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• Is Google Analytics Accurate ? 6 Important Caveats

  8 novembre 2022, par Erin

  It’s no secret that accurate website analytics is crucial for growing your online business — and Google Analytics is often the go-to source for insights. 

  But is Google Analytics data accurate ? Can you fully trust the provided numbers ? Here’s a detailed explainer.

  How Accurate is Google Analytics ? A Data-Backed Answer 

  When properly configured, Google Analytics (Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4) is moderately accurate for global traffic collection. That said : Google Analytics doesn’t accurately report European traffic. 

  According to GDPR provisions, sites using GA products must display a cookie consent banner. This consent is required to collect third-party cookies — a tracking mechanism for identifying users across web properties.

  Google Analytics (GA) cannot process data about the user’s visit if they rejected cookies. In such cases, your analytics reports will be incomplete.

  Cookie rejection refers to visitors declining or blocking cookies from ever being collected by a specific website (or within their browser). It immediately affects the accuracy of all metrics in Google Analytics.

  Google Analytics is not accurate in locations where cookie consent to tracking is legally required. Most consumers don’t like disruptive cookie banners or harbour concerns about their privacy — and chose to reject tracking. 

  This leaves businesses with incomplete data, which, in turn, results in : 

  • Lower traffic counts as you’re not collecting 100% of the visitor data. 
  • Loss of website optimisation capabilities. You can’t make data-backed decisions due to inconsistent reporting

  For the above reasons, many companies now consider cookieless website tracking apps that don’t require consent screen displays. 

  Why is Google Analytics Not Accurate ? 6 Causes and Solutions 

  A high rejection rate of cookie banners is the main reason for inaccurate Google Analytics reporting. In addition, your account settings can also hinder Google Analytics’ accuracy.

  If your analytics data looks wonky, check for these six Google Analytics accuracy problems. 

  You Need to Secure Consent to Cookies Collection 

  To be GDPR-compliant, you must display a cookie consent screen to all European users. Likewise, other jurisdictions and industries require similar measures for user data collection. 

  This is a nuisance for many businesses since cookie rejection undermines their remarketing capabilities. Hence, some try to maximise cookie acceptance rates with dark patterns. For example : hide the option to decline tracking or make the texts too small. 

  

  Sadly, not everyone’s treating users with respect. A joint study by German and American researchers found that only 11% of US websites (from a sample of 5,000+) use GDPR-compliant cookie banners.

  As a result, many users aren’t aware of the background data collection to which they have (or have not) given consent. Another analysis of 200,000 cookies discovered that 70% of third-party marketing cookies transfer user data outside of the EU — a practice in breach of GDPR.

  Naturally, data regulators and activities are after this issue. In April 2022, Google was pressured to introduce a ‘reject all’ cookies button to all of its products (a €150 million compliance fine likely helped with that). Whereas, noyb has lodged over 220 complaints against individual websites with deceptive cookie consent banners.

  The takeaway ? Messing up with the cookie consent mechanism can get you in legal trouble. Don’t use sneaky banners as there are better ways to collect website traffic statistics. 

  Solution : Try Matomo GDPR-Friendly Analytics 

  Fill in the gaps in your traffic analytics with Matomo – a fully GDPR-compliant product that doesn’t rely on third-party cookies for tracking web visitors. Because of how it is designed, the French data protection authority (CNIL) confirmed that Matomo can be used to collect data without tracking consent.

  With Matomo, you can track website users without asking for cookie consent. And when you do, we supply you with a compact, compliant, non-disruptive cookie banner design. 

  Your Google Tag Isn’t Embedded Correctly 

  Google Tag (gtag.js) is a web tracking script that sends data to your Google Analytics, Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform.

  A corrupted gtag.js installation can create two accuracy issues : 

  • Duplicate page tracking 
  • Missing script installation 

  Is there a way to tell if you’re affected ?

  Yes. You may have duplicate scripts installed if you have a very low bounce rate on most website pages (below 15% – 20%). The above can happen if you’re using a WordPress GA plugin and additionally embed gtag.js straight in your website code. 

