[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-slug_blog_3_1":3,"blog-slug_blog_simple-analytics-for-marketers_1000_1":40},{"article":4,"articles":15,"meta":33,"languages":39},{"id":5,"title":6,"excerpt":7,"locale":8,"slug":9,"authorSlug":10,"automaticTranslated":11,"publishedAt":12,"updatedAt":13,"doFollowLinks":11,"showIndex":11,"showCallToActions":11,"articleType":14},3060,"The EU wants to kill cookie banners","The EU wants to end annoying cookie pop-ups by letting users set their consent once in their browser. If passed, websites will have to respect those choices.","en","the-eu-wants-to-kill-cookie-banners-by-moving-consent-to-your-browser","iron-brands",false,"2025-11-20T05:40:14.356Z","2025-11-20T06:13:15.812Z","blog",[4,16,26],{"id":17,"title":18,"excerpt":19,"locale":8,"slug":20,"authorSlug":10,"automaticTranslated":11,"publishedAt":21,"updatedAt":22,"ctaTitle":23,"ctaDescription":24,"doFollowLinks":11,"showIndex":25,"showCallToActions":11,"articleType":14},3019,"Google is tracking you (even when you use DuckDuckGo)","Google tracks users even on DuckDuckGo via Analytics and embeds. A new study shows how deep Google’s web tracking really goes.","google-is-tracking-you-even-when-you-use-duck-duck-go","2025-07-14T08:56:41.709Z","2025-07-14T11:26:01.386Z","If you care about privacy, you don't use Google Analytics","Ditch the tracking, keep the insights. Try Simple Analytics.",true,{"id":27,"title":28,"excerpt":29,"locale":8,"slug":30,"authorSlug":10,"automaticTranslated":11,"publishedAt":31,"updatedAt":32,"doFollowLinks":11,"showIndex":11,"showCallToActions":11,"articleType":14},3018," German court rules Meta’s tracking tech violates GDPR","German court rules Meta’s tracking tech violates GDPR, allowing lawsuits without proof of harm. Big risks ahead for sites using Meta pixels.","german-court-rules-meta-s-tracking-tech-violates-gdpr","2025-07-10T08:20:51.111Z","2025-07-10T12:16:26.327Z",{"pagination":34},{"page":35,"pageSize":36,"pageCount":37,"total":38},1,3,362,1084,{},{"article":41},{"contentHtml":42,"content":43,"inlineMedia":44,"id":203,"title":204,"excerpt":205,"locale":8,"slug":206,"authorSlug":10,"automaticTranslated":11,"publishedAt":207,"updatedAt":208,"doFollowLinks":11,"showIndex":25,"showCallToActions":25,"articleType":14,"languages":209},"\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Google Analytics has come under fire lately (and for a good reason). Multiple EU countries have already banned it, and more EU members are expected to reach the same conclusion. Also, Google announced it will sunset Universal Analytics in favor of GA4 on July 1st, 2023. \u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Now is the time to explore what other analytics tools have to offer. This article covers what Simple Analytics offers and how marketers use it. \u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003Col class=\"counters\">\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#get-actionable-insights-from-your-analytics\">Get actionable insights from your analytics\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#content-tracking\">Content Tracking\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#keep-track-of-your-ad-campaigns-with-utm-tags\">Keep track of your ad campaigns with UTM tags\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#add-event-tracking\">Add event tracking\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#create-funnels-with-our-goals-dashboard\">Create funnels with our Goals dashboard\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#use-apis-to-build-your-own-dashboards\">Use APIs to build your own dashboards\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#integrate-simple-analytics-with-your-favorite-dashboarding-tools\">Integrate Simple Analytics with your favorite dashboarding tools\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#import-google-analytics-data-directly-into-your-dashboard\">Import Google Analytics data directly into your dashboard\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#share-reports-with-your-team\">Share reports with your team\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#get-accurate-website-traffic-data\">Get accurate website traffic data\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#benchmark-google-analytics-data\">Benchmark Google Analytics data\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#improve-your-websites-user-experience\">Improve your website's user experience\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#improve-your-core-web-vitals\">Improve your core web vitals\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#comply-with-privacy-regulations\">Comply with privacy regulations\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003Cli>\u003CNuxtLink to=\"#try-simple-analytics\">Try Simple Analytics\u003C/NuxtLink>\u003C/li>\u003C/ol>\u003CCtaOne />\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Let’s dive in!\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"get-actionable-insights-from-your-analytics\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Get actionable insights from your analytics\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Simple Analytics is a straightforward analytics tool that provides the insights you need without compromising the privacy of your website visitors.