What is the actual trustworthiness of Google Analytics?

[nienow]

With all the GDPR rules and consent banners in Europe, it’s natural to wonder about the trustworthiness of insights from Google Analytics. Take traffic acquisition, for instance. We might notice a certain number of visitors from Google or Instagram, but how reliable is that information? Are there any margins we should consider? Also, does any data exist about the number of people who decline tracking?

It’s only fair to ask: can we genuinely trust our data?

 

[JakeBlack]

Google Analytics is designed to track visitors who spend enough time on your page for the GA script to run and collect data. This means it won’t capture the activity of bots or those accidental clicks that leave your landing page immediately.

 

[sarabrett]

Web analytics represents a continuum of accuracy. When examining server logs, one must consider that all hits, including those from bots, crawlers, and other automated agents, may inflate the user count. This methodology also includes users employing ad blockers.

Conversely, when utilizing Google Analytics (GA), users who engage ad blockers or utilize browsers such as Brave will obstruct the outbound network call to GA, leading to their exclusion from the user count. However, GA has implemented measures to filter out bots and crawlers from their reported user metrics.

Thus, the "true" number of users resides within the spectrum delineated by these two measurements. Therefore, the pertinent question arises: which direction regarding the data skew is of significant concern to you?

 

[nienow]

Ad block is clear, but is the denied tracking okay? Are you referring to cookies?

 

[sarabrett]

Absolutely! If a user decides to modify their cookie settings, pinpointing that specific user might become a bit tricky. However, when it comes to counting visits, it can still function well, and in many instances, it could outperform Google Analytics!