MARKETING

What Referral Traffic Is In Google Analytics Have you ever felt lost in the labyrinth of Google Analytics, especially when trying to pinpoint exactly where your traffic is coming from? Navigating the maze of menus and options can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack, leaving you frustrated and unsure if you’re making the most of your traffic data. According to Google, Referral traffic is identified as visitors that arrive at your site from direct links on other websites rather than directly or through searches. Referral traffic is crucial yet often misunderstood. Many marketers share this common predicament, struggling to translate referral traffic into actionable insights. That’s where Abralytics can come in—offering a streamlined, user-friendly alternative that simplifies your analytics needs. Understanding Referral Traffic: Why It Matters Referral traffic isn’t just another metric in Google Analytics; it’s a window into the effectiveness of your online partnerships and the external perceptions of your brand. Recognizing the sources that bring visitors to your site can help you identify which partnerships are fruitful and which platforms you might be overlooking. Here’s what we’ll cover to demystify referral traffic and maximize its potential: Definition and Importance: What referral traffic is and why it should matter to you. Identifying Referral Sources: How to find and analyze your referral traffic data in Google Analytics. Leveraging Referral Traffic: Strategies to optimize and increase traffic from referrals. Abralytics Advantage: How Abralytics simplifies tracking and enhances the insights from referral traffic. Next, we’ll dive into the core of referral traffic, starting with its fundamental definition and importance. You’ll learn not just to track but also to leverage this data to forge stronger relationships and boost your digital marketing strategy. Understanding Referral Traffic: Definition and Why It’s Crucial Many marketers overlook referral traffic, focusing instead on direct visits or search engine traffic. However, understanding where your visitors come from can reveal which external sites are boosting your traffic and which might be leeching your credibility without providing value. Here’s how to make the most of this data: Start by filtering your Google Analytics to view referral traffic sources. This gives you a clear picture of which websites link to your page and how their audiences engage with your content. This information is vital for recognizing high-value partnerships. For instance, a high number of visitors from a niche blog could indicate a strong alignment with that audience, suggesting potential for deeper collaboration or targeted content. Evaluate the quality of traffic from each referral source based on metrics like session duration, bounce rate, and conversions. This assessment helps you distinguish between sources that drive engaged visitors and those that don’t. Create a simple dashboard in Google Analytics to track these metrics regularly, allowing you to quickly spot trends and adjust your strategy accordingly. Use the data to tweak existing campaigns or to inspire new initiatives. For example, if a particular referral source regularly leads to high conversions, consider investing more in similar channels or exploring co-marketing opportunities. A/B testing different referral strategies can help refine what works best for your audience, potentially increasing both traffic and conversion rates. Referral traffic isn’t just a metric to monitor; it’s a strategic tool that, when understood and utilized properly, can significantly enhance your online presence and marketing effectiveness. ‍ Identifying Referral Sources: Navigating Google Analytics Uncovering where your referral traffic originates can seem daunting, but it’s a crucial step in harnessing the full potential of your digital strategy. Here’s how you can effectively identify and evaluate your referral sources: Source: Google Analytics Demo Account Begin by accessing the ‘Acquisition’ section in Google Analytics, then navigate to ‘Traffic Acquisition’ and search ‘Referral’. This report lists the domains that have sent traffic to your website, providing a straightforward view of your referral landscape. Viewing this data allows you to see not just who is sending traffic, but also how much they’re sending, which can be pivotal in assessing the value of your external relationships. For each referral source, analyze key metrics such as page views, average session duration, and bounce rates. These indicators help determine the engagement and quality of the traffic coming from each referring site. You could use a visualization, like a heatmap, to quickly identify which sources are most valuable based on engagement metrics. This visual tool highlights areas of success and opportunities for improvement. Identifying and analyzing your referral sources in Google Analytics allows you to not only understand where your traffic comes from but also how to engage these visitors effectively. By focusing on data-driven insights, you can optimize your marketing efforts to leverage the most beneficial partnerships and channels. ‍ Leveraging Referral Traffic: Enhancing Your Marketing Strategy Once you understand where your referral traffic is coming from and how it behaves on your site, the next step is leveraging this information to optimize your marketing efforts. Here’s how you can actively use referral data to boost your traffic and conversions: Identify which referral sources bring the most valuable traffic—those with high engagement and conversion rates—and focus on building stronger relationships with these partners. This might involve more collaborative content, joint promotions, or shared campaigns. Consider reaching out to these partners for guest blogging opportunities or joint webinars, which can further engage their audience and bring more qualified traffic to your site. Analyze the content preferences of visitors from different referral sources and tailor your content to better suit their interests. This targeted approach can significantly increase relevancy and engagement. If visitors from a particular tech blog engage more with your software tutorials, consider creating more content in this vein or even developing specific features or services based on this feedback. Optimize the paths that visitors take once they arrive via referral links. Ensure that the landing pages are highly relevant and offer clear, actionable information aligned with the interests of the referral traffic. You might create customized landing pages for visitors from specific referral sources. These pages could highlight information or offers that are especially relevant to that

