I stopped using Google Analytics. Here’s why.

For many years I’ve been using Google Analytics (GA) on rlvision.com, but more and more I started questioning myself why. So a month ago I finally cut the cord. Here are my reasons.

1. The first reason is simply that I don’t really have any need for advanced analytics. Sure, it’s always fun to see how many visitors your site has had and what the most popular pages are, but for me that’s where it ends. Google Analytics is way to complex for me and my needs, and I never felt that I really understood how to use it properly. Usage statistics sounds very enticing to website owners and stakeholders. And GA always pops up as the first suggestion. But I’m going to be so bold as to suggest that most GA users actually do not need such an advanced tracking system. They would be just as happy with a more simple system. Heck, they might even be more happy, since a simpler system that they actually understand and can fully use would be of more value to them!
2. The second reason is that I don’t like being tracked by Google (or other “data companies”). I even block the GA JavaScript in my browser. I don’t necessarily think it will do my any harm to be track. But the more I think about how much information Google has about everyone, the more scared I get. That being said I do not mind individual websites to track me. The problem with Google Analytics is that they track an enormous amount of sites, and by combining this data (and data from their other services) they get an eerily complete picture of you. If you choose Google Analytics because it’s free, think again about what you are giving them. It’s not healthy to let corporations have access that kind of data! Considering my stance on this, it’s simply not right to subject my website visitors to something I myself despise.
3. Third. If I am to track my website users, I want to own the collected data myself. Only then can I offer a real privacy policy. Only then can I dispose of the data if I need to. Only then can I (at least in theory) move my data between services. With Google Analytics, who owns your data? I’m not sure. But I do know that you cannot export you data from GA. You can manually download individual reports, but not all you data.

There are lots of alternatives to Google Analytics out there. Some are cloud service, some are self hosting software. Some are free and even open source, some are paid. For some sites GA is no doubt a very powerful and suitable service. But not for everyone.

Note: At the same time I removed Google Analytics I also stopped using AddThis which I had been using for some years. Turns out AddThis is nowadays owned by Oracle Corporation, another major player in the data field…