Ask HN: Should I use Google Analytics ?

[UgR32zKhQTZFKPW]

I am puzzled on if I should do it. In one hand I feel I don't want to steal people data and in another hand I am curious about the number of people visiting my website and other stats.

I added it recently to my website (https://amibalding.co/) and it's nice to check the audience not gonna lie. Is there something more ethical than GA ? Where I can just get the number of people visiting the website.

[Festro]

GA4, the latest version of Google Analytics, is attempting to improve its respect for user privacy. However, the main issue, cookie-based tracking, is still months away from being rolled out. And the method Google has developed to replace it is not without criticism.

GA4 is also quite difficult to use. It has not been fully UX-tested, and lacks a lot of simple quality-of-life features that the previous version had (like percentages on table data, easier filtering, easier segmentation, etc).

There are lots of alternatives. I would only consider GA4 currently if you are reliant on its broader ecosystem of connections, like Google Ads, Merchant Centre, etc. If you need these systems and the event tracking GA4 empowers them with then you're probably stuck with Google.

If not, try the alternatives, there's a lot of them now and it'd be great to see some get more support so that can properly compete with Google.

[UgR32zKhQTZFKPW]

I agree that it's quite difficult to use. I have no ties to the Google ecosystem so I can move.

[tikkun]

I compared alternative analytics things a few months ago and ended up going with Clicky. It's pretty good. But, I don't check it often, talking to users is definitely more useful than analytics to me.

[smartis2812]

Take a look at Plausible. Selfhosted and open source

https://github.com/contropist/Plausible-Analytics

[mikecoles]

Better link: https://github.com/plausible/analytics

[satvikpendem]

Why did you link a random fork of Plausible?

[UgR32zKhQTZFKPW]

Will check

[blaumaus]

Take a look at https://swetrix.com, it's a privacy focused and opensource analytics platform, it's cookieless and hosted in the EU.

Also here's a comparison against Google Analytics if you're curious: https://blog.swetrix.com/post/vs-google-analytics/

[landosaari]

There is an ethical website [0].

The EU has created an alternatives website [1], which is tech from EU.

Note there is some overlap.

[0] https://ethical.net/resources/?resource-category=analytics

[1] https://european-alternatives.eu/category/web-analytics-serv...

[impulser_]

You could check out alternates to see if any of them are better for you. You could try Cloudflare, or go with an open source analytics platform like Plausible.

[UgR32zKhQTZFKPW]

Thanks, I will look into that.

[jmstfv]

I'm self-hosting GoatCounter and using it across all my websites.

Apart from controlling my data, I also have more accurate visitor statistics, as it doesn't get picked up by script blockers, unlike GA.

https://github.com/arp242/goatcounter

https://www.goatcounter.com

[XCSme]

No, don't send your data or your visitors' data to big corporations.

You can use a self-hosted analytics platform like UXWizz [0] and keep all your data private, plus you get a simpler to use interface.

[0]: https://uxwizz.com

[openplatypus]

Wide Angle Analytics

Matomo

Piwik

Simple Analytics

Plenty of choices for ethical and strong privacy web analytics.

But read terms of service and privacy policy. Some web analytics will claim compliance but then you will see they prohibit you from processing certain data, or they will use support platform or internal email that makes taking about customers tricky.

[gmsiperx]

Take a look at https://usermaven.com, you will not be disappointed.

[nicbou]

I use Plausible for simple, privacy-friendly analytics. It has been pretty solid.

[WallyFunk]

Have you looked at Fathom[0] or GoatCounter?

[0] https://usefathom.com/

[1] https://www.goatcounter.com/

[colesantiago]

Please don't use GA / GA4 or any analytics tools if you respect your customer's privacy, if you must do tracking then use backend server logs (nginx logs) which are good enough for most use cases.

[layer8]

Matomo is a mature and widely used GDPR-compliant and open-source analytics platform. You can either host it yourself or use Matomo’s hosted version. https://matomo.org/

Don’t use GA if you respect your visitors.