Whatever your industry – healthcare, automotive, travel, or beyond – Analytics can help you get a better understanding of your client behaviour and will help improve your ROI. Surprisingly, many websites with Google Analytics installed don’t have their Goals set up. In this article, we’ll take you through the goals available in Google Analytics and how to use them. We’re excited to share with you everything you need to know about GA Goals and to improve your online business with data-driven decisions. Let’s get started! First, What are Google Analytics Goals? Goals in Google Analytics help you track the different actions performed by users on your website. These actions include visiting a page, submitting a form, buying a product, etc. They also measure the conversion rates of certain goals you set in place. Tracking website goals that are aligned with your business goals can help you understand your marketing effectiveness and profitability. This means, before you can determine the effectiveness of your goals, you first have to determine the kind of actions you want your website visitors to make. Do you want them to make a purchase? To watch a video? Or perhaps to request a quote? These goals are trackable in Analytics. Just click the “Admin” tab. In the View column, click “Goals.” They can be applied to know how many pages users view in a session, the specific pages they visit, or the events they trigger while on your website. Read on to know which goals are available in Google Analytics. Where to Find Google Analytics Goals (Setting Up Your Goals) 1. Go to Google Analytics standard reports 2. In the top right portion, click the “Admin” button 3. Click on “Goals” 4. To set your Goal sets, click “+ New Goal” or Import from Gallery so you can create a new goal. You can also click on an existing goal and simply edit its configuration. The Three Basic Options for Creating Goals in Google Analytics Creating Custom Goals Creating Smart Goals Using a Goal template If you choose option 3. That is, using a Goal template, just select a template from the list and click “Next Step” so you continue setting up your goal. The templates available in Google analytics will help you set actionable goals that follow the standard business objectives. Before saving one goal, you can edit any template field, such as Engagement, Inquiry, Acquisition, or Revenue. Here’s a complete breakdown of the Google Analytics goals you want to build so you can start tracking the metrics that will lead to the success of your business! 5 Google Analytics Goal Types That Are Important To Your Business 1. Destination Goals Destination goals allow you to track users whenever they land on a specific page on your website. Simply enter the URL of any page as your goal and GA will track it as a conversion whenever someone visits that page! Simple, isn’t it? But, how is this destination goal useful for you? Well, this is perfect for tracking how many visitors land on your order confirmation pages, thank you pages, or add-to-cart pages, to name a few. For example, you have a Thank You page on your website. This is the page that a visitor sees after they signed up for your email newsletter. If you set up a destination goal for this URL, you can see the number of people who have subscribed to your newsletter by simply counting the page views. Setting the Destination Goal As you set up the destination goal, there are different settings you can change. First, match the URL type and select from the following: Begins with – If you have more than one page to track, then use Begins with to track all your links. This is also best to use if you have set up custom URLs with UTM tags or codes for your campaigns. Equals to – If you have a specific page to track, then you can select Equals to then add the web address (www.example.com/order-completed  or /order-completed, for tracking. Regular expression – This provides more flexibility when it comes to defining URLs and is ideal if you want to specify segments, filters, UTM codes, subdomains, and more by yourself. Case Sensitive If uppercase or lowercase characters in your URL go to more than one page, make sure to check the case-sensitive box. Usually, it is best to leave this box unchecked. Goal Funnels In URL Destination Goals, this part is useful as it allows you to see how many people move through every step of the marketing process. You will know which page needs fixing, how many people abandon the funnel at a certain step, and many more. A funnel is a series of web pages that lead up to the goal destination. For instance, it may include steps in your eCommerce website’s checkout process that lead to the Thank You page (or goal). But be careful with goal funnels. That’s because they only work when you need your visitors to move through a series of web pages. Keep in mind that visitors seldom follow a clear path when visiting a website. So, creating a goal funnel may not help your business make sense of how visitors are moving from one page to another. Also, Google Analytics tracks visitors in the funnel by default even if people jump into the middle. There you go! Once you have selected the URL match for your destination goal, you may also assign a monetary value for conversion. You can do that in the Value option. This is best for eCommerce websites so it’s easy to track purchases. Once you verified a destination goal and are satisfied with all the settings, click the “Save” button. 2. Duration Goals Duration goals allow you to determine how much time visitors are spending on your website. These goals are useful if you want to track user engagement. For instance, you can see how many users actually stay on the site

So you’ve finally managed to differentiate your metrics from dimensions, and sessions from web page views. And now you’re scratching your head wondering what on earth a Google Analytics hit is? Fear not, the Abralytics team has come to the rescue once again. In this article, we’ll consider the following: What is a Google Analytics hit? What are the 7 categories of hits sent to the Google Analytics servers? Is there such a thing as a hit limit? Where do you find the number of hits sent from your website, blog, or app? ‍ Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels ‍ What Is a Hit in Google Analytics? A hit is any interaction between a user and your website. Google Analytics can monitor this data by attaching a tracking code to website pages. When a tracking code is triggered, a “hit” is sent to Google Analytics servers which in turn analyzes them and turns them into useful reports. Your unique tracking code will need to be added to the HTML of your website. To find your code, open up Google Analytics→Admin→Tracking info→Tracking code The Seven Hits Tracked by Google Analytics Source: Abralytics‍ ‍ * The Social Interaction & E-commerce hits will need to be set up in Google Analytics. Social Interaction: Acquisition → Social → Plug-ins  E-commerce: Admin → Ecommerce settings ‍ What Are Google Analytics Hit Limits? ‍ Photo by Mikael Blomkvist from Pexels The free version of Google Analytics limits the number of hits which can be processed per  property (property is a website, blog, or app). Property limit – 10 million hits per property per month Session user limit – 500 hits per session User level limit – 200,000 hits per day per user Timing hit limit (include site speed hits) – 10,000 hits or 1% of the total number of page views per day Concurrent limit – Limits the number of hits that can be sent concurrently and differs according to the tracker used. Wait, What Happens When I’ve Reached My Hit Limit? Once the limits are reached, Google Analytics will likely implement client sampling to reduce the amount of data sent to Google Analytics, as well as request you to sign up for the paid version called Google Analytics 360.  At this stage, you either settle for less than perfect data taken from samples, fork out a lot of money for the paid version, or will need to consider using an alternative web analytic software. How Can I See the Total Hits on My Property? Because there are limitations, it’s great to know how many hits are taking place on your website or app and plan accordingly. These numbers can easily be found if you open up Google Analytics, click on Admin → Property Settings → Property Hit Volume Source: Google Analytics demo version I’m Still Lost – Is There a Simpler Alternative to Google Analytics? Absolutely! If you’re done with the jargon and complicated reports, consider signing up for Abralytics. It’s easy to install and delivers all the relevant information 20% of the time. A simple report is conveniently delivered to your inbox either daily, weekly, or monthly.

