From 2009 until 2021, KTracy.com used Google Analytics to monitor web traffic. When we decided to rebuild the site without WordPress using static HTML, Javascript, PHP, and CSS; we made the decision really early on to abandon Google Analytics.

There were several reasons for doing this.

No Cookies and No Trackers

When we redesigned the site, protecting user privacy was really important to us. Google Analytics tracks web traffic by installing cookies and trackers on your computers and telephones. That data is then sold for the profit of Google and their partners. I have extremely strong feelings about owning your data and sharing the profit made from that data. The numbers are my website traffic and your browsing history. The only ones who should be involved in that transaction are me and you.

Just because we're not using Google Analytics doesn't mean we're not monitoring our web traffic. Instead, KTracy.com is utilizing AWStats. AWStats is not as comprehensive and there is a lot of raw data compared to the really pretty animated graphics on Google Analytics. AWStats tracks data differently. Instead of installing cookies on your devices, AWStats is natively installed on the KTracy.com server and tracks data usage on the server side. This is entirely my data, not yours, and most especially not Google's or other third parties.

Speed Speed Speed!

One of the catalysts that led to us reverting to a static website was a theory that our SEO was being wrecked by the slow load times of WordPress. Based on the June 2022 web traffic results we published, a page loads on the static site using less than 1/3rd of the bandwidth compared to WordPress site. We intentionally designed KTracy.com to load with as little bandwidth waste as we know how. I don't think Google Analytics really slowed down KTracy.com all that much, but it was essentially duplicate code since AWStats is always running in the background anyway.

It may or may not be noticable, but KTracy.com is leaner and faster because we don't use Google Analytics.

Raw Data vs Graphics

I love pretty graphics as much as the next guy, but I'm all about that raw data.

There are a lot of features in Google Analytics that, over the course of 12 years, I have never used and never needed. All I really care about is how many people came to my site, how long they stayed, how many pages they visited, and how long the pages took to load.

All of that raw data is kept by AWStats in a format that is insanely easy to copy paste into Excel, Google Sheets, Zoho Sheet, or LibreOffice Calc. If at any point I want a graph, I can make it myself.

Google Is Powerful Enough

Google already controls so much of the web that it's not even funny. Every website you see today is designed with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in mind specifically tailored to the Google algorythm. Every kilobyte of data that we give Google increases their stronghold on the net. Realistically, not installing Google Ads on one website isn't going to make that big of a difference. However, you have to be the change you want to see.

What Really Matters

Truthfully, some people may find more value in Google Analytics. If you start a personal website, it may even be the option you like the best. It won't slow your website down any noticable amount unless someone is using a 28K modem from back in the day. Most importantly, (at least according to Google) whether you use Google Analytics or not has no bearing on your SEO. When all is said and done, I prefer people build their own websites and use whatever tools work best for them.

For what it's worth, I have a few web and technology resources listed here on my website.