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• Multilingual SEO : A Marketer’s Guide to Measuring and Optimising Multilingual Websites

  26 juin, par Joe

  The web—and search engines in particular—make it easier than ever for businesses of any size to reach an international audience. 

   
  A multilingual website makes sense, especially when the majority of websites are in English. After all, you want to stand out to customers by speaking their local language. But it’s no good having a multilingual site if people can’t find it. 

  That’s where multilingual SEO comes in. 

  In this article, we’ll show you how to build a multilingual website that ranks in Google and other local search engines. You’ll learn why multilingual SEO is about more than translating your content and specific tasks you need to tick off to make your multilingual site as visible as possible. 

  ¡Vamos !

  What is multilingual SEO ? 

  Multilingual SEO is the process of optimising your website to improve search visibility in more than one language. It involves creating high-quality translations (including SEO metadata), targeting language-specific keywords and building links in the target language. 

  

  The goal is to make your site as discoverable and accessible as possible for users searching Google and other search engines in their local language. 

  It’s worth pointing out that multilingual SEO differs slightly from international SEO, even if the terms are used interchangeably. With multilingual SEO, you are optimising for a language (so Spanish targets every Spanish-speaking country, not just Spain). In international SEO, you target specific countries, so you might have a different strategy for targeting Argentinian customers vs. Mexican customers. 

  Why adopt a multilingual SEO strategy ?

  There are two major reasons to adopt a multilingual SEO strategy : to reach more customers and to deliver the best experience possible. 

  

  Reach a wider audience

  Not everyone searches the web in English. Even if non-native speakers eventually resort to English, many will try Googling in their own language first. That means if you target customers in multiple non-English-speaking countries, then creating a multilingual SEO is a must to reach as many of them as possible. 

  A multilingual SEO strategy also boosts your website’s chances of appearing in country-specific search engines like Baidu and Yandex — and in localised versions of Google like Google.fr and Google.de.

  Deliver a better user experience

  Multilingual SEO gives your customers what they want : the ability to search, browse and shop in their native language. This is a big deal, with 89% of consumers saying it’s important to deal with a brand in their own language.

  Improving the user experience also increases the likelihood of non-English-speaking customers converting. As many as 82% of people won’t make a purchase in major consumer categories without local language support. 

  How to prepare for multilingual SEO success

  Before you start creating multilingual SEO content, you need to take care of a couple of things. 

  Identify target markets

  The first step is to identify the languages you want to target. You know your customers better than anyone, so it’s likely you have one or two languages in mind already. 

  But if you don’t, why not analyse your existing website traffic to discover which languages to target first ? The Locations report in Matomo (found in the Visitors section of Matomo’s navigation) shows you which countries your visitors hail from. 

  

  In the example above, targeting German and Indonesian searchers would be a sensible strategy. 

  Target local keywords

  Once you’ve decided on your target markets, it’s time to find localised keywords. Keywords are the backbone of any SEO campaign, so take your time to find ones that are specific to your local markets.

  Yes, that means you shouldn’t just translate your English keywords into French or Spanish ! French or Spanish searchers may use completely different terms to find your products or services. 

  That’s why it’s vital to use a tool like Ahrefs or Semrush to do multilingual keyword research. 

  

  This may be a bit tricky if you aren’t a native speaker of your target language, but you can translate your English keywords using Google Translate to get started. 

  Remember, search volumes won’t be as high as English keywords since fewer people are searching for them. So don’t be scared off by small keyword volumes. Besides, even in the U.S. around 95% of keywords get 10 searches per month or fewer. 

  Choose your URL structure

  The final step in preparing your multilingual SEO strategy is deciding on your URL structure, whether that’s using separate domains, subdomains or subfolders. 

  This is important for SEO as it will avoid duplicate content issues. Using language indicators within these URLs will also help both users and search engines differentiate versions of your site. 

  The first option is to have a separate domain for each target language. 