If you are not very familiar with the sources of your website traffic, you might be missing out on a lot of optimization opportunities. ‍ Think about it this way, If you don’t know whether your website traffic comes from social media, or you have no knowledge of the email campaign that generated more signups, you will have almost zero clue on what to optimize. ‍ In fact, the best Digital Marketers understand their traffic sources and can optimize their strategies for better results. ‍ So, in this detailed article, we will break down all the traffic sources available in Google analytics, how they closely relate to medium, and how to build custom sources using parameters. First Thing, What Are Sources In Google Analytics? ‍ If you have a live website, there are chances that your website is receiving traffic, no matter how small. ‍ The traffic can come from searches, social media, other websites, etc, and these domains that send traffic to your websites are called “sources” in Google analytics. ‍ Knowing your traffic sources don’t only tell you where your traffic is coming from, but how people are engaging with your campaign. ‍ You can periodically check your source/medium dashboard to know which traffic source is performing better. ‍ Better off, if you want a done-it-for-you experience, you can switch to Abralytics, an alternative to Google analytics with faster load time, then you can expect to receive AI-based opportunities sent to you. ‍ You get conversion rate and user experience improvement ideas that you can implement for better conversion. ‍ Medium Vs. Sources, What’s The Difference? ‍ Well, in Google analytics, the terms are subject to your website’s traffic and its referral, and as such, they are mostly confused to mean the same thing. ‍ While they closely relate to your website’s traffic, the “medium” of your traffic in Google analytics particularly means the category of your sources. For instance, you can have organic search as your medium, but within that category, your sources can be Google, Baidu, Bing, etc. ‍ List Of Sources Available In Google Analytics ‍ Here are the default sources you will find on your dashboard. ‍ Google Search, Baidu, DuckDuckGo… Etc. ‍ This refers to the traffic coming from an actual search engine. ‍ When people visit your website directly from the search engine result page for the keyword they are searching for, then Google records the source of the traffic with the “search engine name”. ‍ Source: Google Analytics Dashboard ‍ Facebook, Twitter, Instagram… Etc ‍ Just like Google, Baidu and other search engines, Google records any traffic coming from social media platforms. So if your website visitors are coming from Facebook for instance, Google will record the traffic as data from social, which is Facebook.. ‍ Source: Google Analytics Dashboard ‍ CNN.com, nytimes.com, And Other Websites ‍ When people visit your website from other websites like CNN.com, Google categorizes that traffic as referral traffic. ‍ One thing to note here is this, “referrals” isn’t the actual term you will see on your source tab, rather you will see the URL of the website where your traffic is coming from. ‍ Now, you might be asking, what if people type your website URL, or click on your website from a document on their device, what traffic source would that be? ‍ Well, Google has a term for that and they call it “direct” traffic. ‍ What Does Direct Traffic Mean In Google Analytics? ‍ Source: Google Analytics Dashboard Ever looked at your Google Analytics report and scratched your head at the giant chunk of traffic labeled “Direct”? You’re not alone. While it might seem straightforward, “direct” traffic in Google Analytics can be a bit of a mystery. The “Direct” source tells Google that the traffic is coming either from a direct search, a bookmark, or that the original website where the traffic is coming from has little to no data. ‍ Though direct traffic is a nightmare to a lot of digital marketers because of its analytics limitations and so many other reasons, MOZ has nailed a complete guide on how to use advanced analysis and segmentation to understand direct traffic. Direct traffic signifies website visits where Google Analytics couldn’t pinpoint the exact source. In simpler terms, it means someone arrived at your site without going through a search engine, clicking an ad, or following a link from another website. A high percentage of direct traffic might seem like a good thing – people know your brand and are coming straight to you, right? Well, yes and no. While a healthy amount of direct traffic indicates brand awareness, a disproportionately large chunk could indicate missed opportunities to track where your visitors are coming from. Let’s say you run a local bakery with a booming direct traffic percentage. This could be because people are familiar with your name and website, but it might also suggest they’re finding your address through offline sources like flyers or business cards – which wouldn’t be reflected in “direct” traffic. Let’s say you run a local bakery with a booming direct traffic percentage. This could be because people are familiar with your name and website, but it might also suggest they’re finding your address through offline sources like flyers or business cards – which wouldn’t be reflected in “direct” traffic. What Does “Unassigned” Traffic Mean In Google Analytics? Sifting through your Google Analytics report, you might stumble upon a category called “unassigned” traffic. Unlike “direct” traffic, which has a clear explanation, “unassigned” can leave you wondering – where on earth did these visitors come from? GA4 unassigned traffic simply refers to website sessions that Google Analytics couldn’t categorize into any of its standard traffic sources (like organic search, social media, or paid ads). It’s like having a guest at your party but forgetting how they got there! There are a few reasons why traffic might end up unassigned. The most common culprit? Missing or incorrect UTM parameters.

