Web Log Analysis

As more organizations view the Web as an integral part of their operations and external communications, interest in the measurement and evaluation of Web site usage is increasing day by day.

Logs can be used to collect a certain amount of quantitative usage information. Compiled and interpreted properly, log information provides a baseline of statistics that indicate use levels and support use and/or growth comparisons among parts of a site. Such analysis also provides technical information regarding server load, unusual activity, or unsuccessful requests, and can assist in marketing and site development and management activities.

It's easy to track sessions, page views, downloads, or whatever metric is most important to each user. You can look at referring pages and see which search engines and keywords were used to bring visitors to the site. Web site behavior, from the top entry and exit pages, to the paths that users follow, can be analyzed. You can learn which countries your visitors come from, and which operating systems and browsers they use. You'll learn how your bandwidth is being used, and how much time users spend on your site. You can tell how popular your files, images, directories, and queries are.

In addition you can:

• Track individual visitors to the smallest details – such as, their previous visits and their path through your web site
• Check if visitors behave as you expect - maybe your links are not clear enough

Usage analysis could involve detailed study of a sweeping range of questions: not just what, when, and by whom, but also how and why the information was sought and used. Assessing Web site use in a meaningful manner is not a trivial undertaking.

Log analysis is only one of several such mechanisms. Qualitative methods of data collection, such as user surveys, focus groups, and other feedback mechanisms, can gather user opinions on site content, navigation, or look-and-feel, as well as assess user satisfaction and the reasons that users visited the site or navigated as they did. A site's usability--which will affect both rate and manner of use--can be evaluated through various methods to reveal whether the site is accessible, easy to navigate and appealing to users. Benchmarks against which to compare or evaluate use figures makes them more meaningful. How does my site's growth compare with overall Web growth rates? What volatility of use levels is normal, or how much can be attributed to our promotional efforts?

Data available from a log file are:

• number of requests made
• number of requests by type of file, such as HTML page views
• distinct IP addresses served and the number of requests each made
• number of requests for specific files or directories
• totals and averages by specific time periods (hours, days, weeks, months, years)
• URLs from which user came to the site (referring pages)
• Etc.

Many log analysis packages containing a variety of features are on the market. But Innerbus understands customer needs and provides following through our log analysis software, WebQuest:

• User-friendly interface
• Variety of output formats (Word, Excel)
• Support for a variety of log file formats
• Real-time analysis
• Etc.

Currently, log file analysis is perhaps best viewed as an art disguised as a science. The limitations of log file data, Web log analysis software, and the inherent nature of the Web mean that log file statistics should be scrutinized closely and interpreted extremely cautiously.

Properly compiled and knowledgeably interpreted, Web log files provide meaningful statistical indicators of Web site usage.