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Google Analytics - How Accurate is it?

Written by: Abhishek Bhardwaj

Article Overview: After an intensive study and analysis for over 2 months it has been found that Google Analytics is most likely to give you not more than 86% accurate results. Be it your online conversions or on-site goals fulfillment, the tool gives you only a rough idea estimate not the exact estimate. Anyhow, this does not mean that Google Analytics should not be used; it has a lot of added benefits. From this article you'll get to know how we can extract the maximum out of 86% accuracy of Google Analytics.

Google Analytics - How Accurate is it?

Article:
Today, as it is said, that Google is the gateway to Internet and it’s the first page of Internet; I believe that Google is the Internet and so do might a lot of you. You type it and Google will give it to you; not only from search but the add-on services it provides.

Although our discussion is not about what Google is but it’s about what Google is not. My findings tell me that Google is not 100% accurate neither with Search nor with Analytics. Search Engine Optimizers know the fact about Google Search’s accuracy and they would never want me to reveal the secrets. As far as Google Analytics is concerned I think everyone’s looking for answers that are not yet part of Google Analytics’ online help and support. How Accurate is Google Analytics?

For past two months I conducted a couple of simple experiments. I placed a lead capturing page which redirected the user to a “thank-you” page on form completion. I shall not disclose the name of the website on which I placed the form but I’ll definitely share the results.

On analyzing the data over this period of time Google showed “679” conversions for my Lead Capturing goal. This meant that the “thank-you” was hit 679 times as per Google Analytics. But to my surprise the number of records in my database was “792”. I could realize the reasons behind this difference to be the JavaScript used in the analytics code (as many of us believe) or users’ behavior which intends them to exit the browser window before the “thank-you” page gets fully loaded.

I still felt that the JavaScript problem was not a concrete reason for such a big drop-out in the numbers. So, for the second month I planted the Google analytics script in the action event of the submit button. So this meant that whenever someone hits the submit button on successful completion, a goal is accomplished and this increments the number of tracked goals by one. Again the result was as spoofy as the previous one. The tracked goal conversions numbered at 1160 and the actual stored records were 1367.

The calculations actually tell me that Google Analytics is 85.26% accurate. I gave it an 86% accuracy score keeping in mind the JavaScript problem which includes browser incompatibility with JavaScript or any other issues a user might have running scripts.

The results obtained from these simple experiments tell us that what you see is not what you actually got. I think getting a lower estimate is far better than a higher one and then actually recording lesser goal conversions.

Now obviously, questions rise on the reliability of Google Analytics. I believe that relying on Google Analytics is not a mistake. All we need to do is to use this tool only for having estimates and studying the visitor behavior to have plans. In parallel we should also have our own ways of determining goal conversions to most accurate point if not the actual conversions. Using Google Analytics to study new search trends ad on-going demand by the visitors is again a reason to let Google go with an 86% accuracy score. This altogether will help the web-masters community for their better.

So now lets pray for Google Analytics to get better or some equally power alternatives to jump in.

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Article Tags: conversions, Google, Google, Google Analytics



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Re: What I Enjoyed Reading This Week - June 11 - Hi Evan, Thank you for the reading material. I look forward to the general release later this month as outlined in the 'Google Analytics To Add Search Query Data From Webmaster Tools' article. Anything that helps us to understand maximise extra data from Google Analytics can only be of benefit. regards, Mal.
Statcounter / Google Analytics - Hi TheAnonymousMan, I use Google Analytics for my official stats and for my advertisers because you can slice and dice the information into almost anything you like. The only downfall I find is that the information is not live - you have to wait until the next day to get your stats. For live stats I use StatCounter. I also find that their email reports are more convenient than Google's because you get it in the actual email instead of a PDF file which saves time. StatCounter also allows you to send email reports for specific sections. I'm not sure if Google has this functionality built in yet.
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Re: Ranked #1 in just over 7 weeks - Thanks guys. You're right GT. It's jsut a matter of doing what needs to be done. Analytics is starting to show the results a bit too.


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