Why Is There a Difference Between Blog View Counters and Google Analytics Traffic Data?

Radio broadcasters often notice discrepancies between the blog view counter on their website and the numbers reported by Google Analytics. Understanding these differences is important for making informed decisions about your digital content and audience engagement.

What Causes the Discrepancy?

The blog view counter on your site uses a custom-built tracking pixel to count page views directly within the SoCast platform. While it does attempt to filter out bot traffic, its filtering capabilities are not as advanced as those of Google Analytics. As a result, some automated bot traffic may still be included in your blog view counts, which can inflate the numbers.

Google Analytics, on the other hand, is a comprehensive web analytics service with highly sophisticated bot filtering. It uses advanced algorithms and regularly updated databases to distinguish between real human visitors and automated bots. This means the traffic data you see in Google Analytics is generally more accurate and reliable, reflecting genuine audience engagement.

Our Recommendation

Because Google Analytics offers more robust and accurate traffic filtering, we recommend using Google Analytics as your primary source for website traffic data. It provides a true representation of your audience and is the best tool for detailed analysis and reporting. For your convenience, we have integrated Google Analytics GA4 into the Omnichannel Engagement Dashboard, making it easy to generate comprehensive reports.

The blog view counter is best used as a quick reference to identify trending topics and see which posts are attracting attention in real time. While it is a helpful tool for immediate insights, it should not be relied upon as your sole source for traffic analysis or reporting.