7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Traffic Started Going To California!?

by khp
5 replies
  • OFF TOPIC
    • |
Have had my survival site for about a year now. Was adding articles, and building traffic.
  • One day I decided to pick up one of these "curation" packages and started curating away to my hearts content.
  • immediately, my traffic dropped like a rock. Not sure, but its possible that the style of the curated articles was different from the previous articles and that might have been a flag?
  • so I just sat on it and watched it (the traffic)
  • over the course of a few months, the demographics map went from solidly all over the country to .... California.
  • its not limited to one city. Its all kinds of cities in California, but its only coming from Cali.
Granted, I have a soft spot for California in my heart, but not THAT much.

Anyone seen this before?
#articles #curation #demographics #google analytics #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    That is understandable to a degree. California is seeing things they NEVER thought they would!

    Steve
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8458317].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author khp
    Went to AWStats in my HostGator account and confirmed that Google Analytics isn't reporting correctly. Here are Sept 2013 results
    UNIQUE Visitors - AWS is showing 16x more unique visitors than GA
    VISITS - AWS is showing 33x more visits than GA

    1 of 2 things is happening.
    Either Google Analytics is trash
    Or I'm suspecting someone is hijacking the site.

    Order of Business..
    #1. remove all references to google analytics that exist anywhere on the site.
    #2. reinstall GA and watch things
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8578460].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author GeoffTodd
      I work in GA many times during the week. I have noticed that traffic in GA is always much lower than AWS. I do know that much of the stats showing in AWS are usually a lot of bot traffic. Because of this, I never go by the AWS numbers. GA filters out all the bot traffic that hit your sites.

      You can also add another free analytic code to your site like Piwick or Woopra.

      As far as your California traffic, you have to remember that a lot of external factors can influence the traffic trends. Maybe there was a commercial or a newspaper article which sent people to the internet searching.
      Signature
      Marketing Afloat -My personal marketing journey
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8588253].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author khp
      REMOVING GA
      Removed all code, and watched the stats.
      Everything was flat for 2 days, so that confirmed that I had found all the GA code.

      AWSTATS
      GeoffTodd, yes I was watching AWstats and their numbers are way higher than GA.
      One thing I didn't see in AWS was demographics, so I couldn't confirm the California thing.

      THE ANSWER?
      At this point there is no answer yet. I may try including Piwick or Woopra code, but its just strange how traffic from everywhere in the US dropped to Zero, but California kept going.

      NEXT STEP?
      With the GA code ruled out, I've reinstalled it into my WP theme. Had the option to install it within my HostGator Cpanel, and did it for a day or so, but then removed it. Will run it out of my LiveWire WP theme.

      Also, am going to begin posting content on a regular, consistent basis, and see if that somehow kickstarts the process and bring in traffic from other states.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8602957].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DubDubDubDot
    What exactly do you mean by curation package?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8603418].message }}

Trending Topics