google analytics real time

[cd34]

Realtime isn't accurate. I've got a node.js site that I've been working on which uses sockets for every connection, so, I know exactly how many people are connected at a particular time. Google allows sessions to expire very quickly, so, if you're using Ajax to drive your site, after no visible interaction, Google stops tracking that as a current visitor. When they hit the next page, it tracks them as a new pageview and starts the tracking over again. If I had to guess, they are expiring a user after 30-45 seconds.

This particular site has typical time on site numbers of 15+ minutes -- hopefully longer as it gets some real content and not just test content.

New Interface doesn't allow you to add a user to analytics, still have to use the old interface for that.

Both the new and old interface, with and without Webmaster Tools activated, make it very difficult to get the numbers you need. Even Mixpanel seems to be a little better, but, again, focused on the pretty numbers, not the numbers that you need.

If only there were more hours in the day.