So here's my question. How do any analytics help you?
I mean, it can tell you how popular a page is and where your traffic is from sometimes, but outside of those two reasons, what is the purpose of using analytics?
If the thing you are looking for is just how popular your page is but it isn't driving any action, maybe consider removing them entirely.
About 2 years ago I had Google Analytics and I decided I'm done with Google and Facebook. So I moved to clicky. Then once I had that data, I realized, it was neat to see... but, it wasn't actionable.
There was literally nothing I gained from this information. It wasn't going to drive the content I write. So a few months ago I removed them entirely. Now the only "analytics" i have is from my algolia search, and those things are actionable. Searched terms and searched terms with no results. Now I have a list of pages to make/update.
I mean, it can tell you how popular a page is and where your traffic is from sometimes, but outside of those two reasons, what is the purpose of using analytics?
This is what I basically need (from my post):
I simply want to know a number of views of my posts, top source of traffic (search, social, referral), maybe region - nothing fancy.
2.
If the thing you are looking for is just how popular your page is but it isn't driving any action, maybe consider removing them entirely.
Knowing that my posts are viewed keeps me motivated as an author. This is the main reason.
Others would be:
using referral information I can find places where my posts being discussed
the popularity of content doesn't drive what I write but it may drive how I write it. I do experiments: I write in different styles, using different types of titles and see if people like one over another
pure curiosity: where are my visitors from
I can use analytics to report JS errors, so I know my readers have troubles
I wonder on which devices (screen sizes) my content is most viewed, so I can check how my website looks like for different people
I can check which kind of search queries brings me the most traffic. And compare it to my expectations (are those random queries or queries related to my content)
So here's my question. How do any analytics help you?
I mean, it can tell you how popular a page is and where your traffic is from sometimes, but outside of those two reasons, what is the purpose of using analytics?
If the thing you are looking for is just how popular your page is but it isn't driving any action, maybe consider removing them entirely.
About 2 years ago I had Google Analytics and I decided I'm done with Google and Facebook. So I moved to clicky. Then once I had that data, I realized, it was neat to see... but, it wasn't actionable.
There was literally nothing I gained from this information. It wasn't going to drive the content I write. So a few months ago I removed them entirely. Now the only "analytics" i have is from my algolia search, and those things are actionable. Searched terms and searched terms with no results. Now I have a list of pages to make/update.
I'd love to hear your feedback @stereobooster on this.
1.
This is what I basically need (from my post):
2.
Knowing that my posts are viewed keeps me motivated as an author. This is the main reason.
Others would be: