SEO article on server log files

[Koz]

Hi all,

Anyone interested in the benefits of analysing your server log files in relation to search engine optimisation? We have a great article on the subject in are articles page: http://www.digital-m.co.za/articles.html

It talks about how you can use the information in your log files to tweek you SEO campaign.

would love to hear your feedback

Cheers, Koz

[Blazingpie]

Hi all,

Anyone interested in the benefits of analysing your server log files in relation to search engine optimisation? We have a great article on the subject in are articles page: http://www.digital-m.co.za/articles.html

It talks about how you can use the information in your log files to tweek you SEO campaign.

would love to hear your feedback

Cheers, Koz

Hmmm... I think it may be better to link to the article directly, just in case it gets bumped off the front page or something :/

One benefit you forgot to mention is that if your site isn't indexed, your log can show whether or not Google is crawling your site, and you can take appropriate action :)

[Koz]

One benefit you forgot to mention...

Who said I wrote it? :wink: Here is the link to "Search Engine Optimisation Tip: Analyse your log files" (http://www.digital-m.co.za/articles/SEO-Tip-Analyse-your-log-files.html)

You are right, log files do contain info on who is crawling your site. The article only contains the top few advantages of analysing your log files. I'm not saying that seeing the crawling info is not important, just that its an article and not an e-book :shhh:

[Paz]

Top article Koz.

Everyone should glance at their server logs, not only to check out their traffic levels, but all the other goodies in there too.

I always look at the referal keywords to look for any suprises or terms that I didn't particularly optimise for but appear to bring nice traffic anyway - that way I can fine-tune a search engine marketing campaign.

Another important thing in the logs are how long people stay on my sites... in other words if they are exiting the home page after 60 secs.... my site's crap.

Also "404 Not Found" error messages are useful because they are caused by missing pages, or graphics and usually need urgent attention.

I'm using Weblog Expert software to analyse my logs and would be interested if anyone else is using some other software to analyse their server logs...

Cheers,
Paz.

[Chatmaster]

Yes running a online business without any stats is like running in complete darkness. It is a full out requirement. I also use Weblog Expert and I am running tests with Google Analytics as I previously used Urchin, many years ago and liked it allot. I will however always run a log analyzer just to be sure. Very good article Koz!

[Koz]

Thank you Chatmaster.

I'm interested to find out what other server stats software everyone is using. I use Weblog Expert too.

[Chatmaster]

I recently ran a couple of tests on some of the products. I personally feel it depends on your business type that you have and how you earn your income online. eCommerce for example cannot use a Log Analyzer but needs to use more advanced tracking software like Webtrends and Omniture. However these IMO are way to advanced and expensive for a normal website.

User friendliness is a major factor to. A user must be able to access information easily and fast. If that is not the case then the software is useless. Another major factor is the speed at which it runs and the amount of system resources it uses. I remember the old Webtrends log analyzer software were crashing very often and IMO absolute inaccurate. Fortunately they moved to the new include file software.

But here are my observations.

Surfstats - Excellent! Top3 in my view and if memory serves me correctly SA based!
123loganalyzer is very good and I feel easy to use.
AwStats is excellent and one of my top3 Log analyzers
Analog stats are good but in my opinion not user friendly.
weblogexpert excellent as well very user friendly.
sawmill This is an old SEO favorite... good software no problem with it.

I also like to add that the tests we are running on Google analytics are truly impressive, just one problem... The way the tracking works causes security problems with IE but not Firefox.
As far as eCommerce tracking software are concerned I really feel that Omniture are miles ahead of anybody else.

[Paz]

Deep Log analyzer is another one - fantastic for SEO, particularly bot visits and site spidering, but too expensive.

I'm gonna give a plug to a mate of mine in another forum. He's written Log file analyzer SEO software (http://www.bothunter.com) for 50 US. It only works with Linux Apache servers though.

Cheers,
Paz.

[Chatmaster]

Paz, is this Jocelyn's? I know him from the old days before the other forum was started... If he has an affiliate program I would be glad to support him to... :)

[Paz]

Paz, is this Jocelyn's?

Yup... You know what Jocelyn's like for checking his links; I'm hoping he'll find the Bothunter software link and drop by! Maybe he'll join us.... :shhh:

I'm sure he needs all the help he can get with the Bothunter site though, I'm sure he'll consider your offer. Let's see if we get any hits from www.google.ca

Cheers,
Paz.

[Jocelyn]

Yup... You know what Jocelyn's like for checking his links; I'm hoping he'll find the Bothunter software link and drop by! Maybe he'll join us.... :shhh:Ironically, that site is made with asp and cannot be analysed with my software. Also, it's hosted on a buddy's hosting and I don't have access to the logs... unless I wanna look at them manually... lol !

I made BotHunter cause all the log softwares I tried were not letting me do a per page report. Knowing you rank for KEYWORD is good, but what page on what SE. So I tailor made myself a tool to know all about that... and the last crawl function will give you a full list of the 3 major bots and 2 user ones of you choice and log the last visit for every page in a list... was it's first purpose.

I made it for myself... it looks like crap, but man the numbers are good... I wasted 3 months last winter doing that instead of sites... was a waste of time cause it did all I needed already, just tried to make it look better... must not be user friendly enough... baaa ain't gonna get rich with a software, people don't wanna pay, even if it will tell them page per page what's going on with the site.

So I tossed that project aside to make money with my sites instead... bothunter is my worse site, I don't even look if it ranks or anything... I don't care cause it's easier to make money making sites.

[flowmarta]

Your idea is brilliant