (200, 404)  Browser version  Client Operating system  Referrer

Raw log files not particularly useful

Log analysis program:

 Summarizes over a period  Identifies user machine name by reverse ip  Identifies web crawlers (not perfect)  Breaks out search terms

Common analysis terms

 Hit-single request for a file  Page view: request for HTML file—pages made of multiple files  Visit: Series of request from single machine within a time frame (30-60 minutes, configurable)  Proxy server problem with AOL, others

Examples:

View log file from skylarklounge.com View AWStats report

Alternative approach-Page tagging

 Embedded javascript program  Reports to third party server  Reliability-some client browsers disable javascript  Doesn't track non-html requests (e.g., images, mp3 files)  30 minute visit length  Tries to filter out robots  More information—e.g., monitor resolution View example-Google analytics report