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">More privacy means less data collection and less information to do the marketer's job. However, more privacy does not always mean fewer insights.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">We are called Simple Analytics for a reason. Retrieving actionable insights from Google Analytics can be painful. It provides an overkill of information by showing infinite menus and functions. We focus on what's important in a single-page dashboard that gives an accurate overview in seconds.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cimg src=\"https://cms-assets.simpleanalytics.com/google_analytics_dashboard_vs_simple_analytics_dashboard_47321d4cdc.png\" alt=\"google-analytics-dashboard-vs-simple-analytics-dashboard.png\">\u003C/p>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Our dashboard is fully customizable. You can create different views in seconds by filtering referrers, pages, traffic sources, countries, or browsers. \u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">We have a \u003CNuxtLink to=\"https://simpleanalytics.com/simpleanalytics.com\"  referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" rel=\"\">live demo of our analytics\u003C/NuxtLink>. Feel free to play around with it. \u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"content-tracking\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Content Tracking\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Like many businesses, we love to track how our content is doing. It’s important to see what is working and what is not to optimize your website. By using Simple Analytics functions and setting up goals in your dashboard, you can easily monitor the flow of users through your content conversion funnel. We’ve \u003CNuxtLink to=\"/blog/track-your-content-marketing-efforts-with-simple-analytics\"  >created a guide\u003C/NuxtLink> to show you how to track your content using Simple Analytics. \u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"keep-track-of-your-ad-campaigns-with-utm-tags\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Keep track of your ad campaigns with UTM tags\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">We determine where visitors are coming from based on the (referrer) previous page. This information is retrieved from the visitor's browser. However, it's also possible to override this using a custom referrer. This might come in handy when you want to track specific ad campaigns. \u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">UTM tags are bits of text you can add to a link that tell Simple Analytics a little more information about each link.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">We support the following codes:\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>UTM source (e.g., \u003Ccode>utm_source=company-x\u003C/code>)\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>UTM medium (e.g., \u003Ccode>utm_medium=newsletter\u003C/code>)\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>UTM campaign (e.g., \u003Ccode>utm_campaign=march_01\u003C/code>)\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>UTM content (e.g., \u003Ccode>utm_content=button_red\u003C/code>)\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>UTM term (e.g., \u003Ccode>utm_term=shoes\u003C/code>, this parameter is deprecated as it is intended to contain user-generated content)\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">The UTM tags will show up on the dashboard in the "Referrals" dropdown menu:\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cimg src=\"https://assets.simpleanalytics.com/blog/For%20marketers/utm-referrals.png\" alt=\"utm-referrals\">\u003C/p>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Use our \u003CNuxtLink to=\"/utm-generator\"  >UTM Generator\u003C/NuxtLink> to create your UTM tags. \u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"add-event-tracking\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Add event tracking\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Keeping track of events is important. In Simple Analytics, you can collect events such as downloads, sign-ups, and other outbound links. It is possible to fire events for any action taken by someone visiting your website. \u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">To make it easier for non-developers, we created \u003CNuxtLink to=\"https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/automated-events\"  referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" rel=\"\">an automated events script\u003C/NuxtLink>. This script collects events for downloads and outbound links and clicks on email links automatically. \u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">You can also create your own custom events if you want to get your hands dirty. \u003CNuxtLink to=\"https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/events\"  referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" rel=\"\">Here\u003C/NuxtLink> is how you can set up your custom events.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"create-funnels-with-our-goals-dashboard\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Create funnels with our Goals dashboard\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Once you collect events, you can use our Goals feature to create funnels. Setting up goals in your dashboard allows you to easily \u003CNuxtLink to=\"/blog/track-e-commerce-metrics\"  >monitor user flow through funnels\u003C/NuxtLink>. The aim is to track and keep improving all the important metrics over time.