How do I disseminate my log files?

[Thors Hammer]

My hosting company informed me as to how to retrieve our 'log' file, to give me information on who, how , when and where people are getting to our site, and what they are doing from there.

So now I have I am sure a very basic question, how the heck do I check out the information in the 'log' files. They told me there are programs to do this, but couldnt referre me to one off hand. Any suggestions.

I am trying very hard to make my employeer understand the need for seo, and how important it is to know what keyword work, and how to tell what the most 'viable' products are by seeing where they go, how they got there, how long they stay etc....

I think he is starting to listen. :)

Thor

[SmallTime]

Thors, do a site search for "log analysis", there have been a lot of threads about the programs available.

[Macguru]

I would do a site search [searchengineworld.com] for "extended log format". You need this one for real SEO stuff. The standard format will not give you referrers and User agents.

I use a freebee program called "analog" to do the job (like a lot of people too). Other free programs are available to make professional looking presentations out of it's output.

"how long they stay" is no good compared to how much page they viewd...

[Thors Hammer]

Thanks guys.

Macguru, that program looks like it will do everything I want it to. I just downloaded it, and its companion 'report magic'.

Yummmmmmmmmy ;)

Thor

[Macguru]

Hi Thors Hammer,

Report magic is the Freebee I use along with Analog for most of the jobs to produce decent traffic reports. Took me hours to fine tune them at first, but was worth the effort.

Some people need more advanced programs for tracking ecommerce sites.

Analog combined report magic is enough for 95 % jobs I do.

[Macguru]

Posting here a quote from a reply to a StickyMail requesting a copy of my own cfg file, so anyone interested in those can benefit from it.

Hello <snip>,

Unfortunatly, I cannot send you an example of the config file I use. I practically use a different one for every site. I download raw logfiles directly in each of the sites folders as "logfile.log".

I live in Québec. Where cultural diferences put a couple of local directories and portals on the map of referrers. I bet you have no use of them in your reports. The are also set to produce reports in French... On top of this, they are tailored to work on Macs. Are we out of luck?

I remember it seemed complicated at first. But I got used to it in hours. My best tip is to start with the "big.cfg" file provided in the "examples" folders. Run it on some small logfile and see what it does. I am sure you will get the cfg file suited to your needs in a matter of hours.

Report magic is also free. You need Analog to work with it. You need to set analog to produce a different report format so report magic can use it.

OUTPUT COMPUTER
OUTFILE report.dat

I keep a copy of analog and report magic in each of my clients sites with their own cfg files. This makes me avoid writing paths in cfg files.

Dont let you impress by the "nerdish" look of those files, if you got step by step you just cant miss.

Download both of them for free and have fun!

Can we share examples of cfg file here?