Web Analytics.
Web analytics is the ongoing measurement and analysis of how visitors use a website: where they come from, which pages they view, how long they stay and whether they enquire, call or buy. The aim is not statistics for their own sake but decisions about content, advertising and the website itself that rest on measured data.
Web Analytics — Explained in Detail
Every visit to a website leaves a trail: a page loads, a button is clicked, a form is sent. Web analytics collects these events, groups them into visits and turns them into metrics. The usual ones are users, sessions, page views, time on site, bounce rate and, above all, conversions: the actions a website exists for in the first place, such as an enquiry, a click on the phone number, a purchase or a booking. Alongside these sits the source of each visit, whether Google search, ads, social media, a newsletter or an AI assistant.
There are two technical approaches. With page tagging, the website loads a small script that sends events to an analytics tool; this is how Google Analytics 4 and most alternatives work. Log file analysis reads the web server's own records instead. These also capture visits without JavaScript, crawlers for instance, but are worse at telling people from bots. Server-side tagging is a hybrid: data passes through your own server first and is only then forwarded to tools.
Web analytics should not be confused with a one-off website review. An SEO check or a website audit assesses the state of a site at a single point in time, covering technology, content and speed. Our free website analysis gives you a quick overview in about a minute. Web analytics, by contrast, observes real visitors continuously. The two complement each other: the audit tells you what to improve, analytics shows whether the improvement reaches your visitors. Conversion tracking is related but narrower, focusing on which ads and channels lead to enquiries.
In Switzerland, data protection shapes how analytics is set up. The revised Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP, SR 235.1) requires transparency about which personal data is processed, and Article 45c of the Telecommunications Act (TCA, SR 784.10) governs storing information on visitors' devices, such as cookies. This is context, not legal advice. Many smaller firms therefore choose cookieless tracking, which works without cookies and without storing IP addresses.
The metrics that matter for a small business
A handful of figures is enough to start with: visitors per week, where visits come from, the most viewed pages and the number of contacts, split into form enquiries, phone clicks, WhatsApp and email. Divide contacts by visitors and you have the conversion rate. Label precisely what is measured: a tap on the phone number is a phone click, not a confirmed call. Counting real calls requires call tracking numbers or the phone system as a second source.
A growing source of visits is AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini, which can be recognised by their referrer, see AI referral traffic. We set up measurement and goals as a conversion tracking agency.
Example: a painting firm tracks where quote requests come from
A constructed example: a painting and decorating firm in Baden has a new website and runs Google Ads in spring. The owner wants to know whether it pays off. Until now he only knew how many quote requests arrived each month, not where they came from. With cookieless analytics he now sees visits per channel alongside form enquiries, phone clicks and WhatsApp clicks.
After a few weeks he can see which pages trigger enquiries and which channel sits behind them. The page on exterior work attracts plenty of search traffic but hardly any requests, because the contact button sits at the very bottom. He has the page reworked and compares the same metric afterwards. Analytics does not promise success, but it replaces guesswork with something you can check. If you would like to assess the site's condition first, start with the free SEO check.
Related Page
Conversion tracking agency ZurichFrequently Asked Questions About Web Analytics
Web analytics continuously measures how real visitors use a site: where they come from, what they view and whether they get in touch. A website analysis or audit is a one-off review of the site itself, covering technology, content and speed. The two complement rather than replace each other.
It depends on the tool and how it is configured. Tools that set cookies or share data with third parties usually require notice and, depending on your audience, consent. Cookieless tools that do not store IP addresses can often do without a banner. Your privacy policy must mention the measurement either way.
For most small firms a lean tool that reliably counts visitors, sources and enquiries is enough. Google Analytics 4 offers far more features but is more complex and more demanding from a data protection point of view. Cookieless alternatives are simpler but less detailed. What matters most is that enquiries are tracked properly as goals.
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