Google Analytics

[mbrady]

Looks like Google just released a new free tool called Google Analytics. Looks like it could be an interesting alternative to the popular StatCounter service that many use for tracking visitor traffic. I just signed up and added the script to my site, but the reports aren't quite real-time so I'm not yet sure how it'll all work out. I'm leaving my StatCounter script on there too so I can do some comparisons.

(A quick disclaimed - I don't work for Google or StatCounter)

[bwg]

i just added it to mine too, but i dont think that google counted on being slashdotted as they are going back and forth between being very slow and being in "maintenance" mode.

the power of slashdot strikes again.

Looks like Google just released a new free tool called Google Analytics. Looks like it could be an interesting alternative to the popular StatCounter service that many use for tracking visitor traffic. I just signed up and added the script to my site, but the reports aren't quite real-time so I'm not yet sure how it'll all work out. I'm leaving my StatCounter script on there too so I can do some comparisons.

(A quick disclaimed - I don't work for Google or StatCounter)

[mbrady]

Just thought that I'd add that it works the same way as StatCounter (you add a special Javascript block to your page), so it still won't be able to track things that link directly to an image URL. Only the Smugmug servers would be able to provide that sort of information.

[Andy]

Please please please put the code in the right place:

In your header or footer of your co-branding.

Thanks guys :deal

[Richard]

Looks like Google just released a new free tool called Google Analytics. Anybody have a link to the download page? Yeah, I tried Googling for it, but I didn't see it. :dunno

Thanks.

[Andy]

Anybody have a link to the download page? Yeah, I tried Googling for it, but I didn't see it. :dunno

Thanks.

Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/)

[Richard]

Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/) I think you just broke the record for quick customer service. Way to go, Andy. :clap:clap

[Mike Lane]

Please please please put the code in the right place:

In your header or footer of your co-branding.

Thanks guys :deal
:agree Thanks Andy!

[Mike Lane]

I for one welcome our new internet overlords.

[jfriend]

Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/)If you are thinking about signing up for this, you should probably WAIT a bit. Unlike a typical Google launch, they seem to be having major problems today. Perhaps they are getting swamped by the new demand. It does look like a useful service and I will probably replace my statcounter with them if it works well when things settle down (right now I have both in my page).

[mbrady]

If you are thinking about signing up for this, you should probably WAIT a bit. Unlike a typical Google launch, they seem to be having major problems today. Perhaps they are getting swamped by the new demand. It does look like a useful service and I will probably replace my statcounter with them if it works well when things settle down (right now I have both in my page).
Yes, it seems VERY bogged down at the moment!

[portellimagery]

It says they are already upgrading accounts... they move fast!!

Micheal

[mbrady]

It says they are already upgrading accounts... they move fast!!

I think that's code for "Oops! We underestimated the public interest in this and our servers are massively swamped - quick add more servers to the cluster!" :wink

[Mike Lane]

MUCH zippier now! I can't wait to start getting data. It sounds like there basically aren't any limits to the amount of data you can have. I like statcounter but come on, a log file of 100? I can't do much with that.

[portellimagery]

Initially I started with statcounter because of the 100 log, but moved to StatsSheet because they would give you 10,000 log. So far Google is looking great and i too are looking for data to appear. I wonder if it is always going to take this long? StatsSheet works pretty fast at showing the information.

Micheal

[Mike Lane]

Initially I started with statcounter because of the 100 log, but moved to StatsSheet because they would give you 10,000 log. So far Google is looking great and i too are looking for data to appear. I wonder if it is always going to take this long? StatsSheet works pretty fast at showing the information.

Micheal
I'm thinking that it's just going to be the first 12 hours of data gathering that will take so long. After that everything should be peachy. At least I hope so.

[bwg]

ok, so it's been over 12 hours for me and no data.

anyone have anything yet?

[portellimagery]

No data yet here. I believe the 12 hours might be good under normal circumstances, but since this is new and it was obvious that there servers were swamped yesterday, it might take longer. I know I am anxious to play with it.

[bwg]

it's not Mike's 12 hours. On the google site itself it says that data will be available within 12 hours.

No data yet here. I believe Mike's 12 hours might be good under normal circumstances, but since this is new and it was obvious that there servers were swamped yesterday, it might take longer. I know I am anxious to play with it.

[portellimagery]

Okay, I just saw Mike mention the 12. I didn't see it stated on the site, but then again I didn't look either :) But my previous statement stands, that under normal circumstances, but yesterday wasn't (Google wasn't prepared for the massive signup)

Micheal

[Mike Lane]

Nothing yet here... :dunno

[portellimagery]

Too bad it couldn't email us when the inital processing was complete, that way it would save me (and I assume others) the time of keep checking.

[dbooth80]

Please please please put the code in the right place:

In your header or footer of your co-branding.

Thanks guys :deal
Still having a little trouble getting the code in the right spot. Putting in the "header" part doesn't seem to get it whether google says it's supposed to go. In the co-branding page, it specifically says "this is not the code that goes inbetween the <head> tags" above the "header" box. I've put it in the footer, but google doesn't seem to recognize it (it status 'status unkown')

Any suggestions? Where exactly should the code go? And is there anything else I need to do with it?

