Everyone is using Google Analytics; it is literally the first script everyone installs on their website. If you run a SaaS business or an E-commerce store, you basically want to know everything about your audience.
Google Analytics plays a crucial role in understanding user behavior and your target audience. A study by Surfshark, one of the biggest VPN providers across the globe, showed that over 37% of people use ad blockers.
This means that 37% of your visitors are not being tracked. We are going to analyze how I use custom analytics to achieve a 99% tracking rate while also maintaining privacy for my clients.
https://surfshark.com/global-ad-blocking
Google Analytics Alternatives
Big Google Analytics competitors don't really do their job either. Large adblocker developer literally block all the competitors of google because there are the most common after Google.
Just by searching Google Analytics Competitors on Google you can find all the analytics providers that are most likely blocked by ad blockers.
Smaller Providers
On my website, as you can see, I have installed both gtag, which is Google Analytics, and Vercel Analytics. Vercel Analytics is probably less known to the public but is still blocked by my AdBlocker.
Even in that case, we have a solution that we are going to talk about and how to get the most out of your analytics.
So don't believe that by choosing a smaller provider you are going to be safe. The likelihood of not tracking will be smaller but not zero.
Risk displacement
The first thing you need to do is discuss with your developer about putting multiple analytics on your website. Risk displacement is a business term that can be applied anywhere in life.
Just like you don't keep all of your money in one bank account, you should do the same with your data.
I am using three different analytics. One of them provides specific user events. Google doesn't really do anything; I might delete it after finishing this article because it literally doesn't track half of the traffic.
Below are the same analytics for the past 30 days. As you can see, Google Analytics doesn't track almost anything. Even the Average Engagement Time is wrong.
Github Opensource
I am not going to discuss exactly which analytics I am using because I don't want them to start getting blocked as well. But you can ask your developer to search on GitHub for open-source analytics solutions. The one I am using can be found easily, and if UBlock Origin doesn't catch it, it means that no other ad blocker will.
Always use UBlock Origin on your website to check if it block the analytics or not. Basically UBlock Origin is one of the best Ad Blockers in the market right now.
Just click on the logger and check what scripts it highlights with red. Even if you don't are a developer you can check it very easily.
Domain Masking
Domain masking is covering the domain of the tracking script with a reverse proxy server. This is quite complex, and if you are not a developer, you might have to hire someone to do it for you.
You need to keep in mind that domain masking is not always possible and might not work for some scripts.
Also, I want to quickly mention Shopify because the analytics of the platform are both server-side and client-side. Ad blockers do not work, and Shopify tracks everything. So, congrats to the Shopify team for that.
Privacy
Privacy is not something Google cares about. The alternatives I found were not only accurate but also privacy-friendly. The data didn't link to any other social profiles and was stored in my database.
You can get to know your audience in secure ways. If you care about them, you want the best for them. The open-source alternatives you can find not only don't store the data on Google Server but you store the data and you don't link them to any other social profiles.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while Google Analytics is a popular tool for tracking website metrics, it falls short in capturing data from users who employ ad blockers.
By exploring custom analytics solutions, businesses can achieve higher tracking accuracy and maintain user privacy. Employing multiple analytics providers, leveraging open-source solutions, and using techniques like domain masking can significantly enhance tracking effectiveness.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you found this article helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at x@sotergreco.com, and I will respond.
You can also keep up with my latest updates by checking out my X here: x.com/sotergreco
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