  A tell-tale sign of a missing script on some pages is low/no traffic stats. Google alerts you about this with a banner : 

  

  Solution : Use Available Troubleshooting Tools 

  Use Google Analytics Debugger extension to analyse pages with low bounce rates. Use the search bar to locate duplicate code-tracking elements. 

  Alternatively, you can use Google Tag Assistant for diagnosing snippet install and troubleshooting issues on individual pages. 

  If the above didn’t work, re-install your analytics script. 

  Machine Learning and Blended Data Are Applied

  Google Analytics 4 (GA4) relies a lot on machine learning and algorithmic predictions.

  By applying Google’s advanced machine learning models, the new Analytics can automatically alert you to significant trends in your data. [...] For example, it calculates churn probability so you can more efficiently invest in retaining customers.

  Vidhya Srinivasan, VP of Measurement, Analytics and Buying Platforms at Google

  On the surface, the above sounds exciting. In practice, Google’s application of predictive algorithms means you’re not seeing actual data. 

  To offer a variation of cookieless tracking, Google algorithms close the gaps in reporting by creating models (i.e., data-backed predictions) instead of reporting on actual user behaviours. Therefore, your GA4 numbers may not be accurate.

  For bigger web properties (think websites with 1+ million users), Google also relies on data sampling — a practice of extrapolating data analytics, based on a data subset, rather than the entire dataset. Once again, this can lead to inconsistencies in reporting with some numbers (e.g., average conversion rates) being inflated or downplayed. 

  Solution : Try an Alternative Website Analytics App 

  Unlike GA4, Matomo reports consist of 100% unsampled data. All the aggregated reporting you see is based on real user data (not guesstimation). 

  Moreover, you can migrate from Universal Analytics (UA) to Matomo without losing access to your historical records. GA4 doesn’t yet have any backward compatibility.

  Spam and Bot Traffic Isn’t Filtered Out 

  Surprise ! 42% of all Internet traffic is generated by bots, of which 27.7% are bad ones.

  Good bots (aka crawlers) do essential web “housekeeping” tasks like indexing web pages. Bad bots distribute malware, spam contact forms, hack user accounts and do other nasty stuff. 

  A lot of such spam bots are designed specifically for web analytics apps. The goal ? Flood your dashboard with bogus data in hopes of getting some return action from your side. 

  Types of Google Analytics Spam :

  • Referral spam. Spambots hijack the referrer, displayed in your GA referral traffic report to indicate a page visit from some random website (which didn’t actually occur). 
  • Event spam. Bots generate fake events with free language entries enticing you to visit their website. 
  • Ghost traffic spam. Malicious parties can also inject fake pageviews, containing URLs that they want you to click. 

  Obviously, such spammy entities distort the real website analytics numbers. 

  Solution : Set Up Bot/Spam Filters 

  Google Analytics 4 has automatic filtering of bot traffic enabled for all tracked Web and App properties. 

  But if you’re using Universal Analytics, you’ll have to manually configure spam filtering. First, create a new view and then set up a custom filter. Program it to exclude :

  • Filter Field : Request URI
  • Filter Pattern : Bot traffic URL

  Once you’ve configured everything, validate the results using Verify this filter feature. Then repeat the process for other fishy URLs, hostnames and IP addresses. 

  You Don’t Filter Internal Traffic 

  Your team(s) spend a lot of time on your website — and their sporadic behaviours can impair your traffic counts and other website metrics.

  To keep your data “employee-free”, exclude traffic from : 

  • Your corporate IPs addresses 
  • Known personal IPs of employees (for remote workers) 

  If you also have a separate stage version of your website, you should also filter out all traffic coming from it. Your developers, contractors and marketing people spend a lot of time fiddling with your website. This can cause a big discrepancy in average time on page and engagement rates. 

  Solution : Set Internal Traffic Filters 

  Google provides instructions for excluding internal traffic from your reports using IPv4/IPv6 address filters. 

  

  Session Timeouts After 30 Minutes 

  After 30 minutes of inactivity, Google Analytics tracking sessions start over. Inactivity means no recorded interaction hits during this time. 

  Session timeouts can be a problem for some websites as users often pin a tab to check it back later. Because of this, you can count the same user twice or more — and this leads to skewed reporting. 