  If you’re a website owner, an editor, or a blogger, then you’ve probably heard of or used Google Analytics. In fact, more than 29.3 million websites have installed Google Analytics in 2012 alone. You can just imagine how much that figure increased in the last decade. ‍ But have you heard about Oribi? It’s a Google Analytics’ competitor that promises a shorter learning curve so you can quickly capture valuable insights in one place for your business. ‍ In today’s post, we’ll find out what Oribi is and whether it’s a better choice than Google Analytics. Let’s start with our head-to-head comparison.   Oribi vs Google Analytics: In Depth-Comparison   ‍ Oribi (Marketing Analytics Tool)   Oribi is an all-in-one marketing analytics that gets you insights to drive conversions and optimize your marketing efforts in general. With its straightforward usage and set-up, smart algorithm, and the right set of features, the tool does pretty much all the heavy lifting for you. After you’re done with the onboarding process, the Oribi web analytics tool will then help you understand your website visitors so you can adjust your marketing efforts based on the data accordingly. It moreover notifies you of essential changes in your data, like platform performance, traffic from specific channels, and significant shift in the conversions. ‍ Just like Google Analytics, you can evaluate and analyze data about your landing pages, blog posts product pages, and videos, and how many have viewed your marketing content within a certain period. You will also know what works, eliminate what wastes your resources, and focus on the conversion drivers.   Google Analytics (Web Analytics Service)   Just in case you need a further introduction about Google Analytics, it is a web analytics service by Google that pretty much does the same as Oribi. It tracks and reports website traffic and provides real-time analytics of user interaction with your platform. ‍ This free website tracking tool collects data to inform you how users arrive on your site, the characteristics of your website’s audience, how many of your website visitors convert, how users interact with your website content, and much more! ‍ Differences Between Oribi and Google Analytics   Oribi tracks 100% of the events on your site automatically   One of the unique characteristics of Oribi that you won’t get with the free analytics tool from Google is event creation. It is capable of tracking 100% of the events on your site automatically. This means, you no longer have to set it up manually or code the interaction of whatever you want to track on your website. Sure, Google Analytics does track page views automatically. However, to do that, you still need to define them manually in Tag Manager or by code. So, don’t be surprised that events that you did not specify will not be tracked. ‍ Rich visual data of your visitors with Oribi’s funnel tracking   Both Google Analytics and Oribi provide you with different ways to optimize your marketing efforts via the funnel tracking feature. A funnel works like a guide path for your visitors. It is mapped out with a certain number of stages, wherein you expect them to follow so you can achieve your business goals. This helps you optimize the experience of your website visitors so they stay longer in the marketing funnel. Your goal is for them to reach the conversion stage. Let’s say, 100 people visited your website. Out of them, 30 repeatedly visited your site, 50 signed up for a newsletter, 10 went down the funnel or converted into sales, and 20 actively clicked on your promotion campaigns. We noticed that Oribi’s funnel tracking provides richer visual data than Google Analytics. It gives you a clear picture of visitors that enter the funnel as well as their activities when they visited your website. As you click on “Create a new Funnel” with Oribi, you can already build actional steps as to what you will expect your visitors to walk through once they visit your website. With the Google track button alone, you have to use Google Tag Manager and set up button tracking with coding. The process is more complicated as there are triggers you have to click on or open your site in debug mode to complete the steps.   Google Analytics is entirely free   Next up, we’ll focus on the price. Oribi’s pricing plan starts at $630 per month, billed annually. This already provides you with channel analysis, six-month data history, allows you to track up to 3 domains, and funnel optimization, among other features. It offers a free trial period for 7 days. All features, such as data analysis, are completely free for one week period. ‍ Still, Google Analytics is free. That’s why website owners call it a “freemium” service because they can use it without paying a monthly charge. You can just pay the recurring fee if you want a more advanced feature from Google Analytics. For that, their pricing then starts at $12,500 per month allowing you to enhance your Google Analytics reports.   Google Analytics has wider outreach   As we compare Google Analytics and Oribi, it wouldn’t be complete without mentioning integration options. While both analytics software allows users to integrate with marketing automation tools, Google Analytics wins when it comes to integration options. ‍ It has wider outreach and you can even create your own integration using the tool’s reporting API. Some key integration tools available in Google Analytics are HubSpot, Databox, Analytics Edge, Facebook, WordPress, Shopify, ActiveCampaign, and Callrail. ‍ Meanwhile, you can integrate Google Analytics with your Google Adwords account. Better customer support with Oribi   Another difference between Google Analytics and Oribi is their customer support. ‍ Oribi is more feature-loaded than the free version of Google Analytics. Plus, you are paying for their service or tools. So, you can expect that you will have a dedicated expert team to provide you with custom reports. They are even available

Why You Should Be Considering a Google Analytics Alternative   Are you struggling to navigate the complexities of Google Analytics 4 just to understand where your website traffic is coming from? According to reddit, you’re not alone. The shift to GA4 has left many marketers feeling lost in a sea of confusing interfaces and less intuitive data, making what should be simple analyses feel like deciphering an ancient script. This frustration is widely shared, as users grapple with the steep learning curve and lack of straightforward reporting that was once a staple of its predecessor. Enter Abralytics—a streamlined, Google Analytics alternative designed to cut through the complexity and bring clarity to your analytics efforts. Imagine GA4 alternative that not only simplifies your data but also enhances your ability to act on it, all without the hassle of endless configuration. With Abralytics, you’re not just overcoming the limitations of GA4; you’re setting a new standard for how data drives your business decisions.   