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I prefer the raw logs. One reason is that Google performs "statistical improvement" like "sessonizing." This act destroys the value of point process data. It wo
by RA_Fisher 7y ago
I prefer the raw logs. One reason is that Google performs "statistical improvement" like "sessonizing." This act destroys the value of point process data. It wouldn't be found in a stats textbook because the operation destroys valuable information. Also, the concept of Visitors and Users that GA uses isn't transparent to me.
Another fun fact. Since the tracking happens on the client side, there's potentially a ton of truncated data that GA simply misses. Backend server instruments don't suffer the same way.
- redm 7y agoI think those are fair points; mileage will depend on your end-goals. We want to know how our traffic relates to real-world ad deliverability, real users in our funnel, etc. I'd agree with "Also, the concept of Visitors and Users that GA uses isn't transparent to me." but I'd add that whatever they do, is more accurate than what we could get from raw logs, as it relates to relatable business metrics.