SmarterStats FAQ

Q: What is SmarterStats?

A: SmarterStats website statistics provides detailed web analytics to help you track and build your online presence. Once enabled, you will be able to view report statistics that analyze data across months, weeks, days or even hours. You can view which files were accessed on your site, where site visitors are from, what browsers were used, or whether the site or server encountered errors during the selected timeframe.

Q: Is SmarterStats automatically enabled when I order a new plan?

A: SmarterStats is an included benefit with your hosting package, however, it is not enabled by default. Instructions to activate your SmarterStats service can be found here: How to Enable SmarterStats

Q: What types of reports are available?

A: With SmarterStats, you can create custom reports based on your most viewed items, or you can use a variety of standard reports that are included in the SmarterStats dashboard. The different types of standard reports available are discussed in detail in this article: How to View a Standard Report in SmarterStats

Q: What is data mining?

A: Data Mining is an advanced information gathering technique which allows you to obtain specific details and trends that the custom or standard reports only generalize. Whereas custom and standard reports provide an overview of the statistics available for your site, data mining takes this a step further and provides you with fully-detailed reports that allow you to drill down and analyze your website's statistical data. This can be beneficial in recognizing patterns of visitor behavior so you act on these results, providing an opportunity to target marketing efforts and increase sales on your website.

Q: What do all the different terms in my reports mean?

A: Bandwidth: The total number of kilobytes (kb) sent to visitors to your site. Bandwidth includes all resources requested by the visitor.
Hits: A request to your web site for a specific file. This can be an image, a page, or a script. One web page may contain several related resources, meaning a visitor viewing a single page may trigger several hits in your statistics. Hits generated as a result of an error (400 or 500 errors) are not counted as actual hits to your site, but are kept separate in your statistics.
Page: The basic building blocks of any website. A website generally contains an assortment of pages that are accessible and viewable from a web browser. SmarterStats considers the following file extension types to be pages: .asp, .aspx, .cfc, .cfm, .cfmx, .cfml, .cgi, .htm, .html, .ida, .idc, .jhtm, .jhtml, .jsp, .jws, .mht, .mhtml, .mv, .php, .php3, .phtm, .phtml, .pl, .shtm, .shtml, .stm, .wml, .xdl, .xhtml, .xml.
Page Views: A successful request for a file on your site which is considered to be a page. Views generated as a result of an error (400 or 500 errors) are not counted as actual views for your site, but are kept separate in your statistics.
Phrase: The entire search string text used by visitors to find and get to your site.
Referrer Host: The web site from which visitors to your site originated. "No Referrer" means a visitor typed your website address directly into their browser, used a bookmark, or followed a direct link from an email.
Search Engine: A website whose primary function is to gathering and report information available on the Internet. Common examples of a search engine are Google and Bing.
Visits: The total number of times people have visited your website. Visits are counted when a site user requests one or more files from the web server. If that same user is idle for more than a specific amount of time (usually 20 minutes), a new visit is generated when they come back to their computer and your website.

If you have any further questions that were not answered in this article, please contact us.