How to Track Your Website Visitors
Anyone who is “online” in any way and who owns a website wants to know whether the work will be successful. How high are the number of visitors to a website, how successful is it and other questions relating to visitor behavior inevitably come up. Especially when you have added new posts or articles to the website, you want to measure your success in terms of visitor numbers and access values. We explain to you which tools will return the desired value and which you can use to find out the exact statistics of websites.
Various statistical services can be used to find out the number of visitors and thus the statistics of a website. As already mentioned, reliable figures can rarely be determined. However, if you use various tools and statistical services in a network, compare the data obtained via a specific website and then relate them to one another, the image is relatively useful and meaningful.
A so-called “clean tracking ” shows you where on your website the most aborts can be found.
This is how you can find out the number of visitors to other websites
1. ALEXA
“Alexa” is not Amazon’s voice service , but a service for statistics from websites that aggregates data from a panel with over 25,000 users via browser extensions. If you look at the data determined by “Alexa”, it is not exactly meaningful and informative. This means that Alexa serves more as a guide on the Internet.
The curve graphic displayed by Alexa does not reflect the development of the number of visitors, but shows the so-called “Alexa Traffic Rank” – worldwide and in your own country. The specific visitor numbers are not listed in the free version of “Alexa”. However, they can still be called up using a corresponding trick.
To do this, enter a domain in the “science search engine” Wolfram | Alpha, and the page views and visitor numbers per day calculated by Alexa will be listed.
2. SIMILARWEB
The statistics service SimilarWeb is operated by the Israeli SimilarGroup. SimilarWeb creates projections and statistics from different sources, so to speak, on the use of its own as well as third-party websites. This free version has many more functions than the free Alexa version – SimilarWeb, for example, provides the estimated monthly visits to a website from the past six months. It shows you how high the respective traffic share of the page is, which is via search engines, direct calls, referral links and social media platforms. The most important referring sites are listed for this purpose. The data supplied is based on values that are collected and extrapolated using browser plugins.
The Pro version of SimilarWeb, which is chargeable, offers a wide range of functions. For example, you can compare different websites over a longer period of time. The evaluations in the Pro version also provide very good detailed values.
SimilarWeb has also been providing download and usage statistics for apps for some time, although this service is still limited to Android apps.
Although the values supplied by SimilarWeb do not always seem correct and 100 percent correct, the relationships between the traffic volumes of various websites are relatively correct in their presentation. This means that this tool can also be used to find out the number of visitors to a website.
3. GOOGLE TRENDS
This Google service provides information about how often a URL or a certain term is searched for on Google. Google Trends shows the number of search terms entered over time and relates them to the total search volume.
That is why a look at Google Trends can be very informative. No concrete statistics from websites are given here, but comparing different search terms can often provide an excellent impression of market development. In addition, keywords can be identified with Google Trends that may no longer bring the desired traffic . In contrast, this tool can also be used to identify keywords that users may search for more often in the future.
4. AGOF AND IVW
Every month, the “Information Society for the Determination of the Distribution of Advertising Media in Germany” (IVW) and the Working Group Online Research (AGOF) compile and publish current usage statistics for German online offers.
AGOF is an association of leading online marketers in Germany who turn the Internet into predictable and transparent advertising media.
The IVW reports page views and visits, the AGOF lists the net reach of the offers in unique users. The AGOF’s “Internet Facts” ranking also evaluates the IVW’s figures and adds the figures from the market research panel.
The figures provided by the AGOF and IVW are relatively reliable in terms of visitor numbers and statistics for the respective websites, as they create independent committees.
However, only those websites are included in the evaluations that have their data usage evaluated by the IVW. Facebook or Google are not among the companies that do not allow the data to be evaluated. Small niche projects or websites from the “adult entertainment industry” are also not included in the rankings. Nevertheless, the numbers from websites that are not listed there can be significant – for example if the IVW numbers are combined with information from other tools. You can also check the accuracy of statistics from other tools with the figures from IVW.
5. QUANTCAST, COMPETE AND TRAFFICESTIMATE
The statistics services Quantcast and TrafficEstimate are also free. A few years ago these three services still had exotic status, so to speak, but are now becoming more and more popular. For example, Quantcast provides a detailed range and target group measurement , analyzes for networks, websites and also apps.
6. URL METRICS
Compared to the other tools already mentioned, URLMetrics (URLM) is a little less extensive. Nevertheless, the tool can be very useful to get a first impression of the monthly page impressions and visits, the number of pages and the range of external referrals. For more precise data, server data can also be viewed under URL metrics. Unfortunately, URLM does not find reliable data for every website. In addition, many website operators have not listed their statistics. Otherwise, the tool gives a good and compact overview of other websites.
7. TRAFFIC ESTIMATE
Trafficestimate is about estimated trends, which are calculated by the tool on the basis of the past 30 days. The tool also lists the web pages that are similar to the page you are looking for. The tool can also display the most important Alexa statistics. Trafficestimate’s algorithm is based on its own traffic and traffic from similar websites. Therefore, the tool is more worthwhile for analyzing large websites. On the other hand, it is rather difficult to find useful data on small websites. Therefore, the tool is more suitable to find out the number of visitors to larger websites.
8. SEMRUSH
Actually, SEMrush is intended more for the area of Search Engine Marketing (SEM). That is why there is the possibility here to analyze the organic search and the corresponding keywords. SEMrush then analyzes which keywords a website is ranking for. In addition, the tool shows competitors and analyzes which keywords you have in common with your competitors. In addition, the tool also shows the number of backlinks , the linked websites and IPs. Since the tool estimates the traffic via the keywords, it makes the whole thing a little less precise. But in combination with other tools, SEMrush can provide a very good overview of the number of visitors to the website.
The best tracking tools for your own websites
9. GOOGLE ANALYTICS
This tool is very easy to set up and offers the possibility to analyze and monitor websites. In order to be able to use Google Analytics , you have to create an account. Then a tracking code is generated that is inserted into the website. And then you can start tracking.
Important: It must be announced on the website that Google Analytics is being used (for example in the data protection declaration ).
10. ETRACKER’S WEB CONTROLLING SUITE – UNDERSTAND VISITORS AND THEIR BEHAVIOR
This tool is available in different versions and offers the user different scopes of functions. Visitors, length of stay and the sources of the traffic can be determined with the web analysis. The real-time analysis of visitor behavior should also be mentioned here, because it allows users to react quickly to their customers and, under certain circumstances, to make changes directly. Etracker is a popular alternative to Google Analytics. While the tool is available from Google for free, Etracker is chargeable.
Bonus: Tools for statistics from social media accounts
Today, many publishers are not only represented with their own website, but also use various profiles on various social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook , Instagram ).
For this reason, it is all the more important today to also scan these social profiles and include them in the evaluation of the website’s success. Interactions, fan numbers or the number of views of videos – all of this is relevant for your own evaluation and of course correspondingly meaningful.
There are now numerous statistics services such as Socialbakers for this area. This service regularly publishes figures on the largest and most interactive German Facebook pages.
The largest German Youtubers can be found on Socialblade, as well as the data on the largest global Instagram and Twitch users.
In summary – with the tools you have everything at a glance
The analysis tools mentioned already offer a good overview of the traffic figures in order to be able to find out the number of visitors to a website and its development. Even if it might be exciting, you shouldn’t call up the numbers on a daily basis, but rather over a longer period of time, for example monthly.
If you want to find out more about traffic and want to learn, the “ contra ”, i.e. the conversion and traffic conference, may be the right thing for you. But many other events on the subject of online marketing will also take place in Germany this year.
