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The Google Analytics Setup I Use on Every Site I Build

philipwalton.com

1–10 of 108 posts

Re: The Google Analytics Setup I Use on Every Site I Build

#3

With the surge in Ad Blocking recently, part of me wonders how accurate the Google Analytics JavaScript tracker is today, and how accurate it will be in 5 years. I wonder if we'll see a trend back to server-side analytics soon.

The percentage of visitors with an ad blocker depends on your site's audience. Outside of computer geeks and gamers, almost no one uses ad blockers. I wouldn't buy into the hype that the whole world is installing ad blockers.

Re: The Google Analytics Setup I Use on Every Site I Build

#4

With the surge in Ad Blocking recently, part of me wonders how accurate the Google Analytics JavaScript tracker is today, and how accurate it will be in 5 years. I wonder if we'll see a trend back to server-side analytics soon.

The percentage of visitors with an ad blocker depends on your site's audience. Outside of computer geeks and gamers, almost no one uses ad blockers. I wouldn't buy into the hype that the whole world is installing ad blockers.

This is correct. The vast vast majority of people are not using adblock.

Re: The Google Analytics Setup I Use on Every Site I Build

#5

With the surge in Ad Blocking recently, part of me wonders how accurate the Google Analytics JavaScript tracker is today, and how accurate it will be in 5 years. I wonder if we'll see a trend back to server-side analytics soon.

Tbh, Google Analytics samples at scale and people who are blocking like that aren't affecting the results much as a result. Well, unless they have truly "unique" patterns of using the UI specific to that demographic.

Re: The Google Analytics Setup I Use on Every Site I Build

#6
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The percentage of visitors with an ad blocker depends on your site's audience. Outside of computer geeks and gamers, almost no one uses ad blockers. I wouldn't buy into the hype that the whole world is installing ad blockers.

This is correct. The vast vast majority of people are not using adblock.

[deleted]

Re: The Google Analytics Setup I Use on Every Site I Build

#7

With the surge in Ad Blocking recently, part of me wonders how accurate the Google Analytics JavaScript tracker is today, and how accurate it will be in 5 years. I wonder if we'll see a trend back to server-side analytics soon.

The percentage of visitors with an ad blocker depends on your site's audience. Outside of computer geeks and gamers, almost no one uses ad blockers. I wouldn't buy into the hype that the whole world is installing ad blockers.

Is there any data on the number of people using ad blockers? I've personally seen a massive increase in the number of non-techy friends using them. A lot of people for example stream sports (illegally) and those sites are barely functional without a blocker.

Re: The Google Analytics Setup I Use on Every Site I Build

#8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The percentage of visitors with an ad blocker depends on your site's audience. Outside of computer geeks and gamers, almost no one uses ad blockers. I wouldn't buy into the hype that the whole world is installing ad blockers.

Is there any data on the number of people using ad blockers? I've personally seen a massive increase in the number of non-techy friends using them. A lot of people for example stream sports (illegally) and those sites are barely functional without a blocker.

I don't have those numbers. I know there have been some publications lately that suggest there is an increase, which make sense since I doubt the number would decrease, but like browser usage stats, those numbers are heavily dependent on the audience they were collected from.

My non-technical friends have never mentioned ads to me before in the context of the web. I doubt that means they appreciate ads on sites but I don't think it occurs to them that they need to find a way to remove them. I think they appreciate that Hulu lets you pay to remove them, or that Netflix doesn't have ads, but I never hear "this website sucks because of ads." They just assume it's the way of things.

Re: The Google Analytics Setup I Use on Every Site I Build

#9
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The percentage of visitors with an ad blocker depends on your site's audience. Outside of computer geeks and gamers, almost no one uses ad blockers. I wouldn't buy into the hype that the whole world is installing ad blockers.

This is correct. The vast vast majority of people are not using adblock.

Do you have a source for this? Your statement doesn't carry any weight if you can't back it up. Anecdotally, I have seen a rise in non-tech-savvy people using ad blockers, but I'd be interested to see some hard data.

Re: The Google Analytics Setup I Use on Every Site I Build

#10

With the surge in Ad Blocking recently, part of me wonders how accurate the Google Analytics JavaScript tracker is today, and how accurate it will be in 5 years. I wonder if we'll see a trend back to server-side analytics soon.

The percentage of visitors with an ad blocker depends on your site's audience. Outside of computer geeks and gamers, almost no one uses ad blockers. I wouldn't buy into the hype that the whole world is installing ad blockers.

It is significant:

https://pagefair.com/blog/2017/adblockreport/

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