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10:14 am
January 1, 2011
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Buck Inspire
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Hey all,
I've been checking my stats on both and there is a wide discrepency. Google shows I average in the 20's  while my self hosted site shows I'm in the 90's. I don't understand why they are so different. Anyone have a reasonable explaination? 
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8:33 am
January 2, 2011
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Glen Craig
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Just speculating here, but could the higher one be counting your own visits?
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9:04 am
January 2, 2011
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Jaymus (RealizedReturns)
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I just installed the Wordpress.com Stats plugin yesterday and I already like it. For one, it doesn't count any page views / vists when I am logged in. It also provides a nice summary page of everything I am really interested in.
The results are very different than google analytics. The most accurate way will be if your host provides you access to the serv logs/stats. Programs like AWStats and Webalizer will take those logs and present them all fancified.
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9:46 am
January 2, 2011
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Buck Inspire
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Hey Craig,
My own visits are included, true, but even factoring myself out, the numbers are kind of off. Odd. 
Craig – Free From Broke said:
Just speculating here, but could the higher one be counting your own visits?
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9:47 am
January 2, 2011
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Buck Inspire
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Hey Jaymus,
When I was on the free Wordpress blog, they excluded my own visits. That was nice. I'll look into this plugin, thanks! 
Jaymus (RealizedReturns) said:
I just installed the Wordpress.com Stats plugin yesterday and I already like it. For one, it doesn't count any page views / vists when I am logged in. It also provides a nice summary page of everything I am really interested in.
The results are very different than google analytics. The most accurate way will be if your host provides you access to the serv logs/stats. Programs like AWStats and Webalizer will take those logs and present them all fancified.
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1:59 pm
January 2, 2011
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Buy Like Buffett
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I always see a difference in numbers between WP Stats and Google Analytics. Analytics always has lower numbers.
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3:05 pm
January 2, 2011
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Khaleef @ KNS Financial
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Buy Like Buffett said:
I always see a difference in numbers between WP Stats and Google Analytics. Analytics always has lower numbers.
For me Analytics usually has a higher number of pageviews and search traffic. It's odd how different these programs perform for different sites. Let's just hope that both numbers continue to increase! 
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6:51 am
January 4, 2011
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SavingMentor
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I have read about these discrepencies before and I can't remember what all of the different reasons for it are. However, I do know one possible difference is that Google Analytics javascript needs time to load and it is often positioned at the bottom of the page. If the user backs out or closes the window before that happens, then the visit most likely won't be counted but it should still be counted in your raw log stats.
Anybody else have any more reasons why this happens? I just go by Google Analytics as I don't really have the time to delve any further into it. Oh, I just thought of another one. Google Analytics doesn't count spiders and crawlers as visits either, whereas I think raw logs do count them.
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8:10 am
January 4, 2011
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Buck Inspire
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Yeah, maybe it's better to be conservative and use the Analytics numbers. 
Buy Like Buffett said:
I always see a difference in numbers between WP Stats and Google Analytics. Analytics always has lower numbers.
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8:11 am
January 4, 2011
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Buck Inspire
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You're absolutely right! 
KNS Financial said:
For me Analytics usually has a higher number of pageviews and search traffic. It's odd how different these programs perform for different sites. Let's just hope that both numbers continue to increase!
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8:12 am
January 4, 2011
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Buck Inspire
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Great points. Thanks!
SavingMentor said:
I have read about these discrepencies before and I can't remember what all of the different reasons for it are. However, I do know one possible difference is that Google Analytics javascript needs time to load and it is often positioned at the bottom of the page. If the user backs out or closes the window before that happens, then the visit most likely won't be counted but it should still be counted in your raw log stats.
Anybody else have any more reasons why this happens? I just go by Google Analytics as I don't really have the time to delve any further into it. Oh, I just thought of another one. Google Analytics doesn't count spiders and crawlers as visits either, whereas I think raw logs do count them.
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1:35 pm
January 4, 2011
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uhnw
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I think its got to do with load times. Google is more accurate (at least I think so) but takes a little longer. Over the longer term (a month or more) the two get pretty close.
