Sep 12

Sep 12 Google Analytics Thinks I’m Big in Singapore

Analytics, Data, Google, Web, Truth, Publishing, Squarespace

I recently started using Google Analytics to collect traffic data for my personal website, www.ddmcd.com. I was surprised to discover that almost half of its “users”—49%—supposedly came from Singapore. Stranger still, these visitors spent practically no time on the site.

I asked Google’s Gemini what might explain this. It suggested that the traffic was probably automated rather than human and offered several ways to separate it from actual visits. ChatGPT then suggested I compare the Google Analytics numbers with the statistics collected by Squarespace, which hosts my website.

According to Squarespace, only 1% of my visits came from Singapore.

Whatever Google Analytics was counting, it probably wasn’t a sudden wave of Singaporeans eager to read my thoughts about technology, movies, television, and books.

I’m not bent out of shape about this. I’ve become less interested in visitor volume over the years. My website is a personal passion. I’m not chasing big numbers.

I know that Google Analytics can be configured to exclude likely bot-related or non-human traffic. Still, despite my years of experience with statistics, surveys, and data analysis, I’d rather not spend much time wrestling with reports just to make them more “accurate.” That would be too much like “work”!

Were I buying advertising priced according to traffic numbers like these, though, I might have a few qualms!

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