CODEWITHSUNDEEP
google-analyticsip
benhowdle89
benhowdle89

Reputation: 37454

Google Analytics check for "Unique Visitors" PHP

Is the aformentioned's check for "Unique Visitors" just a simple IP check?

Or is something a bit more mysterious and powerful (this is Google we're on about)

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1618

Answers (2)

Yahel
Yahel

Reputation: 37305

IP address is not at all a consideration for Google Analytics calculations of unique visitors; think about what happens if you take your laptop to a coffee shop and use their WiFi; should you really be counted as a different visitor? Or what if your ISP uses dynamic IP addresses?

The unique visitor metric is based solely on the existence of a particular cookie, the __utma cookie (the one set to expire in 2038).

From the Official Google Analytics Help Center:

Unique Visitors represents the number of unduplicated (counted only once) visitors to your website over the course of a specified time period. A Unique Visitor is determined using cookies.

Because of this, 'Unique Visitor' is an inherently flawed metric. It can be skewed by cookie deletion, browser changes, and multiple machines. In other words, because I use 3 browsers across 2 laptops, plus my phone, to Stackoverflow's Google Analytics account, I'm 7 unique visitors. And that's before factoring in how often I clear my cookies.

Upvotes: 0

Capsule
Capsule

Reputation: 6159

It's using cookies among (I guess) other mechanisms. you can have a look at this article to see how the cookies sent by Google Analytics are used.

Upvotes: 1

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