Using LiveStats 6.2
Interpreting access log statistics is a fuzzy activity at best.
Here are some basic facts about what you can tell from the dozens
of reports available to you from our LiveStats server. Click on
the little  button
in the upper right of each section of the report page for help
about the current report. Don't be afraid to try different things
to
see
what you
get.
Terminology
- Access Log
- Every time a request is made from a browser, the web server
software makes a log entry. The entry contains the following
information: IP address of client, date, time, request string,
browser identifier, address of page that contained the link (if
there is one)
- Hits
- Any request to the server. A typical page requests generates
many hits: one for the page, and one for each image or other
media link encoded in the HTML for a page
- Page View
- A request for a page. Does not include the requests for any
images or other implicit links on the page.
- Session
- LiveStat defines a session as all the hits from the same IP
address without 15 minutes going by without a request from that
IP address. So if you visited a site and kept following links
through the whole site
- Referring Sites
- When you click on a link on a page, the address of that parent
page is sent to the server, and is called the referring page.
If you type in an address directly into a browser, there is no
referring
page.
Most Useful LiveStats Reports
The most useful reports are:
- Site Activity -> Visits, Page Views
- Page Reports -> Page Views, Entry Points, Exit Points, Site
Paths
- Referrals Reports -> Referring Sites, Referrals by Entry Point,
Referrals by Search Engine, Keywords, Keywords by Search Engine
The default time period for the displayed reports is the current
week. To change the period, use the date selection widgets at the
top of each report page, possible in combination with the calendar
selector on the left.
Please note the View drop down selector at the top of the report
window, and the Filter report form just under the Day/Week/Month
tabs. They can be used to focus in on a particular section of the
web site or to display new log entries for the particular report.
FAQ
Can I tell what people are visiting the site?
Not really. All the server gets (and logs) is the IP address of
the browser. For dial up accounts this is either a different IP
address every time some one logs in. For others, it is often the
address of a proxy server (all the AOL requests, for example, appear
to come from the several AOL proxy servers. You might be able to
tell if people are accessing the site from larger companies because
the Referring Sites report or rhe Geographic Reports -> By Company
will recognize those IP addresses as belonging to a particular
company's
domain.
back to questions
What is the difference between a hit and a
page view?
A typical page is composed by the browser by making several requests
for the various pieces. The initial request gets the HTML of the
page. The HTML code tells the browser where to get the various
images or other media (flash movies, sounds, etc.) and how to display
them. Each image or other media item generates another request
to the server. Each request is recorded as a hit. If the site has
navigation items that change when you mouse over them, each item
will require two or more hits.
back to questions
How accurate are the reports?
The reports are very imprecise, and so are only good for doing
either comparisons or trend analysis. For sites that generate less
than a thousand page views a day, they are very imprecise. Here
are some of the factors that make them so.
Caching - Not every display of a page by a browser generates a
request to the server. Every browser caches recently visited pages
on your hard drive. So if you visit your site every day, you will
probably not generate any hits unless the pages have changed. Each
request will cause the browser to ask the server for the date and
time of last modification for the page. If the modification information
for the page on the server is not later than that of the page in
cache, it will use the cache page, thus generating no access request.
On a larger scale, most large companies and ISPs cache requests
on their proxy servers in order to reduce traffic on the web. AOL
for example caches pages so that if all 25 million users accessed
the home page of your web site, it would only generate one access.
The rest of the requests would be served out of the AOL proxy server
cache.
Timing - The definition of a session is arbitrary. If someone
accesses your whole site without going 15 minutes without clicking
on a link, it will be recorded as 1 session. If someone visits
your home page, goes and answers a telephone call for 20 minutes
and then visits one more page, it will be recorded as 2 sessions.
back to questions
Any questions, please email us at webmaster@mmcis.com
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