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cimg src=\"https://cms-assets.simpleanalytics.com/Clean_Shot_2023_05_04_at_15_16_33_a69b19491b.png\" alt=\"CleanShot 2023-05-04 at 15.16.33.png\">\u003C/p>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"use-apis-to-build-your-own-dashboards\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Use APIs to build your own dashboards\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Simple Analytics does not own your data. You do! That's why we care a lot about the interoperability of your data. We will never sell or use your data for commercial purposes.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Most analytics companies do not give you access to your raw data. We believe it should be easy for our customers to get their raw data out of our database. You should decide what you want to do with it. \u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">There are a few ways to interact with our API. We have the \u003CNuxtLink to=\"https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/api/stats\"  referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" rel=\"\">Stats API\u003C/NuxtLink> for aggregated data, the \u003CNuxtLink to=\"https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/api/export-page-views\"  referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" rel=\"\">Export API\u003C/NuxtLink> for raw-level data, and the \u003CNuxtLink to=\"https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/api/admin\"  referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" rel=\"\">Admin API\u003C/NuxtLink> for changing users, websites, and other settings.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CVideo :width=\"1400\" :height=\"758\" background=\"f2f3f3\" :brightness=\"243\" poster=\"https://cms-assets.simpleanalytics.com/get_event_api_url_d9823f0666-xlarge-poster.webp\">\u003Csource src=\"https://cms-assets.simpleanalytics.com/get_event_api_url_d9823f0666-xlarge-video.mp4\" type=\"video/mp4\" />\u003Csource src=\"https://cms-assets.simpleanalytics.com/get_event_api_url_d9823f0666-xlarge-video.webm\" type=\"video/webm\" />Video not supported, you can \u003CNuxtLink to=\"https://cms-assets.simpleanalytics.com/get_event_api_url_d9823f0666.mp4\"  referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" rel=\"\">download it\u003C/NuxtLink>.\u003C/Video>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"integrate-simple-analytics-with-your-favorite-dashboarding-tools\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Integrate Simple Analytics with your favorite dashboarding tools\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">In addition to our APIs, it's also easy to integrate Simple Analytics with your favorite dashboarding tools. Some customers use \u003CNuxtLink to=\"https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/google-data-studio\"  referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" rel=\"\">Google Data Studio\u003C/NuxtLink> or \u003CNuxtLink to=\"https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/microsoft-power-bi\"  referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" rel=\"\">Microsoft Power BI\u003C/NuxtLink> for building reports.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Because we care about privacy, we don't store any personal data. That's why we are comfortable enough to let customers choose to connect with Google Looker Studio while Google or Microsoft can't abuse our customers' data or their visitors'.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"import-google-analytics-data-directly-into-your-dashboard\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Import Google Analytics data directly into your dashboard\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">\u003CNuxtLink to=\"https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/import-google-analytics-data\"  referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" rel=\"\">Importing your Google Analytics\u003C/NuxtLink> into your Simple Analytics dashboard directly and not losing any historical data is possible.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">\u003CNuxtLink to=\"/\"  >Google Analytics is shutting down\u003C/NuxtLink> its current version on July 1st, 2023. To keep your historical data, you can choose to import it into Simple Analytics. We built a GA Importer to import your data in just a few clicks.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">With Simple Analytics, you can import both Universal Analytics properties and Google Analytics 4 properties.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"share-reports-with-your-team\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Share reports with your team\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Sharing actionable insights among team members is crucial to get everyone on the same page.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">This can be a painstaking process in Google Analytics. Simple Analytics makes sharing insights easy. You can add team members to your Simple Analytics account and even make your analytics public to share it with just anyone.