SpikeTheLobster Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Following on from the Alexa thread (over here), I wondered if anyone has a reliable - or even semi-reliable - method for checking website traffic. By that, I mean third-party sites, not my own, of course. I've tried a couple of services but they're either limited to the US, unreliable or provide weird stats like unique monthly visits rather than unique daily. Any suggestions appreciated. And I don't mean Alexa rankings or stuff like that: I mean actual hits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Nathan Posted February 25, 2012 Administrators Share Posted February 25, 2012 Absolutely the best one out there that everyone uses is Google Analytics. It's the standard for tracking all website traffic, it's very very detailed. It's also free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakesky Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I think he meant checking other's sites traffic, Google Analytics is for tracking your own websites. I also want a way to estimate how much traffic a site is getting, but I guess this information is kinda confidential, it's like breaking in someone's house Would you mind sharing what services you tried? even only for US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Nathan Posted February 25, 2012 Administrators Share Posted February 25, 2012 Ah yeah you right, my fault, didn't get that the first time. Makes more sense now though, I was wondering how someone wouldn't know about Google Analytics I've used http://websiteshadow.com/. It gives you some idea, but I don't find it completely accurate. SpikeTheLobster 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeTheLobster Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 Would you mind sharing what services you tried? even only for US. I was using two in an attempt to find useful stats: quantcast.com gives GREAT information if the site's listed - right down to major individual country traffic - but some very large and/or niche sites aren't on there, which is annoying. compete.com gives info on almost any site I've ever tried, but they use the weird "unique monthly" views - i.e. how many unique visitors per month, rather than the standard per day. This makes their figures very low (but much more indicative of some trends). Ah yeah you right, my fault, didn't get that the first time. Makes more sense now though, I was wondering how someone wouldn't know about Google Analytics I've used http://websiteshadow.com/. It gives you some idea, but I don't find it completely accurate. Damn, I was just preparing a smart-ass response to your first reply. I had a quick look at Websiteshadow for the site I had trouble with the other day (iWriter, for a site survey on my blog) and it estimates: that's better than anything else I could find in this case. I'll add this one to my toolbox and between the three should be able to put together a nice overview of most places - thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryce12 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Here is another site that gives traffic estimaes for websites http://www.trafficestimate.com And if you got time, you can find even more Alexa like sites from the following list http://www.similarsites.com/site/alexa.com Bryce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeTheLobster Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 Thanks for that, Bryce. I tried a few with Alexa and iWriter: Trafficestimate sucks - got "Not enough data" for Alexa (?!) and a 404 for iWriter. Statbrain is HORRIBLY slow. It took so long to respond that I left. Statsaholic shows Compete and Quantcast graphs... ...in fact, that's what I found on almost every site I tried: they show the Compete and Quantcast graphs for traffic, so they're useless. It's all just derivatives without any top-level stuff. Websiteshadow seems to be one of the few that actually do their own stats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakesky Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 just found www.widestat.com, worked for a small site, seems legit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeTheLobster Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 That's a nice one: similar info to some of the others but a nicer layout and better interface. I question the estimates - it says my personal blog gets 5-10 times more hits than it actually does, so it's not very reliable. The search stats were pretty accurate, though, which is interesting - it listed some of the top hitters for my site, spot on. I ran it for my new blog/forum as well and it gave me insane estimates of traffic, so I'm guessing it works that out on Alexa ranking rather than any actual stats. It couldn't work it out from Compete or Quantcast for that site, since it's not listed yet: only Alexa has ranked it, really. The app also reckons I should earn almost $10 a day from the site... I wish! So, looks like a "take it with a grain of salt" estimate but all round a nice tool. Thanks for the URL, appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Nathan Posted March 6, 2012 Administrators Share Posted March 6, 2012 This one seems decent http://www.semrush.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeTheLobster Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 Lots of traffic/keyword stats there but mostly targetted at people looking to value a site - for buying or advertising purposes (as the name suggests, after all). I was looking more for raw traffic stats than SEM analysis in this case. But yes, some nice possibilities on that one for a more analytical approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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