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While virtually every web host provides web site statistics, they can
be pretty daunting. This article explains the basics of what the statistics
mean to a business owner. Charts and graphs that have little non-technical
interest have been omitted.
This is the summary of web site activity for the last 12 months. Much
of this information is only of interest to the web site maintainers. As
a site owner, the important statistics are the Visits and Pages. A Visit
is a customer that looks at a series of pages over a preset period of time.
It is not 100% accurate, but gives you a good indication of how many people
are visiting your site. Pages is short for Page Views, and is the number
of web pages that where viewed by customers over a given time period.
|
| Summary by Month |
|
| Month |
Daily Avg |
Monthly Totals |
| Hits |
Files |
Pages |
Visits |
Sites |
KBytes |
Visits |
Pages |
Files |
Hits |
|
| May 2003 |
12777 |
11817 |
1293 |
221 |
338 |
59801 |
221 |
1293 |
11817 |
12777 |
| Apr 2003 |
182413 |
159110 |
15144 |
2529 |
41225 |
23922084 |
75885 |
454344 |
4773324 |
5472396 |
| Mar 2003 |
226158 |
197542 |
17424 |
2853 |
65293 |
30184704 |
88455 |
540151 |
6123805 |
7010925 |
| Feb 2003 |
158017 |
137119 |
15340 |
2633 |
38996 |
20571456 |
73742 |
429544 |
3839336 |
4424493 |
| Jan 2003 |
206362 |
180223 |
17514 |
2721 |
53413 |
29268776 |
84358 |
542937 |
5586926 |
6397239 |
| Dec 2002 |
171368 |
149834 |
14498 |
2623 |
41295 |
23873558 |
81341 |
449459 |
4644880 |
5312422 |
| Nov 2002 |
232114 |
203882 |
18287 |
3125 |
65936 |
31416625 |
93750 |
548634 |
6116474 |
6963449 |
| Oct 2002 |
123251 |
108606 |
11173 |
2062 |
29177 |
17764349 |
63934 |
346380 |
3366814 |
3820811 |
| Sep 2002 |
99109 |
87809 |
8548 |
1723 |
24348 |
14191266 |
51692 |
256448 |
2634298 |
2973280 |
| Aug 2002 |
94901 |
84219 |
7789 |
1695 |
24381 |
14456511 |
52547 |
241488 |
2610819 |
2941931 |
| Jul 2002 |
93947 |
83187 |
7967 |
1722 |
23578 |
14408943 |
53388 |
246996 |
2578803 |
2912362 |
| Jun 2002 |
98029 |
85140 |
7503 |
1639 |
22946 |
13414170 |
49173 |
225091 |
2554205 |
2940894 |
|
| Totals |
233532243 |
768486 |
4282765 |
44841501 |
51182979 |
|
While much is made of hits, it is really not a very useful measure of
site performance. A picture on the home page is considered a "hit". Double
the number of pictures on the home page, and you double the hits!
Click on any month, and you will get the detailed statistics. Most of
this information is only of interest to techno geeks. The good stuff comes
later.
|
|
Monthly Statistics for April 2003 |
|
| Total Hits |
5472396 |
| Total Files |
4773324 |
| Total Pages |
454344 |
| Total Visits |
75885 |
| Total KBytes |
23922084 |
|
| Total Unique Sites |
41225 |
| Total Unique URLs |
8699 |
| Total Unique Referrers |
13988 |
| Total Unique Usernames |
2 |
| Total Unique User Agents |
224 |
|
|
. |
Avg
|
Max
|
|
| Hits per Hour |
7600 |
25084 |
| Hits per Day |
182413 |
261424 |
| Files per Day |
159110 |
233644 |
| Pages per Day |
15144 |
20302 |
| Visits per Day |
2529 |
3313 |
| Kbytes per Day |
797403 |
1142967 |
|
|
Daily traffic information follows a very regular pattern for most sites.
