6 ms·

We are based in Europe and self-host our analytics exactly for this reason. I feel this is just the beginning.

by tin7in 4y ago

V__ 4y ago
Are you using a custom sotware or something like plausible.io?
- tin7in 4y ago
  I've heard about Plausible but haven't tried it yet. We are using Posthog which is a suite for product analytics.
  - stevoski 4y ago
    Plausible et al all are a pale imitation of GA. They all offer a dashboard with some basic filtering. But they offer little in the way of true analytics features, that allow you to slice, dice, and compare data.
    - mhitza 4y ago
      I'm working on an web analytics project that gives users more power over the way they slice/dice/compare analytics data. Would you be interested in giving it a try when the project launches in alpha? Send me a hello email at the address listed on my profile, would be happy to send out an invite when ready.
    - quickthrower2 4y ago
      Which is a good thing!
closewith 4y ago
Unfortunately, you can't self-host the integration with Google Ads or Search Console, which locks anyone who relies on Google (or Facebook, Microsoft, etc) Ads into the use of Google Analytics/Ads tracking.
- quickthrower2 4y ago
  Why not? Can’t you still pass the campaign information via the url?
  - closewith 4y ago
    You can send campaign data that way, but to run any kind of effective campaign on Google Ads, you also need to send conversion data back if the user who clicks on your ad actually does the thing you want. You can either use GA or Google Ads own tracking option to set a cookie with a unique ID associated with that ad click and then send that to Google when they convert. A privacy-conscious serverside GTM/GA implementation won't leak any personal data like IP address to Google, but there's no way to avoid sending the GCLID if you advertise. A lot of companies are dependent on Google Ads for demand generation, so it's the reason they are sticking with GA even as the writing's on the wall.
rambambram 4y ago
Congrats. We also chose to do the analytics ourselves. No tracking, no cookie banners, and probably better stats as well. One thing that Google did very cleverly was to only give GA users the search terms that visitors used to end up on their site.
- guelo 4y ago
  Isn't the search term in the Referer header?
  - closewith 4y ago
    Not for many years. The only way to get Google search term data now is through the Search Console product, which integrates with GA.
  - Taywee 4y ago
    Nope. They forward through an in-between that obscures it. They argue that because search results are personalized, being able to see the search terms can give you information about the visitor that can compromise their privacy. Google doesn't want anybody violating user privacy except for Google.
    - mhitza 4y ago
      If you get your site setup on Google Webmaster tools you will still have access to the search terms. Definitely not as precise as with GA, but should suffice. Unless you want to do per user funnel tracking starting from their search term. Which is pretty privacy invasive.
      - dx034 4y ago
        You can only see visitor numbers per search term, but not information like bounce rates or duration of visits. And that would be really helpful to judge if people may get the wrong impression of your page and bounce if they searched for specific topics.
- 4y ago
Rygian 4y ago
Self-hosting does not automatically make your analytics legal, on the other hand. Processing of your users' personal data is legal only in the few exceptional scenarios outlined in Article 6. https://gdprinfo.eu/en-article-6 https://gdprinfo.eu/en-article-6
- giobox 4y ago
  Our definition of "exceptional scenarios" is clearly not the same... The list of scenarios in article 6 are common business operations covering a huge range of legitimate activities where processing might need to occur; there is little exceptional about them.
  - Rygian 4y ago
    Processing of personal information is unlawful except in the conditions listed in the article. So "exceptional" in the sense that they are exceptions to a more general rule, as of opposed to the sense of being extraordinary.
joshyi 4y ago
Same here. We’ve been using goaccess for years on a 300M hits a month. Self-host is the way to go for us.
- archon810 4y ago
  Comparing goaccess to GA is like comparing an abacus to a MacBook Pro.

We are based in Europe and self-host our analytics exactly for this reason. I feel this is just the beginning.

by tin7in 4y ago

We are based in Europe and self-host our analytics exactly for this reason. I feel this is just the beginning.

V__ 4y ago

Are you using a custom sotware or something like plausible.io?

tin7in 4y ago
I've heard about Plausible but haven't tried it yet. We are using Posthog which is a suite for product analytics.
- stevoski 4y ago
  Plausible et al all are a pale imitation of GA. They all offer a dashboard with some basic filtering. But they offer little in the way of true analytics features, that allow you to slice, dice, and compare data.
  - mhitza 4y ago
    I'm working on an web analytics project that gives users more power over the way they slice/dice/compare analytics data. Would you be interested in giving it a try when the project launches in alpha? Send me a hello email at the address listed on my profile, would be happy to send out an invite when ready.
  - quickthrower2 4y ago
    Which is a good thing!

closewith 4y ago

Unfortunately, you can't self-host the integration with Google Ads or Search Console, which locks anyone who relies on Google (or Facebook, Microsoft, etc) Ads into the use of Google Analytics/Ads tracking.

quickthrower2 4y ago
Why not? Can’t you still pass the campaign information via the url?
- closewith 4y ago
  You can send campaign data that way, but to run any kind of effective campaign on Google Ads, you also need to send conversion data back if the user who clicks on your ad actually does the thing you want. You can either use GA or Google Ads own tracking option to set a cookie with a unique ID associated with that ad click and then send that to Google when they convert. A privacy-conscious serverside GTM/GA implementation won't leak any personal data like IP address to Google, but there's no way to avoid sending the GCLID if you advertise. A lot of companies are dependent on Google Ads for demand generation, so it's the reason they are sticking with GA even as the writing's on the wall.

rambambram 4y ago

Congrats. We also chose to do the analytics ourselves. No tracking, no cookie banners, and probably better stats as well. One thing that Google did very cleverly was to only give GA users the search terms that visitors used to end up on their site.

guelo 4y ago
Isn't the search term in the Referer header?
- closewith 4y ago
  Not for many years. The only way to get Google search term data now is through the Search Console product, which integrates with GA.
- Taywee 4y ago
  Nope. They forward through an in-between that obscures it. They argue that because search results are personalized, being able to see the search terms can give you information about the visitor that can compromise their privacy. Google doesn't want anybody violating user privacy except for Google.
  - mhitza 4y ago
    If you get your site setup on Google Webmaster tools you will still have access to the search terms. Definitely not as precise as with GA, but should suffice. Unless you want to do per user funnel tracking starting from their search term. Which is pretty privacy invasive.
    - dx034 4y ago
      You can only see visitor numbers per search term, but not information like bounce rates or duration of visits. And that would be really helpful to judge if people may get the wrong impression of your page and bounce if they searched for specific topics.
4y ago

Rygian 4y ago

Self-hosting does not automatically make your analytics legal, on the other hand. Processing of your users' personal data is legal only in the few exceptional scenarios outlined in Article 6. https://gdprinfo.eu/en-article-6 https://gdprinfo.eu/en-article-6

giobox 4y ago
Our definition of "exceptional scenarios" is clearly not the same... The list of scenarios in article 6 are common business operations covering a huge range of legitimate activities where processing might need to occur; there is little exceptional about them.
- Rygian 4y ago
  Processing of personal information is unlawful except in the conditions listed in the article. So "exceptional" in the sense that they are exceptions to a more general rule, as of opposed to the sense of being extraordinary.

joshyi 4y ago

Same here. We’ve been using goaccess for years on a 300M hits a month. Self-host is the way to go for us.

archon810 4y ago
Comparing goaccess to GA is like comparing an abacus to a MacBook Pro.