@buck – if you are anything like me, I can click on my own site 30 or 40 times in a session as I cut and paste bits around the place. If your site is counting your visits, then this might affect it.
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7:17 pm
January 7, 2011
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everydaytips
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I know that the AWStats that I can see on my Cpanel are ridiculously high. I think my statcounter and analytics counts are much more in line with actual visitors.
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12:25 pm
January 10, 2011
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Chris Johnson
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Google Analytics requires Javascript whereas a server side trafic tool like AWStats comes directly from your server log files. AWStats records all activity to a web server no matter what and is a useful tool for analysis. AWStats will include all traffic coming in from search engine crawlers or other tools that fetch webserver data but that do not load Javascript. Feedburner, Google, Bing, all do this, but there are many other tools that exist that crawl websites, especially the bigger you get. So are bad, too. You know, the kind that steal your content.
If there is a huge (and I mean huge discrepency) in what you see on the server compared to Google Analytics, there might be a problem. For example, Yakezie just servived an attempted hacking, and the hacker sent over 15,000 requests in a 3 hour time span (luckily over night) looking for files on the server that it could compromise. AWStats recoreded this activity while Google Analytics did not.
AWStats will record 404 page requests as well, so if Wordpress is not handling 404 Errors (Page not found), then there is no way to see these in Analytics.
Basically, you should use different tools together to get a picture of what is going on with your site, and as you watch these metrics over time, you will be able to see anomolies, which is a good thing. Google Analytics is a great tool and provides a lot of information that some other tools do not. Wordpress Stats is also a great tool. I recommend using tools that DO NOT store their data in your Wordpress database, so both of these are a good option. If your site gets a lot of traffic with a stats plugin that is saving the data locally, your Wordpress DB can double and tripple in size very quickly, thus slowing your site down, raising the overhead on your site, and making your webhost unhappy.
My two cents…
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Yakezie Webmaster.
If it's broke I will try to fix it. If you need help, let me know and I will see what I can do.
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6:07 am
January 19, 2011
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The Financial Blogger
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I think Saving Mentor is right; the different both stats are due to crawlers and spiders. Google analytics will only count "real people". Which is what you are truly looking for, right?
I am a firm believer in Google Analytics as those stats will match my adsense impression and matches as well sitemeter stats.
In the end, my advice would be to pick on stats system, stick to it and look at your progression. It doesn't matter if you have 20 or 50 or 1000 visitors per day. What really matters is that in 6 months from now, you are now at 40, 100 or 2000 ;-)
Since Google Analytics stats are complete (you see which pages are viewed, time avg spent per page, countries, keywords, etc), you have enough information to optimize your stats already.
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6:07 am
January 19, 2011
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The Financial Blogger
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I think Saving Mentor is right; the different both stats are due to crawlers and spiders. Google analytics will only count "real people". Which is what you are truly looking for, right?
I am a firm believer in Google Analytics as those stats will match my adsense impression and matches as well sitemeter stats.
In the end, my advice would be to pick on stats system, stick to it and look at your progression. It doesn't matter if you have 20 or 50 or 1000 visitors per day. What really matters is that in 6 months from now, you are now at 40, 100 or 2000 ;-)
Since Google Analytics stats are complete (you see which pages are viewed, time avg spent per page, countries, keywords, etc), you have enough information to optimize your stats already.
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8:25 am
January 21, 2011
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Invest It Wisely
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I only follow GA statistics myself… and tell it to ignore "logged-in" visits.
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10:34 am
January 25, 2011
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Little House
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Another option is a Site Meter account. They offer a free account that keeps track of visitors. That way you can cross check among the 3 (Google, your host, and Site Meter.) Just a thought. 
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12:33 pm
January 25, 2011
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Buck Inspire
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Post edited 12:34 pm – January 25, 2011 by Buck Inspire
Hey all,
Sorry been running around. Thanks for chiming in. Appreciate it! Extra thanks to Chris and TFB for their detailed explainations. Yes, growth is good. Still trying to make sense of all this web mumbo jumbo.
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