# AWstats vs traffic providers - Am I getting jerked around?



## Rev Darkwing (Aug 9, 2003)

I am working with a client who has purchased traffic to his sight through Internet Web Marketing. I created a dedicated landing page just for them to measure traffic as well as entry vs exit stats. 

My webilizer and AWstats indicated hundreds of visits and page views while they report we are getting a couple of thousand a day. Obviously, these stats create questions.

We reported this to them and they indicate that perhaps it has to do with how AWstats and Webiilzer processes the raw data logs because their service only counts when the page in question actually appears in a new browser window on someone's computer. 

I can't help but get the feeling I am getting jerked around but don't know how to read the raw logs myself. Are there simple programs (as I am a simple guy) that might provide more accurate or VERY different results from both Webilizer and AWstats or are these programs reliable. I have always assumed them to be highly accurate but never questioned them either.

Thanks for any input. I hate to accuse people of ripping me off if they aren't but if they are, I need to deal with it too. Thanks


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

I have never heard of server logs being off. Also their explanation would only cover the situation where awstats shows more visits not less.

If it were me I would install a third part tracking service, perhaps Google Analytics and see what they report. Also perhaps you can get the other company to agree to third party tracking so there will be no disagreements.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

Rev Darkwing, I use AWStats on a number of sites and it's reasonable for various web stats tools to report different results when analyzing the same web server logs. I suggest you read this about AWStats and how it reports. People tend to use "hits" a bit too loosely and AWStats will distinguish between a "hit" and a "visitor", which is presumed to be a "person" viewing the site (or at the very least a computer). A single visitor can generated TONS of hits, especially on a page with a lot of content.

Get familiar with how the webstats analyzers work and your comfort level will go up. 

Peace...


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## bwarner (Dec 22, 2007)

Basically, what's happening is that you are, like it has been mentioned previously, interpreting 'hits' as 'visits' or 'page views' (depending on what you're looking for - probably visits.)

A hit happens anytime the server is asked for something, say a picture, an image file, a page, etc. so clicking a link to one page may register 20 or more 'hits'.

Do some research to understand the differences between the terms. much less confusion ;D.


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