Website usage statistics are generally obtained by analysing the server logs. A typical HTTP server log contains in a log entry for each HTTP request (or hit) on the server. This entry will contain information about the web resource requested and the browser to which it was served. Software can be used to analyse and process these log files and provide a picture of the traffic to the website.
- the number of visitors,
- visitor duration and traffic pattern,
- visitor origin including which country, when it can be identified,
- visitor IP address,
- visitors’ technical preferences, such as browser type and version, platform.
This analysis will also indicate:
- traffic peaks and troughs against time of day and day of the week,
- average daily user load,
- what obstacles may turn visitors away,
- which pages get high traffic,
- which directories are getting high traffic,
- which graphic files are acceptable in terms of size and download time,
- type of browsers (user agent) being used.
There is a wide range of software available for processing and analysing the potentially huge amount of raw data contained in web server logs. This ranges from the commercially available Webtrends product family through to ‘shareware’ packages such as Wusage and free software like Analog.
- www.webtrends.com
- www.boutell.com/wusage/
- www.analog.cx
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