  • yoursite.com
  • yoursite.fr
  • yoursite.es

  Using subdomains would mean you keep one domain but have completely separate sites :

  • fr.yoursite.com
  • es.yoursite.com
  • de.yoursite.com

  Using subfolders keeps everything clean but can result in long URLs :

  • yoursite.com/en
  • yoursite.com/de
  • yoursite.com/es

  As you can see in the image below, we use subdomains to separate multilingual versions of you site :

  

  While separate domains provide more precise targeting, it’s a lot of work to manage them. So, unless you have a keyword-rich, unbranded domain name that needs translating, we’d recommend using either subdomains or subdirectories. It’s slightly easier to manage subfolders, but subdomains offer users a clearer divide between different versions of your site. 

  If you want to make your site even easier to navigate, then you can incorporate language indicators into your page’s design to make it easy for consumers to switch languages. These are the little dropdown menus you see containing various flags that let users browse in different languages.

  5 multilingual SEO strategies to use in 2024

  Now you’ve got the basics in order, use the following SEO strategies to improve your multilingual rankings. 

  Use hreflang tags

  There’s another way that Google and other search engines use to determine the language and region your website is targeting : hreflang..

  Hreflang is an HTML attribute that Google and other search engines use to ensure they serve users the right version of the page.

  You can insert it into the header section of the page like this example for a German subdomain :

  <link rel=”alternate” href=”https://yourwebsite.com/de” hreflang=”de” />

  Or you can add the relevant markup to your website’s sitemap. Here’s what the same German markup would look like :

  <xhtml:link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”de” href=”https://yourwebsite.com/de/” /> 

  Whichever method you include one language code in ISO 639-1 format. You can also include a region code in ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 format. Note that you can include multiple region codes. A web page in German, for example, could target German and Austrian consumers. 

  Hreflang tags also avoid duplicate content issues. 

  With a multilingual site, you could have a dozen different versions of the same page, showing the same content but in a different language. Without an hreflang tag specifying that these are different versions of the same page, Google may penalise your site.

  Invest in high-quality translations

  Google rewards good content. And, while you’d hope Google Translate would be good enough, it usually isn’t.

  Instead, make sure you are using professional linguists to translate your content. They won’t only be able to produce accurate and contextually relevant translations — the kind that Google may reward with higher rankings — but they’ll also be able to account for cultural differences between languages. 

  Imagine you are translating a web page from U.S. English into Italian, for example. You’ve not only got to translate the words themselves but also the measurements (from inches to cm), dates (from mm/dd/yy to dd/mm/yy), currencies, idioms and more. 

  Translate your metadata, too

  You need to translate more than just the content of your website. You should translate its metadata — the descriptive information search engines use to understand your page — to help you rank better in Google and localised search engines. 

  As you can see in the image below, we’ve translated the French version of our homepage’s title and meta description :

  

  Page titles and meta descriptions aren’t the only pieces of metadata you need to pay attention to. Make sure you translate the following :

  • URLs
  • Image alt tags
  • Canonical tags
  • Structured data markup

  While you’re at it, make sure you have translated all of your website’s content, too. It’s easy to miss error messages, contact forms and checkout pages that would otherwise ruin the user experience. 

  Build multilingual backlinks

  Building backlinks is an important step in any SEO strategy. But it’s doubly important in multilingual SEO, where your links in your target language also help Google to understand that you have a translated website. 

  While you want to prioritise links from websites in your target language, make sure that websites are relevant to your niche. It’s no good having a link from a Spanish recipe blog if you have a marketing SaaS tool. 

  A great place to start is by mining the links of competitors in your target market. Your competitors have already done the hard work acquiring these links, and there’s every chance these websites will link to your translated content, too.

  

  Don’t forget about internal linking pages in the same language, either. This will obviously help users stay in the same language while navigating your site, but it will also show Google the depth of your multilingual content.

  Monitor the SEO health of your multilingual site

  The technical performance of your multilingual pages has a significant impact on your ability to rank and convert. 

  We know for a fact that Google uses page performance metrics in the form of Core Web Vitals as a search ranking factor. What’s more, research by WP Rocker finds that a side loading in one second has a three times better conversion rate than a site loading in five seconds. 

