Web analytics is the primary skill needed to evaluate the data of a website or even a mobile application. “It is the process of measuring, collecting, analyzing, and producing reports on navigation and interaction data with the aim of understanding and optimizing the use of websites and pages on the Internet.” Wikipedia
WebAnalytics is to Digital Marketing what BI is to an ERP; no matter how many assumptions an organization makes about the profile of users accessing the site or even about the media investments made across all channels, it will always be through it that assumptions are transformed into mathematics and logic under the light of performance indicators interpretation.
What are performance indicators?
They are relative mathematical quantities that serve to score the degree of satisfaction of an item; they are widely applied in all sciences, but in web analytics, they serve to establish degrees of satisfaction in dimensions related to the user, their behavior on the site, their origin, the content they access, and the expected response objectives called conversion.
How does Web Analytics work?
Through performance indicators, it assists us in the decision-making process regarding modifications to the site, which is why it should always be integrated into all digital marketing strategy activities.
Classification of Web Analytics Tools
There are numerous Web Analytics tools with different proposals, but they primarily divide into two categories regarding data collection:
Log Analysis
It is based on the information from the user's browser header to record information, running server-side, and does not depend on any client-side technology to store information.
Tag Analysis or Page Tagging
Through a snippet of client-side code, usually JavaScript, the system collects user behavior data; although it depends on client-side functionality, this model tends to be more efficient as it obtains information during user interaction without relying on new requests to the server.
Google Analytics: The Most Popular Web Analytics Tool
Google Analytics is the most widely used web analytics tool in the world, implemented through Page Tagging and has robust reports on all possible dimensions of users, in addition to offering extensive integration with all Google tools and providing customized reports for each site's needs.
Moreover, it has its own solution for Ecommerce called Google Analytics Ecommerce, with comprehensive reports on revenue, average sales ticket, product performance reports, and orders.