The Case for an Alternative to Google Analytics 4 ‍ Users have become frustrated with GA4, and I don’t blame them‍   The transition to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has not been smooth for many businesses. While GA4 promises advanced features and insights, the reality for most users is a platform that feels more like a step back than a leap forward. This is not just about nostalgia for the old ways; it’s about practicality, efficiency, and accessibility in data analytics. In this blog post, we will delve into several key areas where GA4 may fall short for businesses, and how an alternative like Abralytics could bridge that gap: Complex Setup and Learning Curve: We’ll explore why GA4’s setup and learning curve can be prohibitive for many, especially for those without technical expertise. Data Accessibility and Reporting Issues: Discuss the challenges with data granularity and the creation of meaningful reports in GA4. Privacy and Compliance Concerns: Examine how GA4’s approach to data privacy may not align with all business needs or regulatory requirements. Abralytics as a User-Friendly Alternative: Highlight how Abralytics addresses these issues with its intuitive design and user-centric features. Following these topics, we’ll dive deep into the nuts and bolts of why choosing an alternative might not just be a preference but a strategic necessity for many businesses. Get ready to see how Abralytics can turn the tide on analytics frustrations, offering a clearer, more efficient, and more compliant way to understand your data.   Tackling the Steep Learning Curve of Google Analytics 4 ‍ Google Analytics 4 represents a significant departure from its predecessor, Universal Analytics, in both functionality and user interface. This shift brings with it a set of challenges that can be especially daunting for users without a strong technical background. ‍Completely New Interface: GA4 introduces a completely redesigned interface that, while powerful, is substantially different from what users have grown accustomed to in Universal Analytics. The navigation paths, menu layouts, and even the terminology used are new. This unfamiliarity requires users to essentially relearn the system from scratch, which can be a time-consuming and frustrating experience. Event-Based Tracking Model: Unlike the more straightforward session-based model used by Universal Analytics, GA4 operates on an event-based data model. This means that interactions are tracked as individual events, which offers greater flexibility but also adds complexity. Users must now set up and customize events to track specific interactions, a process that requires a deeper understanding of both the platform and the underlying analytics concepts. Advanced Tagging and Configuration Needs: Setting up GA4 often involves advanced tagging setups using Google Tag Manager or modifying website code to track the correct data. This level of configuration demands technical skills that not all users possess, potentially leading to incomplete or incorrect data collection if not implemented properly. The combination of a new interface, a complex event-based tracking system, and advanced configuration requirements, makes GA4’s setup and learning curve prohibitive for many users, particularly those without technical expertise. This can lead to frustration and potential disengagement with the analytics tool, impacting the ability of businesses to effectively monitor and analyze their online traffic and performance. A google analytics alternative like Abralytics can mitigate this frustration ‍ “Google Analytics was too complicated. I save 2 hours every week with Abralytics.”   Ryan McK – Founder of Subversive Design Agency Start your 30-day free trial No credit card required Cancel anytime Navigating the Complexities of Data Accessibility and Reporting in GA4 Diving into Google Analytics 4 can feel like stepping into a thick fog, where clarity and detail are obscured by complexity. This shift has introduced several significant challenges that impact how users access and report on their data. Reduced Data Granularity: GA4 has moved away from the session-based data model familiar to many users, opting instead for an event-based model. This change, while flexible, often results in less granular data. Users find themselves unable to access the same detailed level of user behavior metrics they depended on in Universal Analytics. The aggregated nature of GA4’s reporting complicates the task of drilling down into the specifics of individual user actions or page-level interactions.‍ Complex Reporting Interface: The interface of GA4 is not just different; it’s more complex. Users accustomed to the straightforward, intuitive reports of Universal Analytics are now met with a platform that requires navigating through a more complicated setup to create meaningful reports. This complexity can be a barrier, especially for those who are not deeply versed in analytics, making it difficult to quickly pull out the insights needed to inform business decisions.‍ Custom Report Creation: While GA4 offers customization in reporting with explorations, this feature is a double-edged sword. The ability to create custom reports, although powerful, demands a higher level of expertise and a deeper understanding of the system. For many users, this means either a steep learning curve or the need to rely on experts, which can delay access to critical data and insights necessary for agile business operations.‍ Inadequate Historical Data Comparison: One of

  In order to analyze the success of your website, you need a reliable analytics tool to track a visitor’s engagement across your site and products. The big question, though, is, which analytics tool is right for you? Before making potentially costly decisions, ensure you’ve found the best analytics solution for your business.  There are a few key considerations. The analytics solution must:  suit your business goals,  be price-friendly relative to your business size, offer advanced analytics solutions relevant to your needs, Allow mutual integration with tons of other marketing tools, comply with data privacy requirements, and  feature an easy-to-use interface.  So, if you’re looking for a top-tier analytics platform and want to compare Piwik with OWA before making a decision, keep reading. ‍ This article compares the two tools and focuses on their similarities, core differences, and which is the best tool for various audience types.   What Is Piwik Analytics (now Matomo)?‍ To begin, the important thing to note is that Piwik is now called Matomo, and “Piwik Pro” is a separate product. In this article, we will focus on Matomo, an open source analytics platform that uses PHP and MySQL to provide extensive information about your website and its visitors. The report also provides: user demographic data browsing patterns interactions with your site’s content the source of your traffic conversion rates (or bounce rates). With this, you can examine what in your marketing funnel increases conversions and what doesn’t. ‍ In addition, Piwik grants you full ownership of the data on your website, so nobody else can access your website’s data without your permission.   Source: Matomo ‍ What Is Open Web Analytics (OWA)?  Open Web Analytics, or OWA, is free, open-source software that lets you track and monitor how users interact with your websites and applications. Besides, OWA offers website owners and developers simple JavaScript, PHP, or REST-based APIs that make it simple to integrate web analytics into their websites. Additionally, the analytics platform has built-in support for tracking websites created using well-known content management systems like WordPress and MediaWiki.   