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">In addition, we send \u003CNuxtLink to=\"https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/email-reports\"  referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" rel=\"\">weekly and/or monthly email reports\u003C/NuxtLink>, so you don't have to check the dashboard all the time. You can add as many team members (or other stakeholders to receive these reports and never miss that traffic spike. It includes the top 5 referrers and compares them with the previous period. \u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cimg src=\"https://assets.simpleanalytics.com/blog/For%20marketers/email-reports.png\" alt=\"email reports\">\u003C/p>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"get-accurate-website-traffic-data\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Get accurate website traffic data\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">This sounds contradictory: "Track less and get more accurate data." But this is essentially true, and there are a few reasons for it:\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Cookie banners\u003C/strong> \nBefore visiting your website, every website visitor needs to interact with a cookie banner. If the visitor does not consent to be tracked, you have no idea that this visitor has been on your website. More visitors will have visited your website than Google Analytics will show you. This discrepancy will only continue to grow as more and more visitors don't want to be tracked. If you use a privacy-friendly alternative that is cookieless by design, each actual website visit will be shown.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Adblockers\u003C/strong>\nMore and more internet users are using ad-blockers because website users demand more privacy. Most ad blockers block the Google Analytics script. Visitors that have ad-blockers installed won't show up in your stats.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Referral spam\u003C/strong> \nReferral spam has been a big problem for Google Analytics. Referral spam looks like genuine traffic to your website, but it's actually fake. \u003C/p>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">At Simple Analytics, we built a \u003CNuxtLink to=\"https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/hide-referral-spam\"  referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" rel=\"\">feature that directly hides referral spam\u003C/NuxtLink> from your dashboard.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Data sampling\u003C/strong>\nGoogle Analytics uses data sampling to save server capacity and keep costs down. Data sampling means that only a subset of your actual traffic is processed. From this subset, Google Analytics predicts what your total traffic would look like. This is a cost-effective way to estimate website analytics. However, it is not nearly as accurate.\u003C/p>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"benchmark-google-analytics-data\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Benchmark Google Analytics data\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">It's no secret that Google Analytics is a really powerful tool that is very helpful for marketers to do their job. However, it comes with some caveats. The inaccurate data caveat, as explained above, might be a reason to use Google Analytics and Simple Analytics simultaneously.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">If you heavily rely on individual user tracking, Simple Analytics might not be the right solution. We are a privacy-friendly solution. Google Analytics is better at tracking individual users, but it requires a cookie banner to do so. This makes your total website traffic numbers inaccurate. Therefore, we've seen multiple use cases that use Simple Analytics to get their actual traffic and use Google Analytics to dive deeper.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">The fact that Simple Analytics is very lightweight means that you could easily run it next to Google Analytics or any other web analytics provider to see the differences.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"improve-your-websites-user-experience\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Improve your website's user experience\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">If you use Google Analytics on your website to track your website performance, you are obliged by law to provide a cookie banner and ask for consent. This means your website visitors must first interact with a cookie banner before entering your website.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">With Simple Analytics, this is not necessary anymore. Your visitors don't need to be shown a cookie banner when navigating to your website.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"improve-your-core-web-vitals\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Improve your core web vitals\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Simple Analytics improves your core web vitals. This is because Simple Analytics is a simple tool with a small script that needs to be installed on your website.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Analytics scripts differ in size; the bigger the script, the higher the impact on page load time. Bigger scripts slow down websites. The Google Analytics script (45kb) is a 'heavyweight' among web analytics scripts. In comparison, Simple Analytics' script is only (3kb).