Built-In Analytics for Website Traffic & Trends – AWStats in cPanel

Introduction (00:00:00)

• Built-in Analytics for website traffic and trends is a topic of discussion (00:00:00).
• The topic is chosen for the week, and a deep dive into analytics accessible through the admin portal will be explored (00:00:09).
• Google Analytics and other website analytic platforms are great tools for understanding website visitor behavior, but can be overwhelming with their features (00:00:20).
• Built-in options and statistics can provide a great understanding of core website traffic, visitor behavior, and possible optimizations without needing dedicated platforms (00:00:39).
• The built-in tool is accessible and can give insights into website traffic and trends, allowing for potential optimizations to be made (00:01:03).

Developer Hub: Analytics (AWStats in cPanel) (00:01:07)

• The Developer Hub in CPanel has a built-in tool called AWStats that provides a simple yet comprehensive snapshot of website traffic statistics, including the number of visitors, page views, and hits, which is accessible with all websites and does not require any code or third-party tools (00:01:08).
• AWStats offers various traffic statistics, such as bandwidth usage, time of day and day of the week with the most traffic, website referers, geolocation of visitors, operating systems and browsers used, entry and exit pages, and other useful statistics (00:01:24).
• The hits statistic in AWStats refers to any request that requires bandwidth usage on the website, such as visiting a web page, downloading an image or file, and overall bandwidth usage (00:01:50).
• AWStats provides information on the geolocation of website visitors, including the countries where the majority of visitors are coming from, as well as the operating systems and browsers they are using (00:02:22).
• The tool also provides data on entry and exit pages, allowing users to understand which pages are performing well and which ones may need optimization, with the goal of taking actionable steps to improve website traffic (00:02:31).
• Overall, AWStats is a simple and useful tool that provides a general comprehensive view of website traffic, enabling users to identify areas for optimization and improvement (00:02:56).

Notable Statistics (00:03:18)

• Notable statistics provided by the Analytics tool include peak hours, which show the time of day and day of the week when a website receives the most traffic, allowing for targeted banner announcements and promotions (00:03:19).
• The tool also identifies the countries from which the most traffic is coming, enabling the blocking of traffic from non-targeted countries that consume a lot of bandwidth (00:03:52).
• Additionally, the tool can identify individual IP addresses that are using a lot of bandwidth, often belonging to robots, and provide the option to block them if necessary, while being cautious not to block IP addresses of search engine servers (00:04:31).
• The tool can identify high-activity bots and allow for the editing of the robots.txt file to prevent unwanted scraping (00:05:12).
• File types can be analyzed to see which formats are consuming the most bandwidth, such as ebooks and PDFs, and which specific files are being downloaded the most (00:05:32).
• The tool provides information on the most viewed web pages, entry and exit points, and bounce rates, allowing for optimization to keep users on the website longer (00:05:52).
• The most common operating systems and web browsers used by visitors can be identified, helping to optimize resources and prioritize mobile device optimization (00:06:27).
• The tool also shows which search engines and individual websites are directing the most traffic to the website, allowing for informed decisions on Pay-per-click ad campaigns and potential collaborations with other website owners (00:06:59).

Demo: Website Analytics Tool (00:07:57)

• The Analytics and data for a website can be accessed inside the BD admin area, specifically through the CPanel dashboard, which provides higher-level domain management and unlocks a wealth of functionality and resources (00:07:58).
• To access the analytics, the search tool in the cPanel dashboard can be used to find “AWStats”, and then the domain name can be selected, including the SSL version if applicable, to view the statistics (00:08:36).
• The stats section provides valuable data, including the number of unique visitors, visits, pages viewed, hits, and total bandwidth usage, although the numbers may differ from third-party tools like Google Analytics (00:09:25).
• The data can be searched for monthly, daily, or hourly historical data, and the numbers are based on the server’s tracking, providing a rough estimate of the site’s behavior and activity (00:09:27).
• The statistics show the site’s performance, including the number of unique visitors, average visits per visitor, and total bandwidth usage, which can be used to identify areas for improvement, such as search engine optimization and social media marketing (00:10:03).
• The month-by-month analysis provides a comparison of growth in visitors, bandwidth usage, and other metrics, allowing for the identification of trends and areas for improvement (00:11:07).
• The data also shows the countries that are utilizing the most bandwidth and traffic, which may seem alarming but is not necessarily a cause for concern as long as it is not exceeding the monthly bandwidth limit (00:10:38).
• The website’s bandwidth usage can be analyzed to identify peak usage days, with the highest bandwidth usage occurring on specific days, such as February 9th, and the data can be used to determine what may have contributed to the high usage, including Google bots or other scraping activities (00:11:33).
• The day of the week and hours of the day can be analyzed to identify peak visitor times, with Fridays being the busiest day of the week for this particular website, and the hours of the day can be used to identify peak traffic times, such as 4 o’clock in the afternoon (00:12:19).
• The website’s traffic can be analyzed by country, with China being the number one visitor for the month of February, utilizing 2.63 gigabytes of bandwidth, which may indicate scraping or spidering activity, and this information can be used to block traffic from unwanted countries if necessary (00:13:09).
• Blocking traffic from certain countries can be a good way to ration bandwidth, especially if the website is close to its monthly limit, and this can be done using the block traffic by country add-on, which can be found in the general settings under localization (00:14:26).
• Analyzing traffic by country can also help with marketing efforts, as it can identify the number two and number three markets, and allow the website to cater to those markets more effectively, with India and the Philippines being examples of countries with nominal traffic (00:14:50).
• The IP addresses of visitors to a site can be analyzed to identify unusual traffic patterns, such as a single IP address utilizing a large amount of bandwidth, in this case, 1.26 GB on February 9th (00:15:13).
• The IP address can be searched using an IP geolocator to determine its location, which in this case was found to be in China (00:15:35).
• Unwanted traffic from a specific IP address can be blocked using the IP blocker feature in CPanel, which can help prevent unnecessary bandwidth usage (00:15:52).
• The robots or spiders section of the Analytics shows the search engines and tools that are crawling the site, such as Googlebot, Bingbot, and Apple Bot, and their bandwidth usage (00:16:45).
• It’s essential to ensure that these bots utilize bandwidth efficiently, as rogue spiders and bots can quickly consume bandwidth limits (00:17:35).
• The robots file in the developer hub can be used to grant access to specific spiders and block others, with the option to restore default settings to only allow safe bots used by common search engines (00:17:58).
• Restoring default settings can help prevent unwanted bots from consuming bandwidth, and third-party tools like Semrush or HRS can be allowed to spider the site if necessary (00:18:32).
• To conduct an SEO analysis, it is necessary to add user agents, such as Semrush, to the allow list, which helps block rogue spiders and bots that waste bandwidth, and this process can be crucial in identifying and preventing unnecessary bandwidth usage (00:19:04).
• Analyzing visitor behavior is important, and it can be done by looking at the duration of visits, with the goal of keeping visitors on the site for at least 30 seconds to two minutes, which is considered a strong win, and this can be achieved by ensuring that web pages grab the attention of visitors (00:19:35).
• Identifying the file types that utilize the most bandwidth is also important, and this can be done by looking at the file types, such as PNG images, and optimizing large files, like images on the homepage, to reduce bandwidth usage, as seen in the example of a client who had a 6-megabyte image on their homepage that was utilizing excessive bandwidth (00:20:20).
• Monitoring downloads is another important aspect, as it allows website owners to see the top downloaded files, such as ebooks or PDFs, and understand the popularity of these resources, as well as the bandwidth used for these downloads (00:21:15).
• Analyzing the top pages visited on a website is crucial, and this can be done by looking at the top pages, including the homepage and other popular pages, and understanding the average size of these pages, which can help identify areas for optimization and improvement (00:21:52).
• The website’s traffic and trends can be analyzed using built-in Analytics tools, such as AWStats, which provides filters to search for specific keywords, like “articles”, and displays the top URL containing that word, allowing for an understanding of the site’s most popular content (00:22:35).
• The analytics tool also shows the homepage has the most entries and exits, suggesting that the site could work on funneling people to internal pages to reduce the bounce rate, and provides useful statistics about page URLs, including views, entries, and exits (00:23:27).
• Analyzing the operating system and browser used by visitors can provide insights into the visitor market, with distinctions between desktops and smartphones, and the majority of traffic coming from desktops, including Mac (computer) and Personal computer computers (00:23:51).
• If a site has a lot of mobile users, it’s essential to be mindful of the placement of calls to action, such as buttons and links, to ensure they are easily accessible on smaller screens, ideally in the top fold or hero section of the page (00:24:52).
• On join pages, it’s crucial to have at least one button that allows users to join immediately, rather than requiring them to scroll through a lot of content, as this can increase conversion rates, although the placement of the button depends on the site’s strategy (00:25:23).

More Traffic Analytics Tools (00:28:24)

• Every brilliant directory site with developer Hub access has access to CPanel AWStats, which provides data for the site, however, there are more robust and granular analytic tools available, such as Google Analytics, which is 100% free (00:28:25).
• Google Analytics is a popular choice, and since its release, more paid options have become available, including Hotjar, Matomo (software), and Semrush, which provide more comprehensive insights into visitor behavior and page visits (00:28:40).
• Some of these tools, like Hotjar, offer real-time reporting and detailed information, such as mouse movement tracking, making them more suitable for paid services, especially for maximizing conversion rates on squeeze pages or funnel pages (00:29:07).
• These third-party tools also provide more granular data, allowing for date comparisons, searching for specific page URL, and scalability for larger websites, making them more robust for complex analytics and reporting (00:29:21).
• Google Analytics is a highly recommended tool, and even if it’s already being used, it’s worth considering other options for more detailed insights, while cPanel AWStats provides a great snapshot of the site’s activity (00:29:45).