The Core Similarities Between Piwik And OWA   As Google Analytics alternatives, Piwik and OWA have several similar features. Now, let’s have a look at them before discussing their differences.  Open Source Web Analytics  ‍ First, both tools are fully open-source web analytics. So, the code is available for anyone to read and inspect on GitHub. You can read and review it to learn how it works and to ensure that the data is kept private and secure. Because of their transparency and openness, you can trust open-source tools better than proprietary and closed-source ones. Installation And Maintenance  ‍ OWA will need to be installed and maintained on your own server. ‍ Installing your analytics on the same server as your website is usually good. If your site is down, your analytics tool can’t collect any data, so it won’t matter whether the analytics code is functional. Open Web Analytics ‍ Piwik and OWA are both developed in the open to encourage user feedback and suggestions.  ‍ For instance, you can look at the Piwik project’s public roadmap and add (or vote on) your preferred feature recommendation. 100% Data Ownership ‍ With Piwik or OWA, you have complete control and ownership over all website stats and other data collected.  ‍ So, you don’t need to be concerned about anybody else gaining access to the information on your website.  ‍ Unlike Google Analytics, neither visitor’s information nor any behavioral data are shared with or sold to third parties for advertising purposes .  User Tracking Features ‍   ‍Source: OWA ‍ As two of the best Google Analytics alternatives, Piwik and OWA let you see how users engage with your website pages with features like the heatmap tool and click tracking.  ‍ Both tools provide this feature by recording visitor clicks and mouse movements on your web page, the scroll activities of your users, and pinpointing the areas of your sites that your visitors find most useful.   The Core Differences Between Piwik And OWA Besides their user interface and other features, the core differences between Piwik and OWA are as follows:  Pricing Models: Piwik Vs. OWA  ‍ Piwik has two models – Matomo Cloud and Matomo On-Premise. ‍ On the other hand, Open Web Analytics (OWA) has just one plan – Free.  ‍ Piwik (Matomo) On-Premise ‍ This version of Piwik is free. To get started, you need to host it on your web server. However,  you can purchase some extra bundles for better analytics. ‍ Some of these bundles are SEO Web Vitals (starting at $86.67/year), multi-channel conversion attribution (starting at $86.67/year), and Roll-Up reporting (starting at $218.33/year). ‍ Piwik (Matomo) Cloud This version of Piwik is cloud-hosted and comes at a price that varies with your site’s traffic and use. The price ranges from $0(21 Day free trial) to $15,250 annually.  ‍ Open Web Analytics (OWA)  Open Web Analytics is free of charge. To start, you only need to install the tool on your web host.  ‍ With these three easy steps, you can install OWA – download OWA, upload files via FTP, and configure the database name.  ‍ Being a framework has several benefits, one of which is how adaptable OWA is. It can be used on your website or as a part of a web application.    Verdict On Pricing Model‍ Though Piwik offers flexibility with its two plans, Open Web Analytics wins because it’s free, and users enjoy all the analytics and reporting features of a web analytics solution.    Loading Speed: Piwik Vs. OWA ‍ Since both tools are built differently, they vary in how fast your website pages load after you’ve installed OWA or Piwik. ‍ Piwik (Matomo) Matomo.js (Piwik’s JavaScript code) adds 22.8 KB to your website’s page. It is large enough to slow down your website but smaller than Google Analytics (which adds about 45.1KB).  However, Piwik has attempted to address previous difficulties with load speed. They

  In today’s digital world, there are many options for an analytics solution that can help you track, report, and store your website’s analytics data. So, it’s crucial to compare what each has to offer. ‍ Before choosing a web analytics tool for your business, here are some core considerations: ‍ your organizational goals cost relative to your business size user-friendliness of the tool advanced features data privacy loading speed ‍ Read on if you are looking for good analytics tools and want an in-depth Segment vs. Matomo comparison before making up your mind. ‍ This article covers the key differences between these analytics tools – their main advantages, pros and cons and the best tool for different audience types. What Is Segment? ‍ ‍‍Source: Segment Home Page    Segment is an analytics tool that collects, processes, stores, and reports data based on users’ activities on your digital properties like websites, apps, social media, etc. ‍ It is a Customer Data Platform that makes collecting and using visitors’ data from digital properties easy. ‍ You can also integrate data from other analytics tools with Segment to better understand how users interact with your website. This allows you to make better data-driven decisions, track your website’s performance and improve your customer’s experience. ‍ Some of the tools you can integrate with Segment include: ‍ Customer Relations Management (HubSpot, Dynamics, etc.) Email Marketing tools (Sender, MailChimp, etc.) Analytics tools (Abralytics, Google Analytics, Matomo, etc.) Marketing Automation tools (Eloqua, Marketo, etc.) Visualization tools (Google Charts, FusionCharts, etc.) Messaging platforms (Signal, Customer.io, etc.) ‍ Segment provides services for a wide range of professionals such as digital marketers, product managers, website owners, data analysts, data engineers, etc. What Is Matomo Analytics? ‍ Source: Matomo Home Page‍ ‍ Matomo Analytics (formerly Piwik Analytics) is an open-source analytics solution built with PHP MySQL software for tracking and reporting website traffic and how users interact with the site. ‍ Matomo’s data reports inform you about your users, their activities on your site, what marketing channel they came from, and how they convert…or bounce off your website. ‍ So you can see what works and what doesn’t on your marketing funnel to improve conversion. ‍ Also, Matomo gives you complete control over the data on your website. No one else can access your website data without your permission. The Core Similarities Between Segment And Matomo   They both: ‍ perform advanced marketing functions such as conversion tracking and data piping without the need to visit a developer – thereby saving time and stress offer an Application Programming Interface (API) to make communication with developers easier are open-source tools – you can view and inspect their analytics tracker code on GitHub create and use tracking and analytics events like real-time users, user locations, devices, operating systems, etc. feature tags for sending data to a third-party or embedding data from a third party to a website give you 100% data ownership of your analytics data use first-party cookies to identify new users have free and paid versions.   