Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
However, as Web sites became more complex, and as more people had access to the Internet, better
analysis became more important. Measuring hits was, and is, not enough. In fact, measuring hits is a
fairly meaningless task. Web analytics split into two types of tools: page tags and log files. Both continue
to become more sophisticated, capturing information about visitors to a Web site, and recording detailed
information related to their time on the site. There are several log-file analysis tools that cost nothing to
use. Sophisticated page-tag Web analytics became available for free when Google bought Urchin in March
2005 and launched Google Analytics as a free service. Are you wondering what the difference is between
page tagging and log-file analysis? Don’t worry, it’s coming!