Traffic peaks on Monday, and trails off slowly during the week, repeating
every week. Promotions and holidays can affect this trend.
|
|
Daily Statistics for April 2003 |
|
| Day |
Hits |
Files |
Pages |
Visits |
Sites |
Kbytes |
|
| 1 |
209791 |
3.83% |
178136 |
3.73% |
16041 |
3.53% |
2403 |
3.17% |
3114 |
7.55% |
869365 |
3.63% |
| 2 |
166777 |
3.05% |
142966 |
3.00% |
12523 |
2.76% |
2030 |
2.68% |
2505 |
6.08% |
752284 |
3.14% |
| 3 |
176309 |
3.22% |
150030 |
3.14% |
13376 |
2.94% |
2151 |
2.83% |
2282 |
5.54% |
724320 |
3.03% |
| 4 |
146773 |
2.68% |
127665 |
2.67% |
12694 |
2.79% |
2133 |
2.81% |
2115 |
5.13% |
634329 |
2.65% |
| 5 |
124478 |
2.27% |
109026 |
2.28% |
10764 |
2.37% |
1957 |
2.58% |
1740 |
4.22% |
547668 |
2.29% |
| 6 |
121790 |
2.23% |
105312 |
2.21% |
11375 |
2.50% |
1923 |
2.53% |
1726 |
4.19% |
518378 |
2.17% |
| 7 |
155515 |
2.84% |
135531 |
2.84% |
12777 |
2.81% |
2307 |
3.04% |
2167 |
5.26% |
685434 |
2.87% |
| 8 |
168364 |
3.08% |
148234 |
3.11% |
13398 |
2.95% |
2429 |
3.20% |
2168 |
5.26% |
734960 |
3.07% |
| 9 |
173107 |
3.16% |
149186 |
3.13% |
13925 |
3.06% |
2133 |
2.81% |
1972 |
4.78% |
708971 |
2.96% |
| 10 |
178531 |
3.26% |
156107 |
3.27% |
14598 |
3.21% |
2194 |
2.89% |
1971 |
4.78% |
776020 |
3.24% |
|
Here again, hourly traffic for most sites reflect the North American
time zones, and doesn't vary much. Under some circumstances (such as a war)
you can see a "super-bowl flush" effect: Traffic will dip during the news
hours.
A URL is geek speak for a web site address. These are the top 30 most
visited pages on your web site. The links are the names of web page files,
and are usually pretty cryptic. On a live stats page, you can click on a
link to see what page it is. Entries that begin with /cgi/ are server side
programs (such as a shopping cart), and will probably give you an error
if you visit them directly.
|
|
Top 30 of 8699 Total URLs |
|
| # |
Hits |
Kbytes |
URL |
|
| 1 |
78735 |
1.44% |
485044 |
2.03% |
/ |
| 2 |
22846 |
0.42% |
60346 |
0.25% |
/cgi/card.cgi |
| 3 |
17819 |
0.33% |
393913 |
1.65% |
/store/store.html |
| 4 |
16676 |
0.30% |
216988 |
0.91% |
/cgi/showcart.pl |
| 5 |
15440 |
0.28% |
257847 |
1.08% |
/cards/cardselect.html |
| 6 |
14280 |
0.26% |
60962 |
0.25% |
/cgi/cardform.cgi |
| 7 |
13211 |
0.24% |
364867 |
1.53% |
/store/closeouts.html |
| |
... |
|
Entry Pages are the web page where a visitor entered the site. If they
entered via a bookmark or a search engine, they may not hit the home page
first. The lone '/' at the top is the home page.
|
|
Top 10 of 2424 Total Entry Pages |
|
| # |
Hits |
Visits |
URL |
|
| 1 |
78735 |
1.44% |
20544 |
26.76% |
/ |
| 2 |
9547 |
0.17% |
7421 |
9.67% |
/cgi/fetch.cgi |
| 3 |
15440 |
0.28% |
3936 |
5.13% |
/cards/cardselect.html |
| 4 |
17819 |
0.33% |
2542 |
3.31% |
/store/store.html |
| 5 |
13211 |
0.24% |
1971 |
2.57% |
/store/closeouts.html |
| 6 |
14280 |
0.26% |
1749 |
2.28% |
/cgi/cardform.cgi |
| 7 |
7362 |
0.13% |
1534 |
2.00% |
/cards/easter/easter.html |
| 8 |
3159 |
0.06% |
1216 |
1.58% |
/furniture/JessicaMcClintock_01.html |
| 9 |
7349 |
0.13% |
1149 |
1.50% |
/store/2b.html |
| 10 |
6149 |
0.11% |
1107 |
1.44% |
/catalogrequest/ordercatalog.html |
|
The Exit Page is the last page visited before the customer left the site.
