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HN front page, 16000 visitors in a day, how many actually read the article?

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Re: HN front page, 16000 visitors in a day, how many actually read the article?

#31

Post by e12e »

This discussion highlights exactly why I don't consider GA a very useful tool - there is no real transparency as to what and how data is collected/measured/filtered [That I've been able to find, anyway].

So in the end, the only useful information you get from GA data, is the rate of change (which is useful for many things) -- but not, for instance, the actual number of visits to your pages -- because you have no idea what is counted and what isn't -- and what is considered a visit.

Re: HN front page, 16000 visitors in a day, how many actually read the article?

#34

Post by lenazegher »

rickdale wrote: post #22
lenazegher wrote: post #8

These data are not being interpreted correctly. Analytics calculates time-on-page based on the time between loads of the google JS embedded in your pages. Any visitor who 'bounces' - that is, only visits a single page - only loads the JS once, so their time-on-page is recorded as 0 seconds, regardless of how long they actually spent on the page.

Are you absolutely sure this is how it works? I have a 1 page website where the average time is 1:36, shouldn't it stay at 0 since the users are not clicking to other pageS?

Reasonably sure, unless I'm misinterpreting something: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006253?hl=en

Re: HN front page, 16000 visitors in a day, how many actually read the article?

#35

Post by bennyg »

johnpowell wrote: post #27
dasil003 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should put your site in your profile so you can see how many people come after you post an offhand reference to the fact that you may have once written something interesting elsewhere.

Well I thought it was interesting that my shitty comment that linked to something I wrote got so many hits while getting on the frontpage got so little in comparison. I could get your angst if I had linked to it again or actually linked to it in my profile. But I did neither. So now I just think you are a dick.

I had a Show HN that made no headway on the frontpage (like 3 karma then it disappeared into the depths), but I posted that same link, relevantly, as a comment somewhere in the middle of the thread and it absolutely blew up. It's now my highest starred repo on Github and I started the phone interview process with Hulu because of it. Don't underestimate the comments here. A TON of people browse these posts too.

Re: HN front page, 16000 visitors in a day, how many actually read the article?

#37

Post by _mpf »

lenazegher wrote: post #34
rickdale wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you absolutely sure this is how it works? I have a 1 page website where the average time is 1:36, shouldn't it stay at 0 since the users are not clicking to other pageS?

Reasonably sure, unless I'm misinterpreting something: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006253?hl=en

I`ve read that doc, and it looks like you are right. Now i`m even more courious how they measure single hit reading time.

Re: HN front page, 16000 visitors in a day, how many actually read the article?

#38

Post by dasil003 »

johnpowell wrote: post #27
dasil003 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should put your site in your profile so you can see how many people come after you post an offhand reference to the fact that you may have once written something interesting elsewhere.

Well I thought it was interesting that my shitty comment that linked to something I wrote got so many hits while getting on the frontpage got so little in comparison. I could get your angst if I had linked to it again or actually linked to it in my profile. But I did neither. So now I just think you are a dick.

Angst? I wasn't being facetious, I actually checked your profile for a link to your site.

Re: HN front page, 16000 visitors in a day, how many actually read the article?

#39

Post by itsybitsycoder »

lenazegher wrote: post #34
rickdale wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you absolutely sure this is how it works? I have a 1 page website where the average time is 1:36, shouldn't it stay at 0 since the users are not clicking to other pageS?

Reasonably sure, unless I'm misinterpreting something: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006253?hl=en

Maybe I'm misinterpreting something, but the way I understand it, the last (or only) page of a website is handled differently. If it's a single page website with a demo download, and someone downloads the demo, then the time between pageload and the download would be counted. If there's a Flash movie, the time between loading the page and playing the movie would be counted. It also looks like you can come up with your own custom events to track, maybe like clicking an outgoing link?

I've never seriously used GA so take my interpretation with a basketball-sized grain of salt.

Re: HN front page, 16000 visitors in a day, how many actually read the article?

#40

Post by achacha »

HN load times are kind of high compared to slashdot or reddit, I often just give up on waiting and got to a different place, so I may count as a hit. HN also gives me timeouts when I look through the first page and take too long to click on the next page link, which is why I tend to refresh the first page only, you never know when you will get into that state. HN definitely need some help in capacity and response times to compete with the big guys.
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