  Solution : Programme Custom Timeout Sessions

  You can codify custom cookie timeout sessions with the following code snippets : 

  • _setSessionCookieTimeout. Set a custom new session cookie timeout in milliseconds.
  • _setVisitorCookieTimeout. Sets a custom Google Analytics visitor cookie expiration time frame in milliseconds.

  Final Thoughts 

  Thanks to its scale and longevity, Google Analytics has some strong sides, but its data accuracy isn’t 100% perfect.

  The inability to capture analytics data from users who don’t consent to cookie tracking and data sampling applied to bigger web properties may be a deal-breaker for your business. 

  If that’s the case, try Matomo — a GDPR-compliant, accurate web analytics solution. Start your 21-day free trial now. No credit card required.

  21 day free trial. No credit card required.

  Your email address
  

  Your website address
  

  Your Analytics subdomain will be .matomo.cloud (change)

  Choose your analytics subdomain
  

  .matomo.cloud

  I hereby accept the terms and conditions and the data processing agreement (DPA)

  
  Your information will be used to create an account on our cloud service. For more information please consult our privacy policy.
  
  

  » Start improving your websites now

  

• 7 Reasons to Migrate from Google Analytics to Matomo Now

  15 mai 2022, par Erin

  The release of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and the subsequent depreciation of Universal Analytics, has caused a stir amongst webmasters, SEO experts, marketers and the likes.

  Google’s Universal Analytics is the most widely used web analytics platform in the world, but from 1 July 2023, it will no longer process any new data. Google is now pushing users to set up GA4 tracking imminently.

  If you’re like many and wondering if you should upgrade to Google Analytics 4, there are two key reasons why this might be a risk :

  1. GDPR violations : recent rulings have deemed Google Analytics illegal in France and Austria, and it’s likely that this trend will continue across the EU.
  2. Data loss : users switching to Google Analytics 4 can’t migrate their data from Universal Analytics.

  To mitigate these risks, many organisations are looking to switch to a Google Analytics alternative like Matomo. This is an ideal option for organisations that want to take ownership of their data, get compliant with privacy regulations and save themselves the stress of Google deprecating the software they rely on.

  Whilst there are two major reasons to steer clear of Google Analytics 4, there are 7 reasons why migrating to Matomo instead could save your business time, money and peace of mind.

  If you want to avoid the pitfalls of GA4 and are thinking about migrating from Universal Analytics to Matomo, here’s why you should make the switch now.

  1. Keep your historical Universal Analytics data

  Users switching to Google Analytics 4 will be disappointed to find out that GA4 does not accept data imports from Universal Analytics. On top of that, Google also announced that after Universal Analytics stops processing new data (1 July 2023), users will only be able to access this data for “at least six months”. 

  Years of valuable insights will be completely wiped and organisations will not be able to report on year over year results.

  Fortunately, any organisation using Universal Analytics can import this data into Matomo using our Google Analytics Importer plugin. So you can reduce business disruptions and retain years of valuable web analytics data when you switch to Matomo.

  Our comprehensive migration documentation features a handy video, written guides and FAQs to ensure a smooth migration process.

  2. Ease of use

  Web analytics is complicated enough without having to navigate confusing platform user interfaces (UIs). One of GA4’s biggest drawbacks is the “awful and unusable” interface which has received an overwhelming amount of negative backlash online. 

  Matomo’s intuitive UI contains many of the familiar features that made Universal Analytics so well-liked. You’ll find the same popular features like Visitors, Behaviour, and Acquisition to name a few.

  

  User Flow in Matomo

  When you switch to Matomo you can get up to speed quickly and spend more time focusing on high-value tasks, rather than learning about everything new in GA4.

  3. 100% accurate unsampled data

  GA4 implements data sampling and machine learning to fill gaps. Often what you are basing critical business decisions on is actually an estimate of activity. 

  Matomo does not use data sampling, so this guarantees you will always see the full picture.

  “My primary reason to use Matomo is to get the unsampled data, [...] if your website gets lots of traffic and you can’t afford an enterprise level tool like GA premium [GA360] then Matomo is your best choice.”

  With Matomo you can be confident your data-driven decisions are being made with real data.

