Is there a good explanation of what increments each of these numbers? For instance, my logo is displayed on the <A HREF="http://new.topsitelists.com/bestsites/k ... >KeenSpace Top 100</A> list. Question: Each time that list loads, and my graphic is displayed, do my stats register a hit? If so, how can I tell where my advertising is most effective? How do I tell the "deep links" from the actual "click-throughs?" (I posted a linked graphic on a community message board here (local newspaper column) and that page ALONE generated over 400 hits in three days. I suspect most of my "hits" are just my logo being loaded.)
<P>I'm not greedy--I don't want to steal anybody else's readers. I want KeenSpace to have a million hits a week by people who come to read comics. That way I've ensured a free home for Schlock Mercenary, and maybe we'll ALL make a few bucks in the end.
<P>So, does anybody have a FAQ or a whitepaper on the version of Webalizer that KeenSpace uses?<P>------------------
Howard Tayler: Author, Engineer, Entrepreneur,
Record Producer, Web-hound, Cartoonist, Swordsman,
Itinerant Speaker, Chief Cook, and Proud Father
<A HREF="mailto:htayler@myrealbox.com">htayler@myrealbox.com</A>
<A HREF="http://www.schlockmercenary.com" TARGET=_blank>Schlock Mercenary</A>
( <A HREF="http://www.schlockmercenary.com" TARGET=_blank>http://www.schlockmercenary.com</A> )
Explanation of web stats?
-
Screwball McGoo [gDC]
- Cartoon Hero
- Posts: 1449
- Joined: Fri Jan 01, 1999 4:00 pm
- Contact:
"Webalizer Explained (courtesy of Darren Bleuel):
Hits<P>Any request made to the server which is logged, is considered a 'hit'.
The requests can be for anything... html pages, graphic images, audio
files, cgi scripts, etc... Each valid line in the server log is
counted as a hit. This number represents the total number of requests
that were made to the server during the specified report period.<P>Files<P>Some requests made to the server, require that the server then send
something back to the requesting client, such as a html page or graphic
image. When this happens, it is considered a 'file' and the files
total is incremented. The relationship between 'hits' and 'files' can
be thought of as 'incoming requests' and 'outgoing responses'.<P>Pages<P>Pages are, well, pages! Generally, any HTML document, or anything
that generates an HTML document, would be considered a page. This
does not include the other stuff that goes into a document, such as
graphic images, audio clips, etc... This number represents the number
of 'pages' requested only, and does not include the other 'stuff' that
is in the page. What actually constitutes a 'page' can vary from
server to server. The default action is to treat anything with the
extension '.htm', '.html' or '.cgi' as a page. A lot of sites will
probably define other extensions, such as '.phtml', '.php3' and '.pl'
as pages as well. Some people consider this number as the number of
'pure' hits... I'm not sure if I totaly agree with that viewpoint.
Some other programs (and people refer to this as 'Pageviews'.<P>Sites<P>Each request made to the server comes from a unique 'site', which can
be referenced by a name or ultimately, an IP address. The 'sites'
number shows how many unique IP addresses made requests to the server
during the reporting time period. This DOES NOT mean the number of
unique individual users (real people) that visited, which is impossible
to determine using just logs and the HTTP protocol (however, this
number might be about as close as you will get).<P>Visits<P>Whenever a request is made to the server from a given IP address
(site), the amount of time since a previous request by the address
is calculated (if any). If the time difference is greater than a
preconfigured 'visit timeout' value (or has never made a request before),
it is considered a 'new visit', and this total is incremented (both
for the site, and the IP address). The default timeout value is 30
minutes (can be changed), so if a user visits your site at 1:00 in
the afternoon, and then returns at 3:00, two visits would be registered.
Note: in the 'Top Sites' table, the visits total should be discounted
on 'Grouped' records, and thought of as the "Minimium number of visits"
that came from that grouping instead. Note: Visits only occur on
PageType requests, that is, for any request whose URL is one of the
'page' types defined with the PageType option. Due to the limitation
of the HTTP protocol, log rotations and other factors, this number
should not be taken as absolutely accurate, rather, it should be
considered a pretty close "guess".<P>KBytes<P>The KBytes (kilobytes) value shows the amount of data, in KB, that
was sent out by the server during the specified reporting period. This
value is generated directly from the log file, so it is up to the
webserver to produce accurate numbers in the logs (some web servers
do stupid things when it comes to reporting the number of bytes). In
general, this should be a fairly accurate representation of the amount
of outgoing traffic the server had, regardless of the web servers
reporting quirks.<P>Note: A kilobyte is 1024 bytes, not 1000 " from an earlier Chris Crosby post. I hope that helps. Also, the Top 100 List does generate excessive hits from your logo. You should notice that your visits are much closer to your pages as a result. I'm not EXACTLY sure why, but I have a pretty good idea. The best thing to do would probably be to sign-up for some sort of free hosting service just to store your logo so the hits don't count for your keenspace account. I think.<P><P>------------------
For just pennies a day, you too can save starving children in Africa. For free you can save a <A HREF="http://www.screwballmcgoo.net" TARGET=_blank> starving comic </A>in the good ol' US of A!