The Core Differences Between Segment And Matomo ‍ Segment and Matomo serve unique purposes. Here is a breakdown of the core differences between them: Primary Function ‍ Segment is a Customer Data Platform and Matomo is a web analytics platform.  ‍ Segment converts data into a general group to aid marketing tool integration. Segment’s primary focus as a CDP is allowing various tools to synergize. ‍ On the other hand, Matomo provides detailed reports on your website, its user, and their relationship. As a web analytics platform, the focus is to track, analyze, and report your analytics data. So, you can gain insight into what to change in your marketing funnel for the best conversion.   Pricing Plans ‍ Segment has three versions – Free, Team and Business. ‍ Source: Segment Pricing Chart  ‍ Free:  ‍ The Free version of Segment costs $0/month and can track up to 1000 visitors per month, 2 sources, and 300+ integrations. ‍ It is ideal for startups and other small businesses. Some businesses using this plan are CodeMakers, Silverbean, etc. ‍ Team: ‍ The Team version of Segments starts from $120/month. It can track up to 10 000 visitors per month, unlimited sources, 1 data warehouse destination, plus the features of the Free version. ‍ It is suitable for small and mid-sized enterprises. Examples of companies using this plan are Logg, AutoPilot, Fast Company, etc. ‍ Business: ‍ The Business version of Segments has custom pricing. So, you pay based on your use. In addition to the features of the Team version, it offers services like Custom Volume, Historical Replay, Single View of Customer, Data Governance, Advanced Roles, and Permissions. ‍ It suits big businesses, large firms, and corporations. Some examples of these companies include IBM, Fox, ClearScore, etc. ‍ Matomo, on the other hand, has two models – Cloud and On-Premise. ‍ Matomo On-Premise: ‍ This Matomo version is free. To begin, you will need to host it on your server. However, you can buy specific bundles to improve your analytics. ‍ Some examples of these bundles are SEO web vitals (starting at $86.67/year), multi-channel conversion attribution (starting at $86.67/year), and Roll-Up reporting (starting at $218.33/year). ‍ Matomo Cloud: ‍ Matomo Cloud is hosted on Matomo’s server, and the price depends on the traffic and usage of your website. The cost ranges from $0 (21-day free trial) to $15,250 yearly. Hosting: ‍ Both tools can be hosted in two ways. ‍ For Segment, the two options are cloud mode and device mode. ‍ Cloud mode: ‍ The Cloud mode is hosted on Segment’s server. In this mode, the sources send data directly to the Segment servers, translating it for each downstream destination before passing it on. ‍ Translation gives a small page size, method count, and a faster load time. ‍ Device Mode: ‍ In this mode, you add a piece of code on your website or mobile app that allows Segment to use the

You’ve set an evening aside to try out a new pasta recipe. You light a fire, pour yourself a glass of wine, and flick through the recipe to see which ingredients you’ll need. One by one you lay them out on the table and soon realize a few key ingredients are missing. You have everything you need to make a delicious pasta sauce, but no pasta.   ‍Photo by Klaus Nielsen from Pexels Will your meal be a success? Probably not. Similarly, to have an effective digital marketing campaign, you need a few essential ingredients which each bring something unique to the table. Semrush and Google Analytics are two powerful SEO tools in your recipe for a killer website. The question is less about which one is better and more about how they work together to form a complete digital marketing campaign. In this article, we will look at what each tool does and how they complement one another. To conclude, we’ll consider which product will best meet the needs of your business. What’s the Difference Between Semrush and Google Analytics? Below is a list of key features of SEMrush and Google Analytics. What is SEMrush? In a nutshell, SEMrush is a SaaS (software as a service) product that specializes in keyword research and competitor analysis. Included in the SEMrush toolkit are the following features: 1. Traffic Analytics Provides you with the traffic estimates of any website. Much like Google Analytics, it includes traffic sources, the average duration of a visit, unique page visits, bounce rate analysis, geolocation, and more. So how does SEMrush differ from Google Analytics? SEMrush allows you not only to analyze your website but your competitor’s websites as well. This competitive analysis shows you which of their strategies are working, as well as areas you can improve on. This information can then be used as a basis for your content marketing campaign and to optimize your website for SEO.   ‍Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexel 2. Organic Research Simply types in the Domain, subdomain, or URL of your competitor, and you’ll be provided with a list of their top organic keywords and their position in search results. With very little effort, you have a ready-to-go list of keywords that you can incorporate into your website’s content. Keywords that you know are competitive and rank well. 3. Keyword Overview The Keyword Overview feature allows you to analyze any keyword or phrase and determine search volume, ranking difficulty, keyword variations, SERP Analysis, and much more. This helps you easily decide which keywords to include in your content and ad campaigns. 4. Link Building Tool Backlinks help site crawlers discover your website and decide which position you’ll rank. SEMrush helps you to find sites that rank well for your chosen keywords, providing you with a list of prospects to reach out to for backlinks. It also allows you to check their domain authority and evaluate how backlinks obtained from them will affect your SEO. 5. Website SEO Audits The Website SEO audit is an impressive feature that helps you analyze how well your website is performing. The audit does over 140 checks to your site, including broken links, duplicate content, crawlability, loading speed, and successful HTTPS implementation. All essential components if you want to impress the Google bots and appear on first-page search results.   Photo by Lukas from Pexels What is Google Analytics? Google Analytics enables you to measure your website’s performance and provides essential information about who your visitors are. Let’s take a look at how GA can be used: 1. Audience Report Tells you the demographics of your visitors, including their average age, gender, and location. As well as what device they use to access your website, whether it be mobile or desktop. Knowing who your customers are will help you customize your campaign to suit their needs. 