  With that in mind, make sure your site is performing at optimal levels using Matomo’s SEO Web Vitals report. Our SEO Web Vitals feature tracks all of Google’s Core Web Vitals, including :

  • Page Speed Score
  • First Contentful Paint (FCP)
  • Final Input Delay (FID)
  • Last Contentful Paint (LCP)
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

  The report displays each metric in a different colour depending on your site’s performance, with green meaning good, orange meaning average, and red meaning poor.

  

  Check in on these metrics regularly or set up custom alerts to automatically notify you when a specific metric drops below or exceeds a certain threshold — like if your Page Speed score falls below 50, for example. 

  How to track your multilingual SEO efforts with Matomo

  Matomo isn’t just a great tool to track your site’s SEO health ; you can also use our privacy-focused analytics platform to track your multilingual SEO success.

  For example, you could use the report to focus your multilingual SEO efforts on a single language if searches are starting to rival English. Or you decide to translate your most trafficked English keywords into your target languages, regardless if a tool like Ahrefs or Semrush tells you whether these keywords get searches or not.

  If you want to analyse the performance of your new language, for example, you can segment traffic by URL. In our case, we use the segment “Page URL contains fr.matomo.org” to measure the impact of our French website. 

  We can also track the performance of every language except French by using the segment “Page URL does not contain fr.matomo.org”.

  You can use Matomo to track your Keyword performance, too. Unlike search engine-owned platforms like Google Analytics and Google Search Console that no longer share keyword data, Matomo lets users see exactly which keywords users search to find your site in the Combined keywords report :

  

  This is valuable information you can use to identify new keyword opportunities and improve your multilingual content strategy. 

  For example, you could use the report to focus your multilingual SEO efforts on a single language if searches are starting to rival English. Or you decide to translate your most trafficked English keywords into your target languages, regardless if a tool like Ahrefs or Semrush tells you whether these keywords get searches or not.

  For international brands that have separate websites and apps for each target language or region, Matomo’s Roll-Up Reporting lets you keep track of aggregate data in one place. 

  

  Roll-Up Reporting lets you view data from multiple websites and apps as if they were a single site. This lets you quickly answer questions like :

  • How many visits happened across all of my multilingual websites ?
  • Which languages contributed the most conversions ?
  • How does the performance of my Spanish app compare to my Spanish website ?

  Is it any wonder, then, that Matomo is used by over one million sites in 190 countries to track their web and SEO performance in a privacy-friendly way ?

  Join them today by trying Matomo free for 21 days, no credit card required. Alternatively, request a demo to see how Matomo can help you track your multilingual SEO efforts. 

• Getting small file size from ffmpeg [duplicate]

  20 février 2020, par sukach

  I am not an ffmpeg expert. I am trying to get some movies converted to a smaller DIVX file for a cheap portable DVD player for a family trip. The movies are for my kids so I’m not too concerned about quality.

  The DVD player is a 10.1", 1024x600 screen. It says it supports DIVX/MPEG2 files. It took me a lot of experimentation to get the right ffmpeg settings to even get it to work, but I found another answer that provided a very complex set of parameters that ultimately worked.

  I have converted about 20 movies with this setting and every one results in a file size of 1.1GB. I have tried different file sizes and crf settings and it is the same every time.

  Here is an example. First, the original file :

  General
  
  Complete name                            : Charlotte's Web.m4v
  
  Format                                   : MPEG-4
  
  Format profile                           : Base Media / Version 2
  
  Codec ID                                 : mp42 (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
  
  File size                                : 4.17 GiB
  
  Duration                                 : 1 h 36 min
  
  Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
  
  Overall bit rate                         : 6 161 kb/s
  
  Movie name                               : Charlotte's Web
  
  Performer                                : Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey, Cedric the Entertainer, Reba McEntire, Kathy Bates, Robert Redford, Thomas Haden Church, André Benjamin, Dominic Scott Kay, Sam Shepard, Abraham Benrubi, Dakota Fanning, Kevin Anderson, Essie Davis, Siobhan Fallon, Louis Corbett, Robyn Arthur, Julian O'Donnell, Gary Basaraba, Nate Mooney, Nicholas Bell, Beau Bridges, Teague Rook, Julia Zemiro, Denise Kirby, Robert Plazek, Joseph Lotesto, Michael Roland, Don Bridges, Ian Watkin, Joel McCrary, Brian Stepanek, Fred Tatasciore, Bradley White, Maia Kirkpatrick, Jennessa Rose, Briana Hodge, Dale Azzopardi, Geoff Burgess, Ella Scott Lynch, Greg Marian, Stefano Mazzeo, Elizabeth Saunders
  
  Director                                 : Gary Winick
  
  Actor                                    : Julia Roberts / Steve Buscemi / John Cleese / Oprah Winfrey / Cedric the Entertainer / Reba McEntire / Kathy Bates / Robert Redford / Thomas Haden Church / André Benjamin / Dominic Scott Kay / Sam Shepard / Abraham Benrubi / Dakota Fanning / Kevin Anderson / Essie Davis / Siobhan Fallon / Louis Corbett / Robyn Arthur / Julian O'Donnell / Gary Basaraba / Nate Mooney / Nicholas Bell / Beau Bridges / Teague Rook / Julia Zemiro / Denise Kirby / Robert Plazek / Joseph Lotesto / Michael Roland / Don Bridges / Ian Watkin / Joel McCrary / Brian Stepanek / Fred Tatasciore / Bradley White / Maia Kirkpatrick / Jennessa Rose / Briana Hodge / Dale Azzopardi / Geoff Burgess / Ella Scott Lynch / Greg Marian / Stefano Mazzeo / Elizabeth Saunders
  
  Screenplay by                            : Karey Kirkpatrick / Susannah Grant / Earl Hamner / Jr. / E.B. White
  
  Producer                                 : Julia Pistor / Jordan Kerner / Paul Neesan / Edgar M. Bronfman / Bernard Williams / Tony Winley
  
  Genre                                    : Comedy
  
  ContentType                              : Short Film
  
  Description                              : Wilbur the pig is scared of the end of the season, because he knows that come that time, he will end up on the dinner table. He hatches a plan with Charlotte, a spider that lives in his pen, to ensure that this will never happen.
  
  Recorded date                            : UTC 2006-12-15 11:00:00
  
  Encoded date                             : UTC 2017-01-23 02:37:54
  
  Tagged date                              : UTC 2017-01-24 01:19:52
  
  Writing application                      : HandBrake 1.0.1 2016122900
  
  Cover                                    : Yes
  
  LongDescription                          : Wilbur the pig is scared of the end of the season, because he knows that come that time, he will end up on the dinner table. He hatches a plan with Charlotte, a spider that lives in his pen, to ensure that this will never happen.
  
  ContentRating                            : mpaa|G|100|
  
  
  
  Video
  
  ID                                       : 1
  
  Format                                   : AVC
  
  Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
  
  Format profile                           : High@L4
  
  Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
  
  Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
  
  Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames
  
  Codec ID                                 : avc1
  
  Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
  
  Duration                                 : 1 h 36 min
  
  Bit rate                                 : 5 691 kb/s
  
  Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
  
  Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
  
  Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
  
  Frame rate mode                          : Variable
  
  Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
  
  Minimum frame rate                       : 23.974 FPS
  
  Maximum frame rate                       : 23.981 FPS
  
  Color space                              : YUV
  
  Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
  
  Bit depth                                : 8 bits
  
  Scan type                                : Progressive
  
  Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.114
  
  Stream size                              : 3.86 GiB (92%)
  
  Writing library                          : x264 core 148 r2708 86b7198
  
  Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=22.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=25000 / vbv_bufsize=31250 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
  
  Encoded date                             : UTC 2017-01-23 02:37:54
  
  Tagged date                              : UTC 2017-01-23 02:37:54
  
  Color range                              : Limited
  
  Color primaries                          : BT.709
  
  Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
  
  Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709
  
  Menus                                    : 4

  Here is the first encode settings :

  ffmpeg -i "$1" -sn -c:a libmp3lame -ar 48000 -ab 128k -ac 2 -c:v mpeg4 -crf 24 -vtag DIVX -vf scale=1024x600:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease -mbd rd -flags +mv4+aic -trellis 2 -cmp 2 -subcmp 2 -g 30 -vb 1500k "$2"