Hits<P>Any request made to the server which is logged, is considered a 'hit'.
The requests can be for anything... html pages, graphic images, audio
files, cgi scripts, etc... Each valid line in the server log is
counted as a hit. This number represents the total number of requests
that were made to the server during the specified report period.<P>Files<P>Some requests made to the server, require that the server then send
something back to the requesting client, such as a html page or graphic
image. When this happens, it is considered a 'file' and the files
total is incremented. The relationship between 'hits' and 'files' can
be thought of as 'incoming requests' and 'outgoing responses'.<P>Pages<P>Pages are, well, pages! Generally, any HTML document, or anything
that generates an HTML document, would be considered a page. This
does not include the other stuff that goes into a document, such as
graphic images, audio clips, etc... This number represents the number
of 'pages' requested only, and does not include the other 'stuff' that
is in the page. What actually constitutes a 'page' can vary from
server to server. The default action is to treat anything with the
extension '.htm', '.html' or '.cgi' as a page. A lot of sites will
probably define other extensions, such as '.phtml', '.php3' and '.pl'
as pages as well. Some people consider this number as the number of
'pure' hits... I'm not sure if I totaly agree with that viewpoint.
Some other programs (and people refer to this as 'Pageviews'.<P>Sites<P>Each request made to the server comes from a unique 'site', which can
be referenced by a name or ultimately, an IP address. The 'sites'
number shows how many unique IP addresses made requests to the server
during the reporting time period. This DOES NOT mean the number of
unique individual users (real people) that visited, which is impossible
to determine using just logs and the HTTP protocol (however, this
number might be about as close as you will get).<P>Visits<P>Whenever a request is made to the server from a given IP address
(site), the amount of time since a previous request by the address
is calculated (if any). If the time difference is greater than a
preconfigured 'visit timeout' value (or has never made a request before),
it is considered a 'new visit', and this total is incremented (both
for the site, and the IP address). The default timeout value is 30
minutes (can be changed), so if a user visits your site at 1:00 in
the afternoon, and then returns at 3:00, two visits would be registered.
Note: in the 'Top Sites' table, the visits total should be discounted
on 'Grouped' records, and thought of as the "Minimium number of visits"
that came from that grouping instead. Note: Visits only occur on
PageType requests, that is, for any request whose URL is one of the
'page' types defined with the PageType option. Due to the limitation
of the HTTP protocol, log rotations and other factors, this number
should not be taken as absolutely accurate, rather, it should be
considered a pretty close "guess".<P>KBytes<P>The KBytes (kilobytes) value shows the amount of data, in KB, that
was sent out by the server during the specified reporting period. This
value is generated directly from the log file, so it is up to the
webserver to produce accurate numbers in the logs (some web servers
do stupid things when it comes to reporting the number of bytes). In
general, this should be a fairly accurate representation of the amount
of outgoing traffic the server had, regardless of the web servers
reporting quirks.<P>Note: A kilobyte is 1024 bytes, not 1000 " from an earlier Chris Crosby post. I hope that helps. Also, the Top 100 List does generate excessive hits from your logo. You should notice that your visits are much closer to your pages as a result. I'm not EXACTLY sure why, but I have a pretty good idea. The best thing to do would probably be to sign-up for some sort of free hosting service just to store your logo so the hits don't count for your keenspace account. I think.<P><P>------------------
For just pennies a day, you too can save starving children in Africa. For free you can save a <A HREF="http://www.screwballmcgoo.net" TARGET=_blank> starving comic </A>in the good ol' US of A!
-
Elijah
- Regular Poster
- Posts: 75
- Joined: Fri Jan 01, 1999 4:00 pm
- Location: Colorado Springs, CO, USA
- Contact:
so basicly the hits are not important, the visits tell you how many people go to your site, and the pageviews are what you will ultimatly get paid for, but if you are really bothered about getting the extra hits and screwing up your stats, simply get some free space and use it solely for your banner, that way your KeenSpace will not get all the extra hits
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Screwball McGoo [gDC]
- Cartoon Hero
- Posts: 1449
- Joined: Fri Jan 01, 1999 4:00 pm
- Contact:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Elijah:
<B>so basicly the hits are not important, </B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I dunno... I think the whole Webalizer thing runs on hits. Your referrers are listed by hits. The Browser types are listed by hits. (I managed to figure out which browser is mine.)<P>On a side note, does anyone find it weird that it lists Microsoft and Netscape as different types of browsers as well as the Mozilla that it runs. i.e. Joe Schmoe w/Prodigy and IE will count as 1 hit for Microsoft Internet "Exploder" and 1 hit for Mozilla compatible with IE 5.0 (Prodigy.) on the browser list. (Only counts as one hit, but the browser list lists twice.) <P>------------------
For just pennies a day, you too can save starving children in Africa. For free you can save a <A HREF="http://www.screwballmcgoo.net" TARGET=_blank> starving comic </A>in the good ol' US of A!
