Why is the term "other" showing up in my reports?

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Every record in the Google Analytics report resides in a fixed-size database. The files that comprise the database are rotated monthly. So, there is a limit to how many unique records can be listed in the database for every month.

If that limit is reached, Google Analytics will create one last record called "other". The "other" record can turn up in the Referrals, Pages, Domains or Browsers report. After the limit is reached, any additional unique records that are added to the report data are moved into the "Other" record. So, if 5 new pages are viewed when the database is full, the record called "other" under the Pages report will count 5 additional page views.

If you are using Google Analytics, it is a good idea to check the structure of your website. Often we see sites that embed a user's session ID in the URL. Adding a unique number to the URL drives the number of page hits up, drastically. Apply a filter to remove the unique ID from the URL to solve this problem.

If you are using Urchin 5 software, you can increase the database table limit. By default that limit is set to 10,000 records. That means that Urchin will record a total of 10,000 unique record items every month for every profile. That number can be increased to 60,000 if you have "Super Admin" access to the Urchin Administrative Control Panel. If you do not have proper access, you will have to contact your Urchin Administrator and request that they make the necessary changes for you.

If you need to increase the database limit beyond 60,000 records, you must access the Google server from a command shell and edit the configuration manually.