Awstats vs Google Analytics – which is better?

Without diving too much the technical aspects of Google analytics and Awstats I will attempt to make this post as easy to understand as possible. Awstats as of 2013 uses something called log file analysis meaning they track any record of activity or traffic occurring on your websites web server. Google analytics on the other hand uses page tagging which basically means they track the visits of any person with web browser such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox etc.

Awstats and website traffic

Most places that sell junk web traffic will refer their customers to Awstats and the reason they do this is because in many instances their (the junk web traffic company) web traffic won’t be recognized by Google Analytics because either their traffic is computer generated or it’s locked inside of frames to get an example of what I mean click here. This type of traffic won’t always be recognized by Google Analytics however Awstats will typically record web traffic data such as this.

So which is better Awstats or Google Analytics?

As far as the bottom line or making money is concerned in my opinion Google Analytics recorded traffic is far superior than that of Awstats. If people are viewing your traffic and they don’t have a web browser chances are they’re being paid to visit your website and if they’re not being paid and they view your website inside a frame chances are they will be very skeptical about your products or services also there is a stronger chance that some of this web traffic is fake generated from proxy servers.

This is why certain types of web traffic have low conversion rates you also have to think in terms of the mind frame of the customer. Google Analytics uses their tracking system because it knows most of the people that use it will be running an e-commerce type website. Awstats on the other hand is more for people that want to know all activity happening on their server. Both have purpose and truth be told both should be considered by the webmaster.

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To learn more about Awstats visit http://awstats.sourceforge.net/docs/awstats_glossary.html

To learn more about Google Analytics visit http://www.google.com/analytics/features/index.html