\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">A smaller script makes your website faster. This has two main advantages. First, this will improve your SEO score, and second, this will enhance your user experience.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">We ran a \u003CNuxtLink to=\"/\"  >performance test\u003C/NuxtLink> using Google Lighthouse to show the actual impact. There is a difference of 10 basis points in website performance between Simple Analytics and Google Analytics.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cimg src=\"https://assets.simpleanalytics.com/blog/For%20marketers/core-web-vitals.png\" alt=\"lighthouse analytics comparison\">\u003C/p>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"comply-with-privacy-regulations\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Comply with privacy regulations\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">Simple Analytics is fully compliant with privacy laws. Google Analytics is not. In some EU member states, using \u003CNuxtLink to=\"/blog/italy-declares-google-analytics-illegal\"  >Google Analytics is against the law\u003C/NuxtLink>. Since it's a coordinated effort from multiple EU member states against Google Analytics, more countries are expected to reach the same conclusion as \u003CNuxtLink to=\"/blog/france-rules-google-analytics-to-be-in-conflict-with-gdpr-ruling\"  >France\u003C/NuxtLink>, \u003Ca referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" href=\"https://www.gpdp.it/web/guest/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9782874?utm_source=simpleanalytics.com#english\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Italy\u003C/a> & \u003Ca referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" href=\"https://noyb.eu/en/austrian-dsb-eu-us-data-transfers-google-analytics-illegal?utm_source=simpleanalytics.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Austria\u003C/a> did. The Netherlands is expected to conclude at the end of 2022.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">An actionable \u003CNuxtLink to=\"/blog/eu-us-privacy-shield-2-0-is-again-a-political-show\"  >agreement between the EU & US\u003C/NuxtLink> is still far away, and even if we reach this point, you can argue how sustainable it really is with the privacy movement getting more and more steam. Using Simple Analytics that is 100% compliant with GDPR gets the headache out of the way once and for all.\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  id=\"try-simple-analytics\" parent=\"\" tag=\"h2\" :articleId=\"285\">Try Simple Analytics\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">If you've read this far, it's maybe time for an introduction...\u003C/ContentEditable>\n\u003CContentEditable  parent=\"\" tag=\"p\" :articleId=\"285\">We are Adriaan & Iron, and we've built \u003CNuxtLink to=\"/\"  >Simple Analytics\u003C/NuxtLink> to help create a more independent web that is friendly to website visitors. If this resonates with you, feel free to \u003CNuxtLink to=\"/signup\"  >give us a spin\u003C/NuxtLink>! \u003C/ContentEditable>\n","Google Analytics has come under fire lately (and for a good reason). Multiple EU countries have already banned it, and more EU members are expected to reach the same conclusion. Also, Google announced it will sunset Universal Analytics in favor of GA4 on July 1st, 2023. \n\nNow is the time to explore what other analytics tools have to offer. This article covers what Simple Analytics offers and how marketers use it. \n\nLet’s dive in!\n\n## Get actionable insights from your analytics\n\nSimple Analytics is a straightforward analytics tool that provides the insights you need without compromising the privacy of your website visitors.\n\nMore privacy means less data collection and less information to do the marketer's job. However, more privacy does not always mean fewer insights.\n\nWe are called Simple Analytics for a reason. Retrieving actionable insights from Google Analytics can be painful. It provides an overkill of information by showing infinite menus and functions. We focus on what's important in a single-page dashboard that gives an accurate overview in seconds.\n\n![google-analytics-dashboard-vs-simple-analytics-dashboard.png](https://cms-assets.simpleanalytics.com/google_analytics_dashboard_vs_simple_analytics_dashboard_47321d4cdc.png)\n\nOur dashboard is fully customizable. You can create different views in seconds by filtering referrers, pages, traffic sources, countries, or browsers. \n\nWe have a [live demo of our analytics](https://simpleanalytics.com/simpleanalytics.com). Feel free to play around with it. \n\n## Content Tracking\n\nLike many businesses, we love to track how our content is doing. It’s important to see what is working and what is not to optimize your website. By using Simple Analytics functions and setting up goals in your dashboard, you can easily monitor the flow of users through your content conversion funnel. We’ve [created a guide](https://www.simpleanalytics.com/blog/track-your-content-marketing-efforts-with-simple-analytics) to show you how to track your content using Simple Analytics. \n\n## Keep track of your ad campaigns with UTM tags\n\nWe determine where visitors are coming from based on the (referrer) previous page. This information is retrieved from the visitor's browser. However, it's also possible to override this using a custom referrer. This might come in handy when you want to track specific ad campaigns. \n\nUTM tags are bits of text you can add to a link that tell Simple Analytics a little more information about each link.