Using Web Server Logs for Tracking Promotions Campaigns.

Web Server Log Files Analysis

The single most-accurate source of tracking data for any website is the log file on the web server. Pretty much all web servers have a system for recording all requests for files to a log file. The log will tell you what files were called, when, and a little info about who or what called them.

Unfortunately, even this detailed data is not flawless or complete. Caching and proxies can defeat the best logging systems, because browsers getting the files from a cache, are obviously not getting it from your server.

AOL use caching extensively, and a single user with an AOL account may be reflected in your server logs by several differing IP numbers as AOL uses its caching to grab the files for its user. If already cached when called, no hits at all might show up in the logs.

In addition, the standard log files are a classic form of information-overload. There are just so many details about every call for every file requested of the server. It takes powerful software (or infinite patience) to analyse the mass of raw data, and extract meaningful information about usage.

Even then, while the logs can tell you which pages were requested and when, they can be very poor in other ways. The logs often fail to identify a repeat customer, for example. The logs will not tell you when a visitor typed your URL into her browser after seeing a particular advertisement either.

Whatever the limitations of Webserver Log Analysis, it is still the most thorough and effective form of tracking available. Be sure to read this cautionary article however, to ensure you fully understand what accuracy and innacuracy of log file data can be involved.

Analysing your web server logs is the least amount of tracking you should be doing. Even if you apply no other tracking or data mining, you should regularly and thoroughly examine the data from your log files.

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Related Reading:

Tracking your online and offline promotions campaigns
My own articles about tracking marketing campaigns and site usage. The articles look at a full range of tracking solutions.

WebMasterWorld Discussion of Log Analysis Software
A useful discussion about log analysis software from the WMW discussion forum.

Introduction to Tracking Web Promotion Results

Using Web Server Logs for Tracking Usage

Using Dedicated Landing Pages to Track Referrals

Using Referal IDs in URLs to Track Referrals

Using Cookies to Track Referrals and Repeat Visits