[portellimagery]

Either the header or the footer should work. I put my code in the header and google had no problem validating it.

Micheal

[jfriend]

Still having a little trouble getting the code in the right spot. Putting in the "header" part doesn't seem to get it whether google says it's supposed to go. In the co-branding page, it specifically says "this is not the code that goes inbetween the <head> tags" above the "header" box. I've put it in the footer, but google doesn't seem to recognize it (it status 'status unkown')

Any suggestions? Where exactly should the code go? And is there anything else I need to do with it?You can just past the exact code into your footer. That's what I did.

When you go to the main Google Analytics page for your account, if it says "Check Status", you can click on that and the resulting page should say: "Waiting for Data: Analytics has been successfully installed...".

If you tell us what your site is that you've put the analytics code in, we can look and see if it is installed properly. In the future, you might want to put your smugmug site in your dgrin proflie. I would have already looked and already reported back to you if I could have found your site there.

[Mike Lane]

:agree

I put it in the footer and google told me everything was okay. I put it in the header of my blog and google liked it just the same.

[dbooth80]

[QUOTE=jfriend]You can just past the exact code into your footer. That's what I did.

Seems to be working now....though still waiting for data, of course.

[mbrady]

Nothing yet here... :dunno
Me either, and it's been over 24 hours. I'm assuming it's due to the initial crush of users overwhelming their servers.

[Mike Lane]

Uh, hello?

Google?

You there yet?

:dunno

[bwg]

I got data! man is this thing cool!

[portellimagery]

You are right this is cool. I was hoping it would be. Google seems to have a good track record of doing things very well. I like that plotting on the map.

[portellimagery]

Okay, here is a question. On my secondary theme creating site, if I put the google code in the header or footer, I lose the themed elements where I put the code. For example, if I put it in the header, my themed header disappears. There is no cusomization on this site other than my themes. When I put it in the javascript section, everything seems to work okay. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

[bwg]

view source.

when you put something in the header and footer box, you lose #header_wrapper and #footer_wrapper

Okay, here is a question. On my secondary theme creating site, if I put the google code in the header or footer, I lose the themed elements where I put the code. For example, if I put it in the header, my themed header disappears. There is no cusomization on this site other than my themes. When I put it in the javascript section, everything seems to work okay. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

[portellimagery]

Okay thanks. I will leave it in the javascript section until I figure out how not to lose them.

[portellimagery]

For anyone interested about how long it may take new data to appear once you get your inital report, I found this....

Report data is generally updated once an hour, but data may sometimes take up to six hours to appear in your account.

[bwg]

just put this in your cobrand footer code with the javascript:

<div id="footer_wrapper"></div>

Okay thanks. I will leave it in the javascript section until I figure out how not to lose them.

[pat.kane]

On a pro account, which URL do you tell Google to track, e.g.,

www.koalaplayhouse.com
koalaplayhouse.smugmug.com

or does it matter? Thanks.

[mbrady]

On a pro account, which URL do you tell Google to track, e.g.,

www.koalaplayhouse.com (http://www.koalaplayhouse.com)
koalaplayhouse.smugmug.com

or does it matter? Thanks.
I set mine up to track www.ruama.com, but I've found that it also catched traffic that end up in ruama.smugmug.com too, so you should be covered either way.

[mbrady]

So I'm getting some data now too and am amazed at the variety of reports that Analytics offers (most of which I have no use for since I'm not really running a business, I'm just curious about the traffic).

However, Analytics seems to be missing the main report I look at with StatCounter, and that's the Visitor Paths reports. I like to see who has hit my site and the path they take (which photos and galleries they go to - with handy clickable URLs so I can up what page they were looking at). Google Analytics doesn't seem to have anything like that report, which is very disappointing. Either that or I just missed it, but I'm pretty sure I looked at every report. Oh well...

[cwphotos]

So.....what am I doing wrong??? I put it in the header, then in the footer and then in the javascript portion but tracking still says unknown. What gives? Did you guys have to modify your code??

[portellimagery]

Cw,
I didn't have to modify the code. I only needed to add something to my michealportellsite to avoid losing my theme footers (thanks Bigwebguy :thumb) On my portellimagery site, I just placed it in the footer and away I went. Sorry to hear you are having problems.

Micheal

[mbrady]

So.....what am I doing wrong??? I put it in the header, then in the footer and then in the javascript portion but tracking still says unknown. What gives? Did you guys have to modify your code??
I didn't have to do anything out of the ordinary. I pasted the Google code into my Footer section right after the StatCounter script that was already there. I have no further custom HTML or scripts after the Google Analytics code, but it doesn't seem like that would matter.

[Mike Lane]

freaking finally I've got stats. Actually maybe I did before, my main page still says waiting for data even though I've got a ton of stats. So far it's really great.

I'm thinking this thread should be moved to MYOB...

[Mike Lane]

So I moved it.

