NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> Seeking Insight re Discrepancies in Traffic
ONLINE-ADS>> Seeking Insight re Discrepancies in Traffic
John Hammell (john_at_scholarstuff.com)
Mon, 09 Feb 1998 17:13:52 -0500
Margaret Hicks <margaret_at_workingsmarter.com> wrote:
>I am more interested to know what could account for the difference in
>traffic as monitored by the Advertising site as compared with my own
>server's statslog. A difference of 48 clicks-through is about 10% and
>appears to be too much as it effectively raises the CTR paid.
These click-throughs are likely monitored in the following order:
viewer clicks ad -> click recorded by advertising site -> viewer
redirected to your site -> page access recorded on your site -> page
loads -> tracker/counter loads
Clicks being recorded in this method is part of the reason for the
discrepancies & it makes sense that the clicks recorded go from highest
to lowest. Using your click stats, here again is the path of your
clicks being recorded:
advertising site (504 clicks) -> Your site (456 pages served) ->
counter/tracker (439 counter images served)
The discrepancy between the advertising site stats & your site stats are
probably because:
1. your site may have been down/unreachable at the time of the click
2. your page could have taken too long to load causing the viewer to
press stop before your page loaded (long load time because of a
slow/overloaded server, Internet traffic, or the viewer's ISP)
3. DNS issues (viewers ISP or your web host provider)
The discrepancy between advertising site stats & the counter/tracker
stats
1. all of the above reasons, plus
2. counter server was down/unreachable
3. the counter server may have been too busy, timing out before
displaying the counter image
4. the viewer/user stopped your page from loading or left your page
before the counter image loaded (but after your page loaded)
5. DNS issues (viewers ISP or counter site's web host provider)
I believe these are the reasons why these statistics vary. There are
ways for advertising sites to guarantee that click-throughs are received
by the advertiser's site but this would involve a slightly more complex
way of tracking & would likely result in higher click-through rates.
John Hammell | mailto:john_at_scholarstuff.com
ScholarStuff | http://www.scholarstuff.com/
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