Traffic Analysis

Since web traffic represents the actual usage of a website, analyzing such traffic is key to understanding a site's effectiveness for marketing. Both the range of methods employed and the types of data collected are quite varied. What data is most useful or relevant for deciding the value of a web site is often rigorously analyzed and debated within companies and among site promoters.

The easiest method for analyzing traffic is sifting through a web server's log file. This gives the basic picture of how many web pages and files a user requested from the server. Companies that do not want to do the analysis themselves can add HTML code to their sites that will send the same information contained in the logfile to third-party analyzers.

More controversial is the use of network analyzers, or packet sniffers, that analyze packets of information being sent over a network and extrapolate the information they see to give overall statistics. Although useful for traffic analysis, the software raises privacy concerns and is often used for nefarious purposes, like looking for transmitted passwords. Still another method for traffic analysis is represented by Alexa Internet, which installs a toolbar onto the user's web browser, records what pages are visited, and publishes rankings and statistics online. Although popular, Alexa can give only an incomplete picture of web traffic, as it is limited only to its own users.

There are numerous types of data that can be collected on the use of a web site. The most common are total visits to the site, total pages viewed, and total time spent. Delving deeper, web sites will often want to know which pages are the most popular and consume the most time. Checking the domain name of each user can give critical information about the user's geography and employment, important data for advertising. Finding the referring source of each visit can tip the site to where its users are coming from.