[pat.kane]

So.....what am I doing wrong??? I put it in the header, then in the footer and then in the javascript portion but tracking still says unknown. What gives? Did you guys have to modify your code??
I'm not getting any loving from Google either. I thought maybe I just needed to give it time to kick in, but several hours later I'm getting "Tracking Unknown -- The Google Analytics tracking code has not been detected on your website's home page."

The code is there. I'll just let it sit for another day to see if anything happens.

[pat.kane]

I set mine up to track www.ruama.com (http://www.ruama.com), but I've found that it also catched traffic that end up in ruama.smugmug.com too, so you should be covered either way.
Thanks! It's not working for me yet, but at least I know it isn't attributable to this.

[dbooth80]

I'm not getting any loving from Google either. I thought maybe I just needed to give it time to kick in, but several hours later I'm getting "Tracking Unknown -- The Google Analytics tracking code has not been detected on your website's home page."

The code is there. I'll just let it sit for another day to see if anything happens.
Mine said the same thing for a while. Just give it some time and it will probably work itself out.

[blackwaterstudio]

I've pasted the code into both my header and footer with now luck. Anyone know whats up and why google can't find it?

[Mike Lane]

I've pasted the code into both my header and footer with now luck. Anyone know whats up and why google can't find it?
It's not in both your header and footer at the same time right?

[blackwaterstudio]

It's not in both your header and footer at the same time right?
Right, tried on both, the header and the footer and neither one of them would work.

[Nikolai]

I put the script into SM footer section and also into S*E header section (according to their spec). None of them generated any single hit so far, and both show "unconfirmed" status..:dunno

[Mike Lane]

Hrm...

I'm looking at my daily stats and they were going strong until around 1400 yesterday and then they flatlined to 0.

I get about 1300 to 1400 hits a day so I know that isn't fo' realz yo.

Happend on my blog too (the blog's got the code where google says to put it). So far not very good I have to say.

[rainforest1155]

Initially I started with statcounter because of the 100 log, but moved to StatsSheet because they would give you 10,000 log.As google is not yet working and has no visitor paths like Statcounter has I had a look at StatsSheet. Looks quite good and it seems to be very similar to Statcounter.
One thing bugs me though - it doesn't seem to have the blocking cookie feature where you can create a cookie on your browser and it will not log the visits from it independently from the IP. Very useful for me as I'm on a dynamic IP ISP.
Are you on a static IP or how do you deal with the problem of your own management visits in combination with StatsSheet?

Thanks,
Sebastian

[blackwaterstudio]

Well I'm not sure what happened, but I left both for about 12 hours came back and it had verified itself so both my SM and my blog are being counted now.

[mbrady]

As google is not yet working and has no visitor paths like Statcounter has I had a look at StatsSheet. Looks quite good and it seems to be very similar to Statcounter.
One thing bugs me though - it doesn't seem to have the blocking cookie feature where you can create a cookie on your browser and it will not log the visits from it independently from the IP. Very useful for me as I'm on a dynamic IP ISP.

I agree that the missing visitor path and blocking cookies are big missing features. I sent off a note to them about adding a visitor path feature.

[jfriend]

I agree that the missing visitor path and blocking cookies are big missing features. I sent off a note to them about adding a visitor path feature.Is Google analytics actually working for anyone yet? I installed on Tuesday and still no data of any kind. It still has the message about waiting 12 hours.

[Richard]

Is Google analytics actually working for anyone yet? I installed on Tuesday and still no data of any kind. It still has the message about waiting 12 hours. John,

It may be working for you. Ignore the waiting for data and waiting 12 hours messages and just click on View Reports. I have been seeing reports for several days but the "waiting" messages have not gone away.

Hope this works for you as well.

Cheers,

[JimM]

I put the Google code in last night and it still tells me

"Tracking Unknown
The Google Analytics tracking code has not been detected on your website's home page. For Analytics to function, you or your web administrator must add the code to each page of your website. "

Did anyone else have this and it then started working, or do I need to do something different? When I view the source of jimmitte.smugmug.com I see the google code.

[mbrady]

Is Google analytics actually working for anyone yet? I installed on Tuesday and still no data of any kind. It still has the message about waiting 12 hours.
Still seems like it's very bogged down. Since Tuesday, my log data has only been updated twice (the first report took almost 2 days to appear).

[JimM]

I just got my first report... less than 24 hours. Though, the main page still tells me there is no data, when I click on the report there is.

[KeithH]

Google has created a waiting list now to sign up for this new service. It must really be getting bogged down. I guess that accounts for some of the trouble people have been having.

[Mike Lane]

I would say that analytics has not been their most brightly shining moment. I bet there are a lot of frantic people over at google on a daily basis.

[Baldy]

I would say that analytics has not been their most brightly shining moment.Yeah, the early pains are a pain but I think it's one of the most important products they've announced. I don't think they realized how much in demand it would be. And it's a very difficult problem to solve because the volume of data is so high.

But I'm confident they'll scale to meet the demand and when they do this will be sweet.

[JimM]

I will tell you that the code only seems to work when I place it in my footer. It doesn't register data in my header.