Notes on measuring the web
Long-form pieces on analytics, privacy and performance. Every number here points to the study, decision or specification it came from.
9 min read
Why your channel report lies
Affiliate traffic filed under referrals, a Facebook ad counted as paid search, ChatGPT sitting in direct. Three real defects from one analytics panel, and the rule that sorts them out.
- What the browser actually tells you
- Case one: the affiliate channel that did not exist
- Case two: paid search nobody bought
- Case three: ChatGPT filed as direct traffic
- Why the referrer keeps getting weaker
- An order that works
- Classify on read, not on write
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8 min read
The traffic you never see
Your analytics is not a smaller copy of reality. It is a skewed one, and the skew always leans the same way. The four mechanisms behind it, and what can still be salvaged.
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7 min read
What exactly is one visitor
Two tools on the same website report different numbers, and neither is broken. Visitor, session and bounce are definitions rather than facts, and the definitions differ more than you would expect.
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7 min read
What a slow site actually costs
One tenth of a second, eight percent more conversions. The headline numbers are striking, and almost nobody reads how they were produced. What they really support, and how to measure your own case.
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7 min read
GDPR and analytics: two questions everyone conflates
Whether you need consent for statistics, and whether you may send data to the United States, are two different questions from two different laws. Conflating them costs you either an unnecessary banner or unnecessary risk.
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