\n\nWe support the following codes:\n\n- UTM source (e.g., `utm_source=company-x`)\n- UTM medium (e.g., `utm_medium=newsletter`)\n- UTM campaign (e.g., `utm_campaign=march_01`)\n- UTM content (e.g., `utm_content=button_red`)\n- UTM term (e.g., `utm_term=shoes`, this parameter is deprecated as it is intended to contain user-generated content)\n\nThe UTM tags will show up on the dashboard in the \"Referrals\" dropdown menu:\n\n![utm-referrals](https://assets.simpleanalytics.com/blog/For%20marketers/utm-referrals.png)\n\nUse our [UTM Generator](https://www.simpleanalytics.com/utm-generator) to create your UTM tags. \n\n## Add event tracking\n\nKeeping track of events is important. In Simple Analytics, you can collect events such as downloads, sign-ups, and other outbound links. It is possible to fire events for any action taken by someone visiting your website. \n\nTo make it easier for non-developers, we created [an automated events script](https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/automated-events). This script collects events for downloads and outbound links and clicks on email links automatically. \n\nYou can also create your own custom events if you want to get your hands dirty. [Here](https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/events) is how you can set up your custom events.\n\n## Create funnels with our Goals dashboard\n\nOnce you collect events, you can use our Goals feature to create funnels. Setting up goals in your dashboard allows you to easily [monitor user flow through funnels](https://www.simpleanalytics.com/blog/track-e-commerce-metrics). The aim is to track and keep improving all the important metrics over time.\n\n![CleanShot 2023-05-04 at 15.16.33.png](https://cms-assets.simpleanalytics.com/Clean_Shot_2023_05_04_at_15_16_33_a69b19491b.png)\n\n\n## Use APIs to build your own dashboards\n\nSimple Analytics does not own your data. You do! That's why we care a lot about the interoperability of your data. We will never sell or use your data for commercial purposes.\n\nMost analytics companies do not give you access to your raw data. We believe it should be easy for our customers to get their raw data out of our database. You should decide what you want to do with it. \n\nThere are a few ways to interact with our API. We have the [Stats API](https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/api/stats) for aggregated data, the [Export API](https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/api/export-page-views) for raw-level data, and the [Admin API](https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/api/admin) for changing users, websites, and other settings.\n\n[get-event-api-url.mp4](https://cms-assets.simpleanalytics.com/get_event_api_url_d9823f0666.mp4)\n\n## Integrate Simple Analytics with your favorite dashboarding tools\n\nIn addition to our APIs, it's also easy to integrate Simple Analytics with your favorite dashboarding tools. Some customers use [Google Data Studio](https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/google-data-studio) or [Microsoft Power BI](https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/microsoft-power-bi) for building reports.\n\nBecause we care about privacy, we don't store any personal data. That's why we are comfortable enough to let customers choose to connect with Google Looker Studio while Google or Microsoft can't abuse our customers' data or their visitors'.\n\n## Import Google Analytics data directly into your dashboard\n\n[Importing your Google Analytics](https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/import-google-analytics-data) into your Simple Analytics dashboard directly and not losing any historical data is possible.\n\n[Google Analytics is shutting down](/blog/google-to-sunset-universal-analytics-in-2023) its current version on July 1st, 2023. To keep your historical data, you can choose to import it into Simple Analytics. We built a GA Importer to import your data in just a few clicks.\n\nWith Simple Analytics, you can import both Universal Analytics properties and Google Analytics 4 properties.\n\n## Share reports with your team\n\nSharing actionable insights among team members is crucial to get everyone on the same page.\n\nThis can be a painstaking process in Google Analytics. Simple Analytics makes sharing insights easy. You can add team members to your Simple Analytics account and even make your analytics public to share it with just anyone.\n\nIn addition, we send [weekly and/or monthly email reports](https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/email-reports), so you don't have to check the dashboard all the time. You can add as many team members (or other stakeholders to receive these reports and never miss that traffic spike. It includes the top 5 referrers and compares them with the previous period. \n\n\n![email reports](https://assets.simpleanalytics.com/blog/For%20marketers/email-reports.png)\n\n## Get accurate website traffic data\n\nThis sounds contradictory: \"Track less and get more accurate data.