Statistics, Visitor Tracking, Analysis, Cookies and Data Responsibility
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This article explains how we collect statistics, the tools we use and why.
Why do we need website usage statistics?
Gathering data on visits to a website allows us to study visits from a number of angles:
- Traffic sources: how people arrive on the site (search engines, referring sites, advertising, newsletter campaigns, social networks).
- Information about these people insofar as their anonymity can be guaranteed. Country, town, type of browser, type of device, language, etc.
- Behaviour: which path people take on the site, what actions they take, on which page they arrive and leave, and how long they spend on each page.
This data enables us, for example, to improve navigation, make better decisions about the layout of landing pages or optimise the way the site's internal search engine works.
Why are we talking to you about this?
We have always used analysis tools to measure the effectiveness of our work. We have always done this in order to understand how our work behaves once it has been published and to improve the experience. We support and respect data protection laws and are aware of our responsibility in this area. These changes are an opportunity to question tools and practices.
Cookies and their origin
Cookies are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to privacy issues. A cookie is a browser feature. It allows a site (this one, for example) to store information on your browser (for example, that you want our site in French). We can define how long the cookie is valid for (for example, 3 weeks). So, for the next 3 weeks, every time you load a page on our site, you will send us your preferred language. This allows us to avoid our German site. This technology was invented to guarantee greater respect for privacy. Ironic, when you think of what cookies have become for us today. You have to understand that when they were first proposed, other less temporary identification solutions were being considered. This excellent article on the subject will take you back to the background to the invention of cookies.
Third-party cookie issues
Today, the cookie in our example to store the preferred language is not the reason for the cookie banners. What hinders respect for privacy is the fact that you are tracked from site to site with the help of a cookie from a third-party site, such as Google Analytics. Google can thus identify you and, by analysing your behaviour, can monetise your data by selling your profile and displaying targeted advertising.
Which tool to choose?
As a web agency, we offer our customers several web statistics monitoring tools. It mainly depends on their needs. In the past, we used to install Google Analytics directly, but that's changed. Here are the steps for choosing the right tool:
- First of all, we focus on the KPIs (key performance indicators); the tool must enable them to be measured.
- What priority is given to privacy for users of the website?
- What priority is given to the impact on performance and the overall experience (cookie banner, loading time).
- Is SEA (Search Engine Advertising) present and what need is there for a link with the statistics tool.
Google Analytics, Matomo and Plausible
Today we work with these three solutions depending on the answers to the above points. Google Analytics will be preferred if the site is an eCommerce with advertising campaigns and all the marketing tools. Plausible will be chosen for sites whose KPIs do not require complex tracking, as its solution does not use cookies and guarantees greater respect for privacy. Finally, Matomo will be chosen as an alternative that is as complete as Google Analytics, but guarantees that the data will not be used elsewhere.