Google Analytics just received a round drubbing from one of my favorite blogs seomoz. The drubbing was somewhat fair and very true of all pixel/image based tracking tools. The pixel doesn’t load everytime, cookies used are deleted/read, sessions are lost.
I agree that having analytics that aren’t perfect is annoying. I look at my server logs as well as my google analytics and addfreestats accounts and despite the fact that pixel tracker based tools do have some inaccuracies I will happily stand up and say that all these stats tools are similarly informative to me on user behaviour.
For me data is a means to an end… for a deep dive into user behaviour you should study server logs. For big trends affecting your site, the major entry routes, the massive exit routes – I believe the free analytics software offered by google and addfreestats should be a useful port of call.
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