Note that a large number of visitors enter and leave at the home page, because
they aren't where they wanted to be.
|
|
Top 10 of 2461 Total Exit Pages |
|
| # |
Hits |
Visits |
URL |
|
| 1 |
78735 |
1.44% |
9164 |
11.94% |
/ |
| 2 |
9547 |
0.17% |
6943 |
9.05% |
/cgi/fetch.cgi |
| 3 |
22846 |
0.42% |
3515 |
4.58% |
/cgi/card.cgi |
| 4 |
13211 |
0.24% |
3023 |
3.94% |
/store/closeouts.html |
| 5 |
15440 |
0.28% |
2769 |
3.61% |
/cards/cardselect.html |
| 6 |
14280 |
0.26% |
2630 |
3.43% |
/cgi/cardform.cgi |
| 7 |
6149 |
0.11% |
2198 |
2.86% |
/catalogrequest/ordercatalog.html |
| 8 |
17819 |
0.33% |
2162 |
2.82% |
/store/store.html |
| 9 |
7362 |
0.13% |
1415 |
1.84% |
/cards/Easter/easter.html |
| 10 |
7349 |
0.13% |
1211 |
1.58% |
/store/2b.html |
|
Total Sites is somewhat misleading. This is actually the Internet address
of the visitor. It can be useful in subtracting your own visits to the site
from the total visits, if you have a high-speed connection.
Click here to see your Internet
address.
The entries with a '*' are grouped together. On this chart, there where
97 visits from AOL users, 372 from Time Warner's Road Runner (rr.com) and
so on.
|
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Top 30 of 41225 Total Sites |
|
| # |
Hits |
Files |
Kbytes |
Visits |
Hostname |
|
| 1 |
391083 |
7.15% |
248952 |
5.22% |
1899082 |
7.94% |
97 |
0.13% |
*.aol.com |
| 2 |
286968 |
5.24% |
261888 |
5.49% |
1207975 |
5.05% |
327 |
0.43% |
*.rr.com |
| 3 |
182589 |
3.34% |
129411 |
2.71% |
706858 |
2.95% |
225 |
0.30% |
*.swbell.net |
| 4 |
176287 |
3.22% |
154533 |
3.24% |
738707 |
3.09% |
380 |
0.50% |
*.comcast.net |
| 5 |
119198 |
2.18% |
74777 |
1.57% |
438433 |
1.83% |
152 |
0.20% |
adsl-65-64-120-193.dsl.kscymo.swbell.net |
| 6 |
43122 |
0.79% |
43122 |
0.90% |
0 |
0.00% |
2 |
0.00% |
wup3.lh.net |
| 7 |
12678 |
0.23% |
12677 |
0.27% |
36085 |
0.15% |
1 |
0.00% |
66-108-237-147.nyc.rr.com |
| 8 |
11588 |
0.21% |
11441 |
0.24% |
35350 |
0.15% |
2 |
0.00% |
ca-gle[...]lphia.net |
| 9 |
11174 |
0.20% |
11171 |
0.23% |
32340 |
0.14% |
2 |
0.00% |
c-24-[...]bi.com |
|
The Referrer is the web site that the visitor was on before they came
to your site. Direct request means they typed in the web address and came
straight to the site. This chart can tell you how many came from a search
engine site (such as http://www.google.com/search ), or if there is another
web site that provides a link to your site.
|
|
Top 30 of 1166 Total Referrers |
|
| # |
Hits |
Referrer |
|
| 1 |
93520 |
10.06% |
- (Direct Request) |
| 2 |
17766 |
1.91% |
cgi/fetch.pl |
| 3 |
4366 |
0.47% |
bann.html |
| 4 |
4320 |
0.46% |
bann2.html |
| 5 |
2894 |
0.31% |
select.html |
| 6 |
1872 |
0.20% |
http://www.google.com/search |
| 7 |
1571 |
0.17% |
http://search.yahoo.com/search |
| 8 |
1237 |
0.13% |
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search |
| 9 |
890 |
0.10% |
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx |
|
Search strings are the phrases that at visitor typed into a search engine
to find you. In this case, hits are the number of times that the same phrase
was used. This is vital information for determining how people find you.
