The history of website data analysis, from "you are the first visiting user" to now a hundred professional tool providers, website analysis has gradually developed into a science. However, in the face of various forms of analysis data, many people are still confused about the source of the data. Understanding the principles of data collection may help you solve these confusions.
Website user behavior refers to all the operations of visitors after entering the website. Analysis of website user behavior is beneficial to meet the user needs of the website and improve the trust degree of the website.
Terminology
1. User group
Users are mainly located in the area, how many return visits within 24 hours.
2. Visitors
Which region to access the main source, such as country, province, city.
3. Visits
Analyze the website's monthly visits, daily visits, and hourly visits to determine what month, day, and time the website peaks.
4. Views
The content browsed by visitors within a certain period of time, the maximum daily pageviews, and the daily minimum pageviews.
5. Traffic sources
Analyze where traffic is coming from your website.
6. Traffic page
Which pages are driving the most traffic.
7. Visitor Analysis
The number of return visits in 24 hours, how many pages the visitor browses and how long they stay on the website.
8. Visitor analysis
The system language used by the user's computer, the browser used, the screen size, and the number of screen colors.
9. Search Engines
A search engine is a tool for providing information inquiries. By analyzing the source keywords of a website, it is possible to determine which aspects of the website are the main focus of search engine users.
There are three main ways to collect website analytics data today: web logs, JavaScript tags, and packet sniffers.
1. In the form of web logs
After receiving the request, the website server will append a record to its own Log file, the record content includes: remote host name (or IP address), login name, full login name, date of request, time of request, request Details (including the method, address, and protocol of the request), the status returned by the request, and the size of the requested document. The web server then returns the page to the visitor's browser for presentation.
2. In the way of JavaScript markup - also known as "buried code technology"
JavaScript tags, like web logs, collect data, starting with a website visitor making an http request. The difference is that the page code returned by the JavaScript tag to the visitor will contain a special piece of JavaScript code that is executed when the page is displayed. This code will obtain detailed information (access time, browser information, userID given by the tool manufacturer to the current visitor, etc.) from the visitor's cookie and send it to the tool manufacturer's data collection server. The data collection server processes the collected data and stores it in the database. Website operators view these data by accessing the analysis report system.
3. The way of packet sniffer
Before a request from a website visitor reaches the website server, it will pass through a packet sniffer, and then the packet sniffer will send the request to the website server. The data collected by the packet sniffer is stored in the database after being processed by the tool manufacturer's server. Then website operators can see these data through the analysis report system.
Comparison of the pros and cons of data collection methods
No data collection method is perfect, and different data collection methods also determine their own characteristics. Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of different collection methods will also guide the selection of tools.
The following table is a detailed comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the three data collection methods:
Before deciding which data collection method to choose, you need to understand your needs. If you don't want your website's traffic data to be obtained by any third party, then web logs are undoubtedly your best choice. But to get more precise data on the behavior of website visitors, you still need to use JavaScript tags to collect the data. This data collection method can not only correctly record cache visits and proxy visits, but also enable more precise positioning of independent visitors through cookies.
Of course, some websites adopt multiple data collection methods at the same time in order to obtain multiple data. For example, while collecting precise data using JavaScript tags, the search engine crawler records in the web log are also analyzed for search engine optimization. There are also packet sniffers that have been used to collect data, but with JavaScript flagging for cache access.