6.2 Page TaggingΒΆ
The main advantages of page tagging over log file analysis are:
Counting is activated by opening the page, not requesting it from the server. If a page is cached it will not be counted by the server. Cached pages can account for a significant proportion of page views.
Data is gathered via a component (tag) in the page, usually written in JavaScript although Java can also be used. JQuery and AJAX can also be used in conjunction with a server-side scripting language (such as PHP) to manipulate and store it in a database, allowing complete control over how the data is represented.
The script may have access to additional information on the web client or on the user, not sent in the query.
Page tagging can report on events that do not involve a request to the web server.
Page tagging is available to companies who do not have access to their own web servers.
The page-tagging service manages the process of assigning cookies to visitors; with log file analysis, the server must be configured to do this.
Recently page tagging has become a standard in web analytics.
Log file analysis is almost always performed in-house. Page tagging can be done in-house, but is more often provided as a third-party service. The cost differences between these two models can also be a consideration.