How To Do Analysis of Server Logs for SEO?
Web server logs are the records that servers keep of who accesses files (in this case, web sites) that are stored on the server. A server log is a long, ugly, and complicated document in which lots of very usable information is buried. But if you don’t know what you’re doing, it could take a very long time to figure out what’s usable and what’s not in that server log.
That’s not a huge problem, though. There are all kinds of server log analyzers that you can use to help you decipher the log and find the information that you’re looking for. One of the most well- known is AWStats (http://awstats.sourceforge.net/). An example of the Robots/Spider Visitors report is shown in Figure 21-1.
One thing you’ll notice about AWStats is that it looks a lot like the web analytics software that you’ve looked at. That’s because it is essentially the same thing. Web analytics software does the same thing that a server log analyzer does. The difference is that server log analyzers sometimes. provide more information than basic web analytics applications.
No matter which solution you choose to use, it’s a good idea to use the program to analyze your web site traffic regularly. The reports generated by both types of software will give you insight into what works and what does not on your web site.
Maintaining the analysis of your site, your competition, traffic, conversions, and server logs is one way you can stay on top of your SEO strategy. What you learn from these metrics is how your SEO and search marketing campaigns are performing. And when you know that, you can keep up with any changes that are happening and prepare for future shifts as necessary. In other words, if you’re analyzing your successes, you’re not left in the dark wondering what happened to your ratings.