\" But this is essentially true, and there are a few reasons for it:\n\n**Cookie banners** \nBefore visiting your website, every website visitor needs to interact with a cookie banner. If the visitor does not consent to be tracked, you have no idea that this visitor has been on your website. More visitors will have visited your website than Google Analytics will show you. This discrepancy will only continue to grow as more and more visitors don't want to be tracked. If you use a privacy-friendly alternative that is cookieless by design, each actual website visit will be shown.\n\n**Adblockers**\nMore and more internet users are using ad-blockers because website users demand more privacy. Most ad blockers block the Google Analytics script. Visitors that have ad-blockers installed won't show up in your stats.\n\n**Referral spam** \nReferral spam has been a big problem for Google Analytics. Referral spam looks like genuine traffic to your website, but it's actually fake. \n\nAt Simple Analytics, we built a [feature that directly hides referral spam](https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/hide-referral-spam) from your dashboard.\n\n**Data sampling**\nGoogle Analytics uses data sampling to save server capacity and keep costs down. Data sampling means that only a subset of your actual traffic is processed. From this subset, Google Analytics predicts what your total traffic would look like. This is a cost-effective way to estimate website analytics. However, it is not nearly as accurate.\n\n## Benchmark Google Analytics data\n\nIt's no secret that Google Analytics is a really powerful tool that is very helpful for marketers to do their job. However, it comes with some caveats. The inaccurate data caveat, as explained above, might be a reason to use Google Analytics and Simple Analytics simultaneously.\n\nIf you heavily rely on individual user tracking, Simple Analytics might not be the right solution. We are a privacy-friendly solution. Google Analytics is better at tracking individual users, but it requires a cookie banner to do so. This makes your total website traffic numbers inaccurate. Therefore, we've seen multiple use cases that use Simple Analytics to get their actual traffic and use Google Analytics to dive deeper.\n\nThe fact that Simple Analytics is very lightweight means that you could easily run it next to Google Analytics or any other web analytics provider to see the differences.\n\n## Improve your website's user experience\n\nIf you use Google Analytics on your website to track your website performance, you are obliged by law to provide a cookie banner and ask for consent. This means your website visitors must first interact with a cookie banner before entering your website.\n\nWith Simple Analytics, this is not necessary anymore. Your visitors don't need to be shown a cookie banner when navigating to your website.\n\n## Improve your core web vitals\n\nSimple Analytics improves your core web vitals. This is because Simple Analytics is a simple tool with a small script that needs to be installed on your website.\n\nAnalytics scripts differ in size; the bigger the script, the higher the impact on page load time. Bigger scripts slow down websites. The Google Analytics script (45kb) is a 'heavyweight' among web analytics scripts. In comparison, Simple Analytics' script is only (3kb).\n\nA smaller script makes your website faster. This has two main advantages. First, this will improve your SEO score, and second, this will enhance your user experience.\n\nWe ran a [performance test](/blog/google-penalizes-you-for-using-google-analytics) using Google Lighthouse to show the actual impact. There is a difference of 10 basis points in website performance between Simple Analytics and Google Analytics.\n\n![lighthouse analytics comparison](https://assets.simpleanalytics.com/blog/For%20marketers/core-web-vitals.png)\n\n## Comply with privacy regulations\n\nSimple Analytics is fully compliant with privacy laws. Google Analytics is not. In some EU member states, using [Google Analytics is against the law](https://www.simpleanalytics.com/blog/italy-declares-google-analytics-illegal). Since it's a coordinated effort from multiple EU member states against Google Analytics, more countries are expected to reach the same conclusion as [France](https://www.simpleanalytics.com/blog/france-rules-google-analytics-to-be-in-conflict-with-gdpr-ruling), [Italy](https://www.gpdp.it/web/guest/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9782874#english) & [Austria](https://noyb.eu/en/austrian-dsb-eu-us-data-transfers-google-analytics-illegal) did. The Netherlands is expected to conclude at the end of 2022.\n\nAn actionable [agreement between the EU & US](https://www.simpleanalytics.com/blog/eu-us-privacy-shield-2-0-is-again-a-political-show) is still far away, and even if we reach this point, you can argue how sustainable it really is with the privacy movement getting more and more steam. Using Simple Analytics that is 100% compliant with GDPR gets the headache out of the way once and for all.\n\n## Try Simple Analytics\n\nIf you've read this far, it's maybe time for an introduction...\n\nWe are Adriaan & Iron, and we've built [Simple Analytics](https://www.simpleanalytics.com/) to help create a more independent web that is friendly to website visitors. If this resonates with you, feel free to [give us a spin](https://www.simpleanalytics.com/signup)! 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