  And the resulting mediainfo :

  General
  
  Complete name                            : Charlotte's Web (2006) - DIVX.avi
  
  Format                                   : AVI
  
  Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
  
  Format profile                           : OpenDML
  
  File size                                : 1.11 GiB
  
  Duration                                 : 1 h 36 min
  
  Overall bit rate                         : 1 644 kb/s
  
  Movie name                               : Charlotte's Web
  
  Director                                 : Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey, Cedric the Entertainer, Reba McEntire, Kathy Bates, Robert Redford, Thomas Haden Church, André Benjamin, Dominic Scott Kay, Sam Shepard, Abraham Benrubi, Dakota Fanning, Kevin Anderson, Essie Davis, Siobhan Fallon, Louis Corbett, Robyn Arthur, Julian O'Donnell, Gary Basaraba, Nate Mooney, Nicholas Bell, Beau Bridges, Teague Rook, Julia Zemiro, Denise Kirby, Robert Plazek, Joseph Lotesto, Michael Roland, Don Bridges, Ian Watkin, Joel McCrary, Brian Stepanek, Fred Tatasciore, Bradley White, Maia Kirkpatrick, Jennessa Rose, Briana Hodge, Dale Azzopardi, Geoff Burgess, Ella Scott Lynch, Greg Marian, Stefano Mazzeo, Elizabeth Saunders
  
  Genre                                    : Comedy
  
  Recorded date                            : UTC 2006-12-15 11:00:00
  
  Writing application                      : Lavf57.56.100
  
  
  
  Video
  
  ID                                       : 0
  
  Format                                   : MPEG-4 Visual
  
  Format profile                           : Simple@L1
  
  Format settings, BVOP                    : No
  
  Format settings, QPel                    : No
  
  Format settings, GMC                     : No warppoints
  
  Format settings, Matrix                  : Default (H.263)
  
  Codec ID                                 : DIVX
  
  Codec ID/Info                            : Project Mayo
  
  Codec ID/Hint                            : DivX 4
  
  Duration                                 : 1 h 36 min
  
  Bit rate                                 : 1 500 kb/s
  
  Width                                    : 1 024 pixels
  
  Height                                   : 576 pixels
  
  Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
  
  Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
  
  Color space                              : YUV
  
  Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
  
  Bit depth                                : 8 bits
  
  Scan type                                : Progressive
  
  Compression mode                         : Lossy
  
  Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.106
  
  Stream size                              : 1.02 GiB (91%)
  
  Writing library                          : Lavc57.64.100

  Here was my attempt at a smaller file size (lower crf and smaller scale setting) :

  ffmpeg -i "Charlotte's Web.m4v" -sn -c:a libmp3lame -ar 48000 -ab 128k -ac 2 -c:v mpeg4 -crf 30 -vtag DIVX -vf scale=800:480 -mbd rd -flags +mv4+aic -trellis 2 -cmp 2 -subcmp 2 -g 30 -vb 1500k "Charlotte's Web (2006) - DIVX 2.avi" 

  And the resulting mediainfo :

  General
  
  Complete name                            : Charlotte's Web (2006) - DIVX 2.avi
  
  Format                                   : AVI
  
  Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
  
  Format profile                           : OpenDML
  
  File size                                : 1.11 GiB
  
  Duration                                 : 1 h 36 min
  
  Overall bit rate                         : 1 643 kb/s
  
  Movie name                               : Charlotte's Web
  
  Director                                 : Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey, Cedric the Entertainer, Reba McEntire, Kathy Bates, Robert Redford, Thomas Haden Church, André Benjamin, Dominic Scott Kay, Sam Shepard, Abraham Benrubi, Dakota Fanning, Kevin Anderson, Essie Davis, Siobhan Fallon, Louis Corbett, Robyn Arthur, Julian O'Donnell, Gary Basaraba, Nate Mooney, Nicholas Bell, Beau Bridges, Teague Rook, Julia Zemiro, Denise Kirby, Robert Plazek, Joseph Lotesto, Michael Roland, Don Bridges, Ian Watkin, Joel McCrary, Brian Stepanek, Fred Tatasciore, Bradley White, Maia Kirkpatrick, Jennessa Rose, Briana Hodge, Dale Azzopardi, Geoff Burgess, Ella Scott Lynch, Greg Marian, Stefano Mazzeo, Elizabeth Saunders
  
