| In the late 1990s, something interesting | | | | of times a particular image was requested. |
| happened. Identifying visitors to a website | | | | This later evolved into invisible images that |
| became more difficult. This was mainly due to | | | | used _JavaScript, which passed along certain |
| the development of search engine spiders and | | | | information about the page and the visitor. |
| robots; and web proxies and IP addresses for | | | | |
| large organizations and Internet service | | | | A web analytics company can process the |
| providers (ISPs). | | | | information, which extracts statistics that |
| | | | are useful to the organization. |
| To record visitors, log analyzers began | | | | |
| tracking visits by cookies and by overlooking | | | | The web analytics service company is also |
| requests from known spiders. | | | | responsible for assigning a cookie to the |
| | | | user. The cookie identifies a particular |
| The use of web caches also became a problem | | | | visitor from the first visit to the next. |
| in logfile analysis. For instance, if a | | | | |
| person revisits a page, the second action or | | | | Most web analytics service companies offer |
| request would most likely be retrieved from | | | | both logfile analysis programs and page |
| the browser's cache. Thus, the web server | | | | tagging solutions. |
| will not receive a request. If this happens, | | | | |
| the person's path around a certain website | | | | An organization that seeks the services of a |
| cannot be tracked. Configuring the server can | | | | web analytics service company must know the |
| beat caching, but this could lead to degraded | | | | disadvantages and advantages of the two |
| performance and discourage the visitor. | | | | approaches, in order to determine which one |
| | | | to choose. |
| Eventually, concerns were raised about the | | | | |
| accuracy of logfile analysis, particularly | | | | Mark Rapor is a Web Developer and Internet |
| when caching was involved. There was also an | | | | Marketer. Visit us at Blue Sky Projects. Blue |
| intention to outsource web analytics. These | | | | Sky Projects is a full-service, custom web |
| developments led to page tagging. | | | | development resource that understands the |
| | | | critical role that an effective internet |
| More than a decade ago, web counters were | | | | presence can play in the success of your |
| often observed in web pages. Why was this | | | | organization. |
| significant? Web counters showed the number | | | | |