Why analytics platforms show different metrics
Metrics often differ when migrating between analytics platforms. These discrepancies stem from different measurement approaches, instrumentation placement, and consent handling. Below is a breakdown of the most common causes and how to troubleshoot them.
Concurrent users discrepancies
Section titled “Concurrent users discrepancies”Real-time concurrent user counts differ because platforms measure presence differently. Marfeel SDK sends presence events every 5 seconds to provide high accuracy on the real-time view. Other platforms only track one page view event when the user lands on the page and count the user as active in real time for 5 minutes.
When comparing historical data, the number of page views and unique users should match, while time on page may differ due to the same measurement frequency gap.
Unique users discrepancies
Section titled “Unique users discrepancies”More users and page views tracked
Section titled “More users and page views tracked”Marfeel sometimes reports more unique users than other analytics platforms, and the reason is often tied to privacy and GDPR compliance. Marfeel is committed to maintaining user privacy and is a certified IAB TCF 2.0 vendor. Marfeel integrates out-of-the-box with any TCF-compatible CMP.
Other analytics platforms rely on ad-hoc publisher implementations. It is common to see tracking pixels that do not wait for user consent or rejection to fully block tracking, which typically means more or less users are tracked at the expense of data accuracy and privacy compliance.
Marfeel waits 1 second for the CMP to initialize. If consent has been rejected or no consent is available, Marfeel tracks the session anonymously in a GDPR-compliant way. Marfeel cannot identify the same user in a future session but will track in-session events. If the user provides consent after the first event has been triggered, Marfeel reconciles it. Marfeel always gives publishers rightful, ethical, and legal data for their business goals.
You can debug this situation by opening the Network developer tools panel in an incognito window. Do not accept the consent. If you see a collect request going to a Google Analytics domain, your implementation may not be waiting for consent.
This factor can affect the measurement of the RFV, where more new users are counted and may differ from the new vs. returning visitor reports on platforms like Google Analytics.
Consent issues should only affect unique users. Page views should remain accurate and similar across platforms.
Less users tracked due to AMP sessions recirculating to web
Section titled “Less users tracked due to AMP sessions recirculating to web”On sites with AMP traffic that recirculates to the web version, other analytics platforms may count two different unique users and sessions. Marfeel, if the user has third-party cookies enabled, automatically reconciles the two users into one.
Usage of utm_sources and utm_campaigns for internal traffic
Section titled “Usage of utm_sources and utm_campaigns for internal traffic”On platforms like Google Analytics, each session can be attributed to only one campaign, traffic source, or traffic medium. If new campaign or traffic source values are sent to Analytics at collection time in the middle of an existing session, the current session ends and a new session starts. In practice, this creates two sessions instead of one.
Page views discrepancies
Section titled “Page views discrepancies”Several factors can contribute to page view mismatches between platforms.
CDN and different cache layers
Section titled “CDN and different cache layers”When you add Marfeel SDK to your pages, depending on your infrastructure, it may take several days for the changes to propagate.
The Google AMP cache implements a stale-while-revalidate approach to pick up changes on AMP pages. Unless you have a mechanism to evict all its cache, it will take several days to see accurate data on AMP traffic.
To assess whether the implementation is correct, compare page views on a newly published article that is not cached by the AMP Cache.
Triggering events at different loading times
Section titled “Triggering events at different loading times”Loading times have a significant impact on bounce rates. As Google disclosed, 1 to 3 seconds in loading times can increase bounce rate up to 32%.
Adding the instrumentation JavaScript at the same exact point as the other analytics platforms is important to prevent data discrepancies. The later an analytics pixel is added, the less accurate it will be and the fewer page views and users it will track.
If you are using Google Tag Manager or any other tag manager, make sure to add the instrumentation pixel in the same place. Otherwise, results will not be comparable.
Reading time discrepancies
Section titled “Reading time discrepancies”Reading time differs because of how each platform measures active engagement. Marfeel SDK sends presence events every 5 seconds to provide high accuracy on the real-time view and reading time.
Google Analytics tracks time on page and time on site by measuring the difference between the timestamps of page views. If the visit only views one page, no time is recorded. Google Analytics also counts visitors’ time on a page regardless of whether the browser window is in a hidden or visible tab.
For a complete list of available tracking dimensions, see the metrics and dimensions glossary.
Why do concurrent users differ between Marfeel and other analytics platforms?
Marfeel SDK sends presence events every 5 seconds for high-accuracy real-time data, while other platforms track a single page view event and count the user as active for 5 minutes. This difference in measurement frequency causes real-time concurrent user counts to diverge, though historical page views and unique users should still align.
Why does Marfeel report more unique users than Google Analytics?
Marfeel waits for CMP consent before tracking and uses anonymous session tracking when consent is rejected. Other platforms often fire tracking pixels before consent is resolved, leading to inaccurate user counts. Additionally, UTM parameters in mid-session links can split one session into two on platforms like Google Analytics.
What causes page view discrepancies when migrating analytics platforms?
Page view mismatches commonly result from CDN and cache propagation delays (especially with AMP cache), and from placing the analytics instrumentation at different points in the page loading sequence. Loading time differences of 1 to 3 seconds can increase bounce rates by up to 32%, directly affecting tracked page views.