|
|
Top 30 of 5099 Total Search Strings |
|
| # |
Hits |
Search String |
|
| 1 |
524 |
4.27% |
victorian trading company |
| 2 |
418 |
3.41% |
jessica mcclintock |
| 3 |
358 |
2.92% |
Victorian papers |
| 4 |
340 |
2.77% |
Easter card |
| 5 |
198 |
1.61% |
www.victoriantradingco.com |
| 6 |
153 |
1.25% |
Victorian trading |
| 7 |
136 |
1.11% |
april cornell |
| 8 |
126 |
1.03% |
Victorian trading co |
| 9 |
107 |
0.87% |
Victorian gifts |
|
| |
User Agent is another name for a web browser. While it is more important
for your developer, it can give you a feel for the technical sophistication
of your visitors. Note that in this example, almost 7% of visitors are using
a very old Netscape browser (Mozilla/4.7 is actually Netscape version 4.7).
If the design of your site is too technically advanced, a visitor may not
be able buy anything, or even navigate the site.
|
|
Top 15 of 224 Total User Agents |
|
| # |
Hits |
User Agent |
|
| 1 |
4920831 |
89.92% |
Microsoft Internet
Explorer |
| 2 |
3278177 |
59.90% |
MSIE 6.0 |
| 3 |
908418 |
16.60% |
MSIE 5.5 |
| 4 |
581322 |
10.62% |
MSIE 5.0 |
| 5 |
381171 |
6.97% |
Netscape |
| 6 |
149747 |
2.74% |
Mozilla/5.0 |
| 7 |
132284 |
2.42% |
Mozilla/4.7 |
| 8 |
66017 |
1.21% |
Mozilla/3.01 (compatible;) |
| 9 |
52982 |
0.97% |
MSIE 4.0 |
| 10 |
52141 |
0.95% |
MSIE 5.1 |
| 11 |
43122 |
0.79% |
WhatsUp_Gold/6.0 |
| 12 |
40288 |
0.74% |
MSIE 5.2 |
| 13 |
15449 |
0.28% |
Scooter/3.3.vscooter |
| 14 |
12799 |
0.23% |
Ask Jeeves/Teoma)" |
| 15 |
11206 |
0.20% |
Mozilla/4.0 |
|
Country of origin of your visitors. Note that foreign visitors need not
be foreign. English speakers reside all over the world.
|
|
Top 30 of 88 Total Countries |
|
| # |
Hits |
Files |
Kbytes |
Country |
|
| 1 |
2465360 |
45.05% |
2170033 |
45.46% |
10310514 |
43.10% |
Network |
| 2 |
1767799 |
32.30% |
1484329 |
31.10% |
8137472 |
34.02% |
US Commercial |
| 3 |
664105 |
12.14% |
598275 |
12.53% |
2882023 |
12.05% |
Unresolved/Unknown |
| 4 |
142577 |
2.61% |
131846 |
2.76% |
624950 |
2.61% |
US Educational |
| 5 |
69351 |
1.27% |
62484 |
1.31% |
309593 |
1.29% |
Canada |
| 6 |
65692 |
1.20% |
59559 |
1.25% |
292932 |
1.22% |
United States |
| 7 |
59347 |
1.08% |
51627 |
1.08% |
263888 |
1.10% |
Non-Profit Organization |
| 8 |
33422 |
0.61% |
31111 |
0.65% |
141936 |
0.59% |
Japan |
| 9 |
28794 |
0.53% |
25299 |
0.53% |
138423 |
0.58% |
US Government |
| 10 |
24057 |
0.44% |
22192 |
0.46% |
128515 |
0.54% |
US Military |
| 11 |
21828 |
0.40% |
19871 |
0.42% |
90483 |
0.38% |
United Kingdom |
| 12 |
17894 |
0.33% |
17122 |
0.36% |
74577 |
0.31% |
Australia |
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