Google Analytics
Out of context: Reply #6
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- HAYZ1LLLA0
Some possible answers...
-file caching: if a returning visitor has file caching enabled on his web browser (usually it is the case) the request for the file he already viewed will not be sent to the web server, and he will view a local copy, so awstat will not detect multiple visits some times.
- Page tagging relies on the client (visitor) browser voluntarily providing the analytical information requested. Some browsers disable so me data collection for security reasons.
- Spiders and bots cannot execute google analytics code -- this alone excludes a lot of traffic especially if you have Adsense on your pages.
- Google analytics script sets a persistent cookie to track user's navigation and visits regardless of the IP address -- this is not possible by digging the server logs alone.
- Log spam would show up in your logs but not run the analytics JS.
- People with certain security products may have the JS stripped out of the page and therefore not run it. Especially if they are non-techy and just accept whatever the defaults are.
- Copyright checking bots would show up in your logs but not run the analytics JS. Some of these do their dubious best to pass as a normal user as well.