  Genre                                    : Comedy
  
  Recorded date                            : UTC 2006-12-15 11:00:00
  
  Writing application                      : Lavf57.56.100
  
  
  
  Video
  
  ID                                       : 0
  
  Format                                   : MPEG-4 Visual
  
  Format profile                           : Simple@L1
  
  Format settings, BVOP                    : No
  
  Format settings, QPel                    : No
  
  Format settings, GMC                     : No warppoints
  
  Format settings, Matrix                  : Default (H.263)
  
  Codec ID                                 : DIVX
  
  Codec ID/Info                            : Project Mayo
  
  Codec ID/Hint                            : DivX 4
  
  Duration                                 : 1 h 36 min
  
  Bit rate                                 : 1 499 kb/s
  
  Width                                    : 800 pixels
  
  Height                                   : 480 pixels
  
  Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
  
  Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
  
  Color space                              : YUV
  
  Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
  
  Bit depth                                : 8 bits
  
  Scan type                                : Progressive
  
  Compression mode                         : Lossy
  
  Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.163
  
  Stream size                              : 1.02 GiB (91%)
  
  Writing library                          : Lavc57.64.100

  Same file size but lower resolution.

  Any ideas on what the best settings to achieve my goal ?

• How to Choose a GDPR Compliant Web Analytics Solution

  2 mars 2022, par Matthieu Aubry — Privacy

  Since the launch of GDPR, one big question has lingered around with uncertainty – is Google Analytics GDPR compliant ? The current GDPR enforcement trend happening across the EU is certainly shedding some light on this question.

  Starting with the Austrian Data Protection Authority’s ruling on Google Analytics and more recently, CNIL (the French Data Protection Authority) has followed suit by also ruling Google Analytics illegal to use. Organisations with EU-based web visitors are now scrambling to find a compliant solution.

  The French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) has already started delivering formal notices to websites using Google Analytics, so now is the time to act. According to CNIL, organisations have two options :

  1. Ceasing use of the Google Analytics functionality (under the current conditions) 
  2. Use a compliant web analytics tool that does not transfer data outside the EU

  Getting started 

  For organisations considering migrating to a compliant web analytics tool, I’ve outlined below the things you need to consider when weighing up compliant web analytics tools. Once you’ve made a choice, I’ve also included a step-by-step guide to migrating away from Google Analytics. This guide is useful regardless of which GDPR compliant analytics provider you choose.

  Before getting started, I recommend that you document your findings against the following considerations while reviewing GDPR compliant Google Analytics alternatives. This document can then be shared with your Data Protection Officer (DPO) to get their final recommendation.

  10 key considerations when selecting a GDPR compliant web analytics tools

  Many tools will claim to be GDPR compliant so it’s important that you do your due diligence and review tools against the following considerations. 

  1. Where does the tool store data ? 

  The rulings in France and Austria were based on the fact that Google Analytics stores data in the US, which does not have an adequate level of data protection. Your safest option is to find a tool that legally stores data in the EU.

  You should be able to find out where the data is stored in the organisation’s privacy policy. Generally, data storage information can be found under sections titled “Subprocessors” and “Third-party services”. Check out the Matomo Privacy Policy as an example. 

  If you’re unable to easily find this information or it’s unclear, reach out to the organisation for more information.

  2. Does the tool offer anonymous tracking ?

  Anonymous tracking comes with many benefits, including :

  • The ability to track visitors without a cookie consent screen. Due to the privacy-respecting aspect of cookieless tracking, you don’t need to worry about the extra steps involved with compliant cookie banners.
  • More accurate data. When visitors deny tracking cookies, you lose out on valuable data. With anonymous tracking there is no data lost as you don’t need consent to track.
  • Simplified GDPR compliance. With this enabled, there are fewer steps you need to take to get GDPR compliant and stay GDPR compliant.

