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Google Analytics vs CPanel Analytics conflict

by sylviad
11 replies
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Hi,

Can someone explain why I get different visitor numbers with GA vs what my host analytics shows?

According to google, one of my sites only had 1 visit over 2 months (Feb-Mar), but my site stats show I've had over 2,000 unique visitors.

What does this mean?

GA indicates that it is tracking this site, so I don't get it. Since it's only showing one visit, I cannot get the best keywords or anything.

In fact, GA isn't showing much of anything for any of the 5 sites I have listed there.

This particular site is Natural Anxiety Remedies, which has over 100 external links pointing to it, according to opensiteexplorer.org.

Can anyone provide any insight?

Thanks.

Sylvia
#analytics #conflict #cpanel #google
  • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
    I couldn't find the GA code before the /body tag, so used ctrl + f to look for a couple small parts of it on 3 different pages of the site. Firefox couldn't find it either.

    I don't use WP so not sure if you add it manually or with a plug in, but something went wrong with that.
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  • Profile picture of the author kjhosein
    Yup, Lloyd's right - the Google Analytics code doesn't seem to be embedded in your pages.

    Although there are plugins to help you add it into your WordPress site, an easy way to go would be just to modify the footer.php template file (available in most straightforward WP themes) and insert the Javascript code in there.
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    • Profile picture of the author sylviad
      Thanks guys,

      You are right, I have been using the Google Analytics WP plugin which worked fine with one of my other sites.

      According to GA, it is tracking (has a green checkmark), so perhaps it's not inserted properly and tracking right. It does show 1 visit - so it did something.

      Maybe just doing as you say will make things a lot simpler and correct. I didn't know how to do that before.

      So I look for the footer page in the theme and insert the code before the /body tag. I can do that.

      Thank you.

      Sylvia
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      • Profile picture of the author sylviad
        In rechecking my GA account, it would seem that it was working, because if I change the setting to 1 year, rather than 1 month, it shows 22 visits which is still ridiculously wrong.

        For instance, it's unbelievable to me that after doing a major article marketing campaign since January that my site would only see one visitor between Feb. 22 and March 25.

        Is it possible for GA to miss the visits even if my GA for this site is working? My host account stats do show 29361 visitors since April 2010, and 2,258 this March alone?

        The site is relatively new - I think about 1 year.

        The only thing I can think of is that GA is not tracking all pages - just one internal page with lower visits.

        Sylvia
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  • Profile picture of the author Sue McDonald
    Google Analytics is one of the best tools and I found it very easy to put in my wordpress blog.
    Yes ensure that you have installed it correctly.
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveJohnson
    Sylvia, the asych tracking code should go in the <head> section, just before the closing </head> tag, not in the footer.

    The old urchin code went in the footer to ensure that tracking didn't cause page loading problems if the Big G servers were slow.
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    • Profile picture of the author sylviad
      Oh. I thought I read that it should be in the footer? On GA, I think.

      Well, I changed the plugin and reapplied the GA account ID. When I open Source, it shows the google script for GA near the bottom, so it is there now. I'm just not sure exactly where that is - the footer, I'd imagine. Hard to tell with all the script code in the source file.

      So now I have to wait 24 hours, I guess, to make sure it's still receiving data.

      I'm still mind-boggled that it's not showing the visits on any of my sites that comes anywhere near matching my host stats, which are like, 1000+. My oldest site, 10 years old, is only showing 28 visits. That's preposterous!

      I'm beginning to think there's some weird gremlin out there messin' with my sites and sales.

      Sylvia
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveJohnson
    You're using the asynchronous analytics code. Check on the GA site for the proper placement, I think you'll find it goes in the head section.
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  • Profile picture of the author kjhosein
    Yah, Steve's right. I didn't want to over-complicate things for you just yet. Putting either the new or old analytics tracking code in the footer would have been safe.

    You can read more about the new asynchronous code straight from Google:
    What is the Google Analytics Asynchronous Tracking Code? - Analytics Help
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    • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
      Originally Posted by sylviad View Post

      The only thing I can think of is that GA is not tracking all pages - just one internal page with lower visits.
      That was my first thought too. Maybe the plug in just inserted the code in one page, but it wasn't there at all on the 3 pages I checked, so it is completely missing from at least those and GA won't be able to track them.

      Besides that if it is just a single page it explains your topic title problem perfectly.

      Originally Posted by kjhosein View Post

      Yah, Steve's right. I didn't want to over-complicate things for you just yet. Putting either the new or old analytics tracking code in the footer would have been safe.

      You can read more about the new asynchronous code straight from Google:
      What is the Google Analytics Asynchronous Tracking Code? - Analytics Help
      Agree, and that link is the page I read a few months ago about the async code. I use it didn't bother switching it to the the head and it has been working fine.

      There was another page of info that mentioned it should be in the head for a special case, and that special case was something I wasn't worried about. I think it was because a dial up user might leave the page before it loaded to the GA at the end of it. Mine have enough content that if the person left that fast, they weren't interested anyway.

      I'm reluctant to add stuff to the head because it then takes content longer to load. If I ever do have to do something precise with GA I'll check the info again, but for now I leave it just before </body>

      But I'm always happy to learn. If anyone knows a good reason not to do that, do let us know too.
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      • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
        PS It's simple to tell from your GA page. The content overview, bottom right will have the pages listed that GA knows about. That might be good to know if you are inserting the code with a plug in. You can check that page after and make sure it didn't get the code twice.
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