  4. Privacy by design

  Built-in privacy has always been at the core of Matomo. One key method we use to achieve this, is by giving you 100% data ownership of your web analytics data. You don’t ever have to worry about the data landing in the wrong hands or being used in unethical ways – like unsolicited advertising. 

  On the contrary, Google Analytics is regularly under fire for controversial uses of data. While Google has made changes to make GA4 more privacy-focused, it’s all just smoke and mirrors. The data collected from Google Analytics accounts is used by Google to create digital profiles on internet users, which is then used for advertising. 

  Consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about how businesses are using their data. Businesses that develop privacy strategies, utilise privacy-focused tools will gain a competitive advantage and a loyal customer-base. 

  Prioritise the protection of your user data by switching to a privacy-by-design analytics solution.

  5. Compliance with global privacy laws

  To date, Google Analytics has been deemed illegal to use in France and Austria due to data transfers to the US. Upgrading to GA4 doesn’t make this problem go away either since data is still transferred to the US. 

  Matomo is easily configured to follow even the strictest of privacy laws like GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, LGPD and PECR. Here’s how :

  • Matomo’s opt-out mechanism lets users opt-out of web analytics tracking
  • You can configure analytics for data retention of raw data and aggregated reports
  • Users can anonymise IP addresses as well as implement other data anonymisation techniques
  • Matomo can respect DoNotTrack setting
  • Users can set up Matomo so it doesn’t process any personal data or PII (personally identifiable information)
  • It’s easy to set shorter expiration dates for tracking cookies
  • Matomo allows you to disable Visits Log and Visitor Profile
  • Users aren’t tracked across websites unless specifically enabled

  Matomo can also be used without cookie consent banners (unlike with Google Analytics, which will always need user consent to track). Matomo has been approved by the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) as one of the select few web analytics tools that can be used to collect data without tracking consent.

  Every year more countries are drafting legislation that mirrors the European Union’s GDPR (like the Brazilian LGPD). Matomo is designed to stay data-privacy law compliant, and always will be.

  Stay on top of global privacy laws and reduce the time you spend on compliance by switching to a privacy-compliant solution. 

  6. All-in-one web analytics

  Matomo gives you easy access to Heatmaps, Session Recordings, A/B testing, Funnels analytics, and more right out of the box. This means that digital marketing, UX and procurement teams won’t need to set up and manage multiple tools for behavioural analytics – it’s all in one place.

  Learn more about your audience, save money and reduce complexity by switching to an all-in-one analytics solution.

  Check out Matomo’s extensive product features.

  

  Page Scroll Depth in Matomo

  7. Tag Manager built-in

  Unlike GA4, the Matomo Tag Manager comes built-in for an efficient and consistent user experience. Matomo Tag Manager offers a pain-free solution for embedding tracking codes on your website without needing help from a web developer or someone with technical knowledge.

  Help your Marketing team track more website actions and give time back to your web developer by switching to Matomo Tag Manager.

  Final Thoughts

  Google Analytics is free to use, but the surrounding legal issues with the platform and implications of switching to GA4 will make migrating a tough choice for many businesses. 

  Now is the chance for organisations to step away from the advertising tech giant, take ownership of web analytics data and get compliant. Switch to the leading Google Analytics alternative and see why over 1 million websites choose Matomo for their web analytics.

  Ready to get started with your own Google Analytics to Matomo migration ? Try Matomo free for 21 days now – no credit card required. 

  21 day free trial. No credit card required.

  Your email address
  

  Your website address
  

  Your Analytics subdomain will be .matomo.cloud (change)

  Choose your analytics subdomain
  

  .matomo.cloud

  I hereby accept the terms and conditions and the data processing agreeement (DPA).

  
  Your information will be used to create an account on our cloud service. For more information please consult our privacy policy.
  
  

  » Start improving your websites now

  

• Google Analytics Now Illegal in Austria ; Other EU Member States Expected to Follow

  18 janvier 2022, par Erin — Privacy

  Breaking news : The Austrian Data Protection Authority (“Datenschutzbehörde” or “DSB” or “DPA”) has ruled that Austrian website providers using Google Analytics are in violation of the GDPR. 