  For those reasons, it may be important for you to select a tool that offers anonymous tracking functionalities. The level of anonymous tracking you require will depend on your situation but you should look out for tools that allow you to :

  • Disable fingerprinting 
  • Disable user profiles 
  • Anonymise data
  • Cookieless tracking

  If you want to read more about data anonymization, check out this guide on data anonymization in web analytics.

  3. Does the tool integrate with my existing tech stack ?

  You’ll want to ensure that a new web analytics tool will play well with other tools in your tech stack including things like your CMS (content management system), eCommerce shop, etc. You should list out all the existing tools that currently integrate with your Google Analytics and check that the same integrations can be re-created with the new tool, via integrations or APIs.

  If not, it could become costly trying to connect your existing tech stack to a new solution.

  4. Does the tool offer the same features and insights you are currently using in Google Analytics ? Or more, if necessary ? 

  Just because you are moving to a new web analytics platform, doesn’t mean you have to give up the insights, reports and features you’ve grown accustomed to with Google Analytics. Ensuring that a new platform provides the same features and reports that you value the most will result in a smoother transition away from Google Analytics.

  It’s unlikely that a new tool will have all of the same features as Google Analytics, so I’d recommend listing out and prioritising your business-critical features and reports. 

  If I had to guess, you probably set up Google Analytics years ago because it was the default option. Now is your chance to make the most of this switch from Google Analytics and find a tool that offers additional reports and features that better aligns with your business. If time permits, I’d highly recommend that you consider other features or reports that you might have been missing out on while using Google Analytics.

  Check out this comparison of Google Analytics vs Matomo to see side-by-side feature comparison.

  5. Does the tool accept Google Analytics data imports ? 

  The historical data in Google Analytics is a critical asset for many businesses. Fortunately, some tools accept Google Analytics data imports so you don’t lose all of the data you’ve generated over time.

  However, it’s important to note that any data you import from Google Analytics to a new tool needs to be compliant data. I’ll cover this more below.

  6. Does the tool provide conversion tracking exports ? 

  Do you invest in paid advertising ? If you do, then tracking the conversions from people clicking on these paid ads is critical in assessing your return on investment. Since sending IP addresses or other personal information to the US is illegal under GDPR, we can only assume that this will also apply to advertising pixel/conversion tracking (e.g., Facebook pixel, Google Ads conversion tracking, etc). 

  As an example, Matomo offers conversion tracking exports so you can get a better understanding of ad performance while meeting privacy laws and without requiring consent from users. See how it works with Matomo’s conversion tracking exports. 

  7. How will you train up your in-house team ? Or can you hire a contractor ?

  This is a common concern of many, and rightfully so. You’ll want to confirm what resources are readily available so you can hit the ground running with your new web analytics tool. If you’d prefer to train up your in-house team, check the provider’s site for training resources, videos, guides, etc.

  If you’d rather hire an external contractor, we recommend heading to LinkedIn, reaching out to your community or asking the provider if they have any recommendations for contractors.

  In addition, check that the provider offers technical support or a forum, in case you have specific questions and need help.   

  8. Does the tool offer self-hosting ? (optional)

  For organisations that want full control over their data and storage location, an on-premise web analytics tool will be the preferred option. From a GDPR perspective, this is also the easiest option for compliance.

  Keep in mind that this requires resources, regular maintenance, technical knowledge and/or technical consultants. If you’re unsure which option is best for your organisation, check out our on-premise vs cloud web analytics comparison breakdown.

  Find out more about self-hosting Matomo.

  9. Is the tool approved by the CNIL for tracking without consent ?

  This is an important step for websites with French users. This step will help narrow down your selection of tools. The CNIL offers a programme to identify web analytics solutions that can be used without tracking consent. The CNIL’s list of recommended web analytics tools can act as your starting point for solutions to review.

