The statistics in Google Analytics are different from program X, why?

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When moving to Google Analytics from a different analytics tool it's often difficult to understand what the numbers mean. A great place to start discovering what Google Analytics is reporting isn't with the reports, but with the terminology that it uses.

- Pageview: In Google Analytics, a Pageview is any page loaded in the client's browser that is tagged with the UTM tracking file.
- Visit: A user's interaction with the website over time. Also called a session. A visit can consist of numerous pageviews.

My first question regarding any discrepancy in data is what is the definition of a "visit" in comparative program? Is it the same as a visit in Google Analytics? It may be that the difference in numbers is actually just a misunderstanding based on terminology.

With that said, it is not uncommon for Google's statistics to be different than those of a traditional log analysis tool. Differences in tracking technology can lead to discrepancies in data. Here are some common issues:

- A pageview is only recorded for Google Analytics when the __utm.js executes correctly. Spiders and bots do not execute the __utm.js file correctly. Therefore, Google Analytics naturally omits spider and bot traffic. The resulting effect on pageview counts can be significant.

- Visitors to your site who do not have JavaScript enabled will not register pageviews in Google Analytics.
- If a page is not tagged with the __utm.js scripts, hits for that page will not be tracked in Google Analytics.
- Hits for multimedia files (MP3, PDF, WMV, etc) which can not be tagged with the __utm.js file must be tracked in a different way. If your site is not modified to track them then your pageview numbers will be lower than those of a log analysis tool.