<B>so basicly the hits are not important, </B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I dunno... I think the whole Webalizer thing runs on hits. Your referrers are listed by hits. The Browser types are listed by hits. (I managed to figure out which browser is mine.)<P>On a side note, does anyone find it weird that it lists Microsoft and Netscape as different types of browsers as well as the Mozilla that it runs. i.e. Joe Schmoe w/Prodigy and IE will count as 1 hit for Microsoft Internet "Exploder" and 1 hit for Mozilla compatible with IE 5.0 (Prodigy.) on the browser list. (Only counts as one hit, but the browser list lists twice.) <P>------------------
For just pennies a day, you too can save starving children in Africa. For free you can save a <A HREF="http://www.screwballmcgoo.net" TARGET=_blank> starving comic </A>in the good ol' US of A!
-
Screwball McGoo [gDC]
- Cartoon Hero
- Posts: 1449
- Joined: Fri Jan 01, 1999 4:00 pm
- Contact:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Howard:
<B>Screwball McGoo,<P>
Thank you for that EXCELLENT description of what's going on. </B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>
To be completely honest all I did was copy (the CTRL + C kind) a Chris Crosby post where he explains how it works using Darren's words. As much as I enjoy the thanks....
<B>Screwball McGoo,<P>
Thank you for that EXCELLENT description of what's going on. </B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>
To be completely honest all I did was copy (the CTRL + C kind) a Chris Crosby post where he explains how it works using Darren's words. As much as I enjoy the thanks....
-
ZOMBIE USER 197
- Regular Poster
- Posts: 281
- Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2005 2:26 am
Screwball McGoo,
<P>Thank you for that EXCELLENT description of what's going on. I shall have to re-read it several times to make sure I haven't missed anything important. Seriously, it's just what I wanted.
<P>I'm now hosting the Shlock Mercenary logo, and a few other files I use as inside HREFs, on a different host, and I've updated my Topsites accounts to pull those files instead. It'll probably take a few days before I see the skewing in my stats change. Thanks again for the tip, SM!
<P>------------------
Howard Tayler: Author, Engineer, Entrepreneur,
Record Producer, Web-hound, Cartoonist, Swordsman,
Itinerant Speaker, Chief Cook, and Proud Father
<A HREF="mailto:htayler@myrealbox.com">htayler@myrealbox.com</A>
<A HREF="http://www.schlockmercenary.com" TARGET=_blank>Schlock Mercenary</A>
( <A HREF="http://www.schlockmercenary.com" TARGET=_blank>http://www.schlockmercenary.com</A> )
<P>Thank you for that EXCELLENT description of what's going on. I shall have to re-read it several times to make sure I haven't missed anything important. Seriously, it's just what I wanted.
<P>I'm now hosting the Shlock Mercenary logo, and a few other files I use as inside HREFs, on a different host, and I've updated my Topsites accounts to pull those files instead. It'll probably take a few days before I see the skewing in my stats change. Thanks again for the tip, SM!
<P>------------------
Howard Tayler: Author, Engineer, Entrepreneur,
Record Producer, Web-hound, Cartoonist, Swordsman,
Itinerant Speaker, Chief Cook, and Proud Father
<A HREF="mailto:htayler@myrealbox.com">htayler@myrealbox.com</A>
<A HREF="http://www.schlockmercenary.com" TARGET=_blank>Schlock Mercenary</A>
( <A HREF="http://www.schlockmercenary.com" TARGET=_blank>http://www.schlockmercenary.com</A> )
-
ZOMBIE USER 197
- Regular Poster
- Posts: 281
- Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2005 2:26 am
-
Elijah
- Regular Poster
- Posts: 75
- Joined: Fri Jan 01, 1999 4:00 pm
- Location: Colorado Springs, CO, USA
- Contact:
if your tring to get an idea of your readership hits are not important, evertime anything on your webspace is accessed that counts as a hit, so just on my front page I have the html, the background, the logo, a comic, the first day button, the last day button, a comic strippers logo so when ever somone looks at my front page I get 7 hits, using hits may impress people more, but they don't give you a good idea of your readership