  This ruling stems from a decision made in 2020 by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that stated that cloud services hosted in the US are incapable of complying with the GDPR and EU privacy laws. The decision was made because of the US surveillance laws requiring US providers (like Google or Facebook) to provide personal data to US authorities. 

  The 2020 ruling, known as “Schrems II”, marked the ending of the Privacy Shield, a framework that allowed for EU data to be transferred to US companies that became certified. 

  The tech industry was sent into a frenzy following this decision, but many US and EU companies decided to ignore the case. The choice to ignore is what landed one Austrian business in the DPA’s line of fire, damaging the brand’s reputation and possibly resulting in a hefty fine of up to €20 million or 4% of the organisation’s global turnover. 

  About the Austrian DPA’s Model Case 

  In this specific case, noyb (the European Center for Digital Rights) found that IP addresses (which are classified as personal data by the GDPR) and other identifiers were sent to the US in cookie data as a result of the organisation using Google Analytics. 

  This model case led to the DPA’s decision to rule that Austrian website providers using Google Analytics are in violation of GDPR. It is believed that other EU Member States will soon follow in this decision as well.

  "We expect similar decisions to now drop gradually in most EU member states. We have filed 101 complaints in almost all Member States and the authorities coordinated the response. A similar decision was also issued by the European Data Protection Supervisor last week."

  What does this mean if you are using Google Analytics ?

  If there is one thing to learn from this case, it is that ignoring these court rulings and continuing to use Google Analytics is not a viable option. 

  If you are operating a website in Austria, or your website services Austrian citizens, you should remove Google Analytics from your website immediately. 

  For businesses in other EU Member States, it is also highly recommended that you take action before noyb and local data protection authorities start targeting more businesses. 

  "Instead of actually adapting services to be GDPR compliant, US companies have tried to simply add some text to their privacy policies and ignore the Court of Justice. Many EU companies have followed the lead instead of switching to legal options."

  Removing Google Analytics from your site doesn’t mean that you need to give up website analytics altogether though. There are a variety of Google Analytics alternatives available today. Matomo in particular is a powerful open-source web analytics platform that gives you 100% data ownership and GDPR compliance. 

  

  Matomo is one of the best Google Analytics alternatives offering privacy by design on our Cloud, On-Premise and Matomo for WordPress. So you can get the insights you need while remaining compliant. As the GDPR continues to evolve, you can rest assured that Matomo will be at the forefront of these changes. 

  In addition, all Google Analytics data can be imported into Matomo so no historical data is lost. To make your migration as seamless as possible, we’ve put together a guide to migrating from Google Analytics to Matomo. 

  Ready to begin your journey to GDPR compliance ? Check out our live demo and start your 21-day free trial now – no credit card required.

  If you are interested in learning more about GDPR compliance and Matomo, check out our GDPR resources below :    

  • GDPR Manager user guide
  • How to fill in the information asset registration when using Matomo
  • How to make Matomo GDPR compliant in 12 easy steps
  • How to not process any personal data with Matomo and what it means for you
  • PII, personal data and GDPR. Discover what this means for your privacy
  • How should I write my privacy notice for Matomo Analytics under GDPR
  • Lawful basis for processing personal data under GDPR with Matomo
  • How to complete your privacy policy with Matomo Analytics under GDPR
  • GDPR compliance for Premium Features
  • How to get your Matomo plugin ready for GDPR
  • Subprocessors on Matomo Cloud (subprocessors not applicable to On-Premise)
  • Privacy in Matomo

  What does this mean if you are using Matomo ? 

  Our users can rest assured that Matomo remains in compliance with GDPR as all data is stored in the EU (Matomo Cloud) or in any country of your choice (Matomo On-Premise). With Matomo you’re able to continue analysing your website and not worry about GDPR.

  Final thoughts

  For EU businesses operating websites, now is the time to act. While Google pushes out false narratives to try and convince users that it is safe to continue using Google Analytics, it’s clear from these court rulings that the data protection authorities across the EU disagree with Google’s narrative.

  The fines, reputational damage and stresses mounting from using Google Analytics are imminent. Find an alternative to Google Analytics as this problem is not going away. 

  Getting started with Matomo is easy. Make the switch today and start your free 21-day trial – no credit card required.