Web Analysis Tools

Web analysis tools are used to check the visitor behaviour of a website. They make the complex data collected by servers and clients graphically visible and thus legible.

General Information

There are numerous web analytics tools for different areas and different budgets. In principle, web analysis tools can be distinguished in terms of technology, free or commercial use and a certain thematic orientation. The technology used is either cookie-based or logfile-based, but hybrid solutions are also available. Enterprise solutions are designed exclusively for particularly large web projects and are therefore expensive.

Free web controlling software usually focuses on non-commercial use and makes it easier for website operators with smaller projects to get started. Some web analytics tools place particular emphasis on privacy by encrypting, shortening and clearly separating collected data from personal information. Probably the most famous tool for website analysis is Google Analytics, which is used by more than 80% of website operators who use a traffic analysis tool - although Google Analytics is regularly criticized for its privacy policy.

Google has the largest market share in the field of web analytics compared to other providers. However, more and more solutions are being presented that also allow efficient tracking, which also sets higher standards in terms of data protection than is the case with Google.

Examples of web anaylsis tools

1.) Free systems:

• Google Analytics
• Eanalytics
• Piwik
• Open Web Analytics

2.) Fee-based systems:

• Adobe Digital Marketing Suite
• IBM Marketing Center
• AT Internet
• Etracker
• NeuroBayes

When selecting a web analysis tool, various aspects have to be considered. Aside from ensuring that use of the tool is compliant with data protection regulations, you need to find a tool suitable for your own requirements. What is the goal of the website? Which content do I want to track and optimize? Which KPIs are suitable for my project? Or: Can my analysis tool divide the user numbers into segments and display click paths? Is the entire funnel displayed? The available analysis tools differ considerably depending on the requirements.

Practical Use

When using web analysis software, the integration of source code is the first step. Code snippets must be placed in the HTML documents so that software, server and client can exchange data. Some solutions also offer interfaces that allow data to be exported - the larger the data, the more useful an API is. Each website must inform its users about the use of cookies. For example, a corresponding passage should be noted in the imprint in order to ensure legal certainty. At the same time, the settings in the software should be checked for this.

Significance for search engine optimization

SEO is not conceivable without web analysis tools. If you want to optimize your content and want to know which sources visitors came from, you cannot avoid using such software. However, there are also experts who don't think much of the partly vague data of the analysis software, because the data collected on visitor behaviour is often only part of the actual traffic by a unique user.

It is not easy to track users who surf anonymously, do not use cookies and leave hardly any traces on the net. KPIs such as Page Impressions and visits are also not very meaningful. A decisive factor in the selection of a software should therefore be to what extent the software reflects the actual user behavior.