Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
Winter 11-8-2020
Abstract
The purpose of this review is to examine the process of measuring and analyzing user traffic on academic websites including library websites. It helps improve the user experience and overall performance of library websites. User traffic analysis is also used in the internet world to analyze visitor types, user demographics, popular content, and to evaluate service strategies and campaigns. There are different tools, methods, and protocols available to analyze and handle user traffic on library websites. Types of website data analysis are discussed in this review. This review is based on relevant literature and scholarly articles on web analytics, web traffic, measuring website effectiveness, and user traffic analysis on different websites of educational institutions including library websites. Despite practical information found in usage log files, data also suffers from limitations, because certain types of visitors’ data are not loaded, such as the visitor details and incomplete information about the system used.
Measuring website effectiveness is an important technique that is used nowadays for the purpose of increasing website effectiveness. It is also useful to increase the number of visitors and to improve the performance of library websites. This technique includes the analysis of web traffic, website speed, webpage load time, first view on different devices, average time that visitors spend on the website, and the visitors’ behavior. It has achieved widespread acceptance and become one of the most significant tools for the up-gradation of website and facilitation of its users. It has quickly emerged as one of the best services for the collection and analysis of the most complicated website data. With the ever-increasing amount of data sources, user traffic analysis will play a more important role in the future.