  While this step is specific to sites with French users, it can also be helpful for websites with visitors from any other EU country.

  Benefits of consent-free tracking

  There are many benefits of tracking without consent.
  

  For one, it simplifies GDPR compliance and reduces the chances of GDPR breaches and fines. Cookie consent screens have recently been the target for EU Data Protection Authorities because many websites are unknowingly serving cookie consent screens that do not meet GDPR requirements. 

  Yet another benefit, and quite possibly the most important is more accurate data. Even if a website displays a user-friendly, lawful consent screen, the majority of users will either ignore or reject cookie consent. Legally website owners can’t track anything unless the visitor gives consent. So not having a cookie consent screen ensures that every visit is tracked and your web analytics data is 100% accurate. 

  Lastly, many visitors have grown fatigued and frustrated with invasive cookie consent screens. Not having one on your site creates a user-friendly experience, which will likely result in longer user sessions and lower bounce rates.

  10. Does the tool offer a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) ? 

  Technically, any GDPR compliant web analytics tool should offer a DPA but for the sake of completeness, I’ve added this as a consideration. Double check that any tools you are looking at provide this legally binding document. This should be located in the Privacy Policy of the web analytics provider, if not reach out to request it.

  As an example, here’s Matomo’s Data Processing Agreement which can be found in our Privacy Policy under Subprocessors. 

  That wraps up the key considerations. When it comes to compliance, privacy and customer data, Matomo leads the way. We are looking forward to helping you achieve GDPR compliance easily. Start your free 21-day trial of Matomo now – no credit card required.

  Try Matomo Cloud

  A step-by-step guide to migrating from Google Analytics

  Once you’ve identified a tool that suits your needs and your Data Protection Officer (DPO) has approved, you’re ready to get started. Here’s a simple step-by-step guide with all the important steps for you to follow :

  1. Before getting started, you should sign or download the Data Processing Agreement (DPA) offered by your new web analytics provider.

  2. Register for the new tool and configure it for compliance. The provider should offer guides on how to configure for GDPR compliance. This will include things like giving your users an easy way to opt-out of all tracking, turning on cookieless tracking or asking users for consent and anonymizing data and IP addresses, for instance.

  3. Inform your organisation about the change. Whether your colleagues use the tool or not, it’s important that you share information about the new tool with your staff. Let them know what the tool will be used for, who will use the tool and how it complies with GDPR. 

  4. Let your DPO know that you’ve removed Google Analytics and have implemented the new tool.

  5. Update your records of processing activities to include the new tool.

  6. Update your privacy policy. You’ll need to include details about the web analytics provider, where the data is stored, what data is being collected, how long the data will be stored and why the data is being collected. The web analytics tool should readily have this information for you.

  As an example, if you decide to use Matomo as your web analytics tool, we provide a Privacy Policy template for you to use on your site and a guide on how to complete your privacy policy under GDPR with Matomo. Note that these are only applicable if you are using Matomo.

  In addition, if the tool has an opt-out feature, you will also need to put the opt-out into the privacy policy (e.g., when using cookieless tracking).

  7. Now, the exciting part. Add the tracking code to your site by following the steps provided by the web analytics tool. 

  If you’re not comfortable with this step, the provider should offer steps to do this and you can share this with your web developer.

  8. Once added, login to your tool and check to see if traffic is being tracked.

  9. If your tool does not offer Google Analytics data imports or you do not need the historical data in your new tool, go to step 11. 

  To plan for your Google Analytics data migration, you’ll first need to establish what historical data is compliant with GDPR.

  For example, you shouldn’t import any data stored beyond the retention period established in your Privacy Policy or any personally identifiable information (PII) like IP addresses that aren’t anonymised. Discuss this further with your DPO.

  10. Once you’ve established what data you can legally import, then you can begin the import. Follow the steps provided by your new web analytics solution provider.

  11. Remove Google Analytics tracking code from your site. This will stop the collection of your visitors data by Google as well as slightly increase the page load speed.

  If you still haven’t made a choice yet, try Matomo free for 21-days and see why over 1 million websites choose Matomo.