[ezedv]

Absolutely, using Google Analytics can be highly beneficial for gaining insights into your website's performance. It provides valuable data on user behavior, traffic sources, and content engagement.

However, it's essential to consider your specific needs and goals. If you're concerned about user privacy, explore privacy-focused analytics alternatives like Matomo or Fathom Analytics. Additionally, ensure compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR. Ultimately, the choice depends on your priorities and the level of data you want to collect while respecting user privacy.

[anticrymactic]

Thanks ChatGPT. We appreciate your input!

[carlosjobim]

There is almost no real business reason to use analytics, it's more of a cargo cult. If you want to check your sales channels, you make separate promo codes for each channel and see what codes are being used by paying customers. Because paying customers is the only metrics that matter if you're selling products online.

If you're curios about site visitors, you can use Clicky.com or Beamanalytics.io to get some basic stats that are enough to satisfy your curiosity, without spying on people.

[nicbou]

Which article brings you the most customers? Do people use that feature? Which landing page fails? Do you lose a lot of users during checkout? Which step is to blame? Should you care about Turkish visitors? What's the lowest resolution you should support? Can you use features that are missing from Safari 14? What sells the most on Sundays? What do people search for? Do they find it?

You are right, there are no reasons to use analytics.

[carlosjobim]

> Which article brings you the most customers?

Discount code in the article, now you know exactly, with hard evidence. Plus, you know if people actually got the message or if it just passed by. This works everywhere: Print ads, outdoors, Spotify, radio, social media, Google Ads, TV, you name it.

Most of the other stuff you listed is just common sense, if you have the slightest empathy for the customer when designing your website and purchase flow. The 99% of the websites that do use analytics, also have awful usability for visitors who want to become paying customers – so maybe these people putting themselves in the shoes of the customer could help better than trying to divine their analytics voodoo.

You have to do usability testing yourself from start to finish, but it seems a very tiny minority of website publishers actually do this. Then they say they need analytics to figure things out.

Take your example of check-out, which is usually the most worst user experience. What good is it to know you're losing customers at check-out, if you keep insisting on stuff like "Adress Line 2", pre-formatted phone number inputs, forced account creation etc.

I know your examples are a bit rhetorical, but I'll take them one by one, since I think the discussion is interesting:

> Which landing page fails?

The landing page that loads slowly and gets in the way of your sales with scroll-jacking, e-mail newsletter popup, cookie banners, irrelevant art and copy, no prices listed. Show people what you're selling and what is your price and let them purchase it easily. It is a solved problem. Which brick-and-mortar storefront fails? The one that doesn't have a door for customers to enter. But we don't need A/B testing for that.

> Should you care about Turkish visitors?

No need for advanced analytics to know which countries your site visitors come from. A simple counter without spying will do this. But this is a chicken and egg-problem: If you don't have material in their language, they won't become visitors at all, because search engines won't send them to you. But if you're already advertising to this public, of course you then have material suited for them.

> What's the lowest resolution you should support?

Your website should gracefully degrade, so that it supports as many devices as possible. Brick-and-mortar example again: What's the tallest person that should be able to enter our store? Make the door tall enough so that anybody can enter. Again, I say this is a solved problem.

> Can you use features that are missing from Safari 14?

These features should not be required for the customer to make a purchase, the website should gracefully degrade.

> What sells the most on Sundays?

You always know what you're selling, no need for analytics. Sales can't be made online without a record of it being made.

> What do people search for? Do they find it?

Considering the abysmal state of on-site search on most commercial sites, I'd say it doesn't seem like they use analytics to try to solve these questions. Most people have gotten used to only using Google, because on-site search always nets errors or irrelevant results, with few exceptions. But I agree with you on this point, this is where analytics can be useful. In my opinion only for the last mile, after you've done all the other essentials, which less than 10% actually bother with.