log analysis vs tagging

aren't proxy servers common?

[pawel]

Hi,
my company is launching a loyalty website with restricted access for database customers only.
Every session will then be assigned to a particular user (record in the DB),so we are thinking of using web analysis (WebTrends most likely) for advanced event-driven responses to customers and better segmentation.
I am still quite new to this topic and would like to know why so few analytic tools (Webtrends among them) allow for page tagging instead of log analysis, given all the disadvantages of log analysis? We expect a large proportion of our customers accessing our site from their workplace machines, and, at least in this country, proxy servers are widely used for caching pages. ISn't this then a major problem with server log analysis? Aren't the results simply wrong? Will tagging do the trick? And what about HTTP CacheControl = "Private", is this a solution that will allow us to stick with log analysis?

[Mardi_Gras]

ISn't this then a major problem with server log analysis?

Absolutely. Log files are a great record of server activity - that log activity may, or, more often, may not approximate visitor activity.

Log files have their uses, but to understand what your visitors are doing on site requires cookies or other methods that are more accurate at sessionizing visits.

The first time I placed tracking code on my site I was amazed at the difference between what my logs (or more accurately, my log analysis software) said was happening versus actual activity.

[indomitable]

Just to back that up, we use a client side system which catches the cached traffic and it raises our impressions by 20-30%.

[jimnovo]

Tagging is more accurate if you are interested in page views, which sites doing pay-for-content and selling advertising obviously are. But many tagging options don't provide the capability to see true paths and really customize the reporting, which is more important in, say, web retailing, where conversion to buyer is the goal. So it depends on what kind of site you are talking about.

By the way, WebTrends supports tagging in WebTrends Live, and the newest vesion of WebTrends supports both reporting methods in the same interface, so you can use either or both methods, depending on what you want to accomplish. The best choice also depends a lot on what technology is used and how big the site is. Always tradeoffs...