Mapsofworld and Power Of Open Analytics

Everyone who is involved with websites and portals business talks about Comscore and Google Analytics and that also in a hush-hush manner. At Mapsofworld, we decided that we would always ensure that independent tools capture as much of Mapsofworld.com as is possible in an open environment. We have always allowed our real data to travel to anyone who steps out to find the same, regardless of the purpose it maybe needed for. There are a few websites which, independently or with publishers coordination,  share with public an amazing array of websites’ actual numbers. Numbers which tell the world which geography or which vertical gets what kind of traffic from where and for how long.

We had always used Alexa.com and looked at what this business, owned by Amazon,was talking about us. Yes, it is widely believed that Alexa can be tutored and many businesses do manipulate Alexa to show them in good light, but not we. We are very clear that creating illusions for us would devolve our resolve to succeed in true sense of the word. So, we just allow Alexa to carry us the way it so wishes.

In 2007, Quantcast dot com started. We were amongst the first ones to embed their code to our website, and as Quantcast evolved so did the quality of our data in public space. World started knowing us better and people started quoting our Quantcast figures and discussing them. Some were surprised and some were amused by our credulity and/or naiveness about this whole matter.

Quantcast, over a last couple of years has seen growth challenges. Many large publishers and platforms have indeed quit Quantcast, thus making it less representative. This change, however, doesn’t reflect in your almost accurate number available to all your stakeholders. This is a good number to have and very reliable. I personally trust this number and do visit Mapsofworld’s Quantcast Data at least once every 24 hours.

Little over a year ago, I was introduced to SimilarWeb by a business associate who made me aware about the transparency and  strength of this platform. Since then, this is my first platform for assessing any website quickly and authoritatively. Like Quantcast, SimilarWeb is also on a path to an ever-changing  ever-evolving platform. It is quite dynamic and real. We have opted for a participative route where all stakeholders of Mapsofworld.com can actually get to know the health and influence of the website on a monthly basis. We have given access to SimilarWeb and it measures both our mobile and desktop data. Here is all about us on SimilarWeb. It does give us lot of pride in seeing our ranking up there at 27-28 for mapping sites. It tells us where we are and also shows us where we need to go.

If you are aware of any other reliable and open platforms that display a high degree of accuracy, please share with us.

 

3 comments

  • Though I agree with all the above mentioned points , here are things that I would like to add:
    1. There is Cpanel Aw stats data that can be considered as source of data and analytics …but you can’t showcase it…but can use for insights….
    2. Alexa is tool bar based and is not very effective and most people don’t use Quantcast in there web site…
    3. Though I believe that internet should be open platform , It can be used for nefarious purposes, so many VC funded and media companies don’t want to showcase this data to public…They measure it but don’t showcase to competitors or public…Also they don’t want any one to keep tab on their data…
    4. Analytics should be used to get insights to improve the site rather than something to brag about….so even if some one is doing great there is still something that can be done to improve…so the keyword here is insights and improve…..
    5. No amount of analytics will be enough…Any skilled guy can manipulate all these metrics…and any brilliant guy can still catch you doing it…

    Regards
    Rajendra

  • Thanks Mr. Singh for mentioning a tool like Similarweb, have not known about it and it seems to be quite useful. Also, gone through your website mapsofworld and it seems to be covering quite a lot of ground. Read the comments of Mr. Rajendra and here are my 2 cents:

    Agreed Cpanel Aw stats can be used for a portal’s assessment internally but the only limitation being it’s not quite easy to decipher.

    Yes, Alexa is toolbar-based and less reliable. However, considering its data matrix being the same for all the sites, it works best for comparison purposes and for viewing
    the growth pattern of one’s own site.

    Analytics is indeed to be used for improvement and that’s where the focus should be.
    Interestingly, making your data open to scrutiny is also about attracting suggestions/inputs, thus fueling healthy competition.

    Yes, in my opinion too people do exaggerate, but the numbers can’t be manipulated for long. For both going for VC funding and for Ad tie-ups, one has to sail on real numbers, not
    cooked up analytics/Stats data.

    Himanshu

  • You can try statcounter..

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