2. Acquisition Report Indicates the source of your traffic. The report tells you which percentage of visitors came from social media, organic search (typing a keyword or phrase into the search bar), direct search (typing the name of your website into the search bar), or other. When you know how users found your site, you’ll know how effective your marketing methods are. 3. Behavior Tells you how visitors move from one page to the next, the average session duration, which pages are most frequently visited, and bounce rates. (the bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who navigate away from your site after visiting only one page) For example, if a page has a high bounce rate, this is a signal that the content needs to be improved to meet the needs of those who land there. A great user experience is important as it can keep them moving from the Homepage to the check-out cart. 4. Conversions The percentage of visitors who take a certain action while on your site. These actions, or conversions, are entered in Google Analytics as goals that need to be tracked. Examples of conversions are the number of people who fill in a contact form, sign up for a newsletter, or click on a discount voucher. SEMrush vs Google Analytics: Plans and Pricing Comparison   ‍Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels ‍ SEMrush SEMrush is a SaaS product available either for free with limited features or on a monthly subscription: (March 2022) ‍ Google Analytics Semrush & Google Analytics – A Match Made in Heaven? These powerful tools, when used together, provide you with a complete digital marketing picture. Instead of stumbling around in the dark, they give you a clear plan of action. Even if you aren’t a professional marketer or have limited resources, they level the playing field and make it easy for anyone to have a fighting chance at the infamous first-page search results. SEMrush allows you to analyze your competitor’s websites so you can take away which strategies are working well for them and implement them in your campaign. It will help you see areas in

Don’t you love having options? To have the freedom to choose between a donut or apple for lunch, whether you’ll wear a blue or green shirt today or spend your weekend fishing or laying on a beach? ‍ Do we have the same freedom when it comes to web analytics software? Of course we do! ‍ Although when we talk about analytics, which is the first tool that comes to mind? No doubt, Google Analytics. Many businesses aren’t even aware of the host of alternatives available to them which may actually suit their business needs better. ‍ They simply learn to deal with the good, the bad and the ugly of this analytics tool. But have you ever wondered… ‍ Are there alternative analytics platforms out there worth considering? Why should I switch to a google analytics alternative? ‍ Yes! There are many substitutes out there that can rival the world’s favorite free web analytics platform. But why consider an alternative at all? ‍ Why consider an alternative to Google Analytics? ‍ Photo by Vanessa Garcia from Pexels‍ ‍ First and foremost, Google Analytics is not incredibly intuitive. Admittedly, there are many Youtube videos and Google tutorials to help you understand the platform, but most business owners are just too busy to sit for hours learning how to analyze traffic data. Let alone understand how to turn these reports into actionable insights that help you increase your revenue ‍ A second reason why many have recently moved away from Google Analytics is data protection laws. Users don’t want their data to be sold to the highest bidders. And some European countries are considering a ban on Google Analytics in their countries stating that Google Analytics does not sufficiently protect their citizen’s data. ‍ Pricing could also be a deciding factor. Once your business outgrows the free version, you will have to sign up for Google 360. This comes with a hefty price tag of $150,000 per year. That’s a sizable chunk of money to invest in a marketing campaign, and you’ll have to ensure the revenue you gain will be worth the money you invest. If that doesn’t convince you, here are more reasons to consider a google analytics alternative. Don’t be afraid of change! ‍Photo by Thirdman from Pexels ‍ An analytics tool is an essential part of any digital marketing campaign. It tells you who your customers are, how they engage with your site, the success of your ad campaigns and so much more. You must be able to comfortably navigate your analytics tool of choice and understand the reports it gives you. ‍ Although there will always be die-hard SEO specialists out there who swear by Google Analytics, you might be pleasantly surprised by what the competitors have to offer. ‍ Don’t stick with something just because it’s what everyone uses. If Google Analytics meets your needs, great. If it doesn’t, there are many analytics alternatives out there. ‍ How do I find the best alternative for my needs? ‍Photo by Startup Stock Photos from Pexels ‍ The Saas program you choose should be the one which suits your needs best. What works for a blogger, probably won’t work for a large enterprise. What works for an e-commerce site won’t necessarily be the best choice for a brick-and-mortar store. ‍ Here are a few helpful questions to ask before choosing the right Google Analytics alternative for you: ‍ How much am I willing to spend on a website analytics program? Which personal or business goals or metrics would I need to track? What website data would be most relevant to my business? Will the program I choose grow with my business and continue to meet its needs? How tech-savvy am I? Will I, or my staff, need additional training to use the program effectively? How much time and money am I willing to invest in training? Will I outsource the work to a digital marketing agency or SEO specialist? How important is data protection to my company? Do I need reports with only the most relevant information or will I need more advanced web analytics? ‍ Now that you have a clearer idea about what your personal needs are, here is a list of the five best Google Analytics alternatives. Look out for the highlights and key points for each one that can help you choose the best platform for your business. Abralytics ‍ Source: Abralytics‍ ‍ Abralytics has a user-friendly interface that swops complicated jargon-filled reports with ones that are easy to understand. They understand that we’re not all data analytics scientists or SEO specialists – go figure. ‍ It has been designed to integrate with other major platforms like Squarespace, Wix and Shopify to name just a few. If you need help, they’ll even set you up at no additional cost. Highlights Abralytics puts privacy first by replacing cookies with anonymous measurements. The platform is completely GDPR, CCPA and PECR compliant straight out of the box. Abralytics has also put data analysis on a diet. By using lightweight coding this web analytics tool keeps websites speedy and visitors engaged. ‍ ‍Photo by Yan Krukov from Pexels What to keep in mind ‍ Many analytics platforms will offer either a free version with limited features or a paid version with full features and a rather large price tag. The idea behind this is that smaller businesses either don’t need access to higher-end features or that larger companies can afford to fork out a hefty amount for their data reports. ‍ But Abralytics takes a slightly different approach. Regardless of the size of your business, you get unlimited access to all features for under $15/month. This means you pay the same amount, no matter how much traffic your site gets or how much your business grows. ‍ While you can try Abralytics for free for 30 days, there isn’t a free version available for continuous use. Privacy comes at a cost and by not selling your