Here is a quick review of 7 Best Web Analytics tools which can assist you in keeping your website updated.

1. AWStats

This statistics package often comes pre-installed by web hosting companies, but even if you are not taking assistance of any web hosting company, this tool can also be downloaded for personal use. AWstats is not just a statistics package but is also an amazing detective tool which will let you know about bandwidth thieves and tell you if files from your site are being hotlinked.

2. eLogic

This package offers 3 need basic services. The first service offers the basic stat counter while the second offers more details like history, demographics, referring sites etc, just like any other statistics package.

The third service is preferred by businesses owning large sites and provides a bigger picture and a more detailed review of visitors visiting your site and is equipped with extensive tools for web analytics.

3. Google Analytics

If this is not the first time that you are coming across something about web analytics, I bet you’ve already heard or read about Google Analytics. Invariably the most popular web analytics tool, GA allows you to know your visitors better and lets you know the regions, states and cities where your site is getting popular. Integrating with AdWords an offering of tools specially catering the ecommerce domain, makes this web analytics tool stand out in the crowd.

4. ShinyStat

Originally created to aid Italian websites, this tool is now internationally available and has a lot to offer to all. Individual users, professionals, and even large business owners seem to particularly like it and for someone who needs to monitor his sales and ROI, this tool is one of the best web analytics tools.

5. W3Counter

Available in both free and paid versions, this tool can be used to track up to 5000 page views a day across 10 sites and also provide you the facility of sharing your stats in your blogs via widgets. Larger websites which pull huge traffic can also go for the Pro version which offers 1 million views a month.

6. W3Perl

W3Perl in addition to offering its web traffic measuring service has something which other tools don’t offer. Log files of emails and RSS feeds can be measured by W3Perl. Real-time data can be accessed by setting up an administration interface for web access.

7. Webalizer

One of the most popular statistics package, its fast and its portable. Written in C, Webalizer has already become the first choice of people who like to host their own server. Though Webalizer doesn’t dig in the information too much, the overview provided by it, is good enough to be gained from.

Apart from these, there are other wonderful open source web analytics too which are gradually surfacing. But when you’re evaluating types of web analytics tools, do not go for something which offers too much, when you don’t actually need much. Go for a package which caters to your needs and you’ll never regret your choice.

Google has released an add-on “Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on” for your web browser which will stop the browser from sending information to the Google Analytics services. According to Google, it has made such an add-on to provide the website visitors with more number of choices about how their data is collected.

What is Google Analytics

Google’s Analytics is a simple JavaScript code can be incorporated into a website to collect user data and browsing behavior such as when a visitor has visited the website, whether the person is a new or returning visitor, searches made by a person etc. These analytics create cookie on the user’s computer to track information. These are small data files which record information about the user’s interaction with the website.

Analytics Opt-out browser add-on from Google

The new Analytics Opt-out browser add-on from Google will tell the analytics JavaScript that it should not send the website usage information to the Analytics. Google Analytics has come under inspection in Germany regarding whether this service disobey any data protection laws in the country. Daniel Brandt, the president of NonProfit Public Information Research group said, “The reason is that there’s no notification to the end user of the data that’s getting collected by Web sites in Germany that are using Analytics”. The Analytics Opt-out add-on is compatible with Google Chrome v4 and higher, IE 7 and 9 and FireFor 3.5 and higher.

There are some other tools too that are available to block Google Analytics like Adblock Plus, NoScript. Cookie-management tools also help to block the Google Analytics cookie but they don’t help when it comes to collection of general data like IP address of the user or the address of the page!

Click Here to install Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.