Should You Use Google Analytics Code On Your Website?
Yes or No? Could be, maybe?
I must confess that I have always used the Google analytics code on all of my websites as it provides very interesting and helpful data.
You can use this data to help increase the traffic to your website and find out so much more about your visitors.
So, is Yes the answer?
Well I was doing some reading of articles and some suggested that the analytics code slows down the loading of your site pages, so I thought I would investigate it.
So it might be Maybe then?
I use Pingdom for testing and right enough, there was a slight decrease in loading speed with the analytics code removed when I tested.
There was also an increase in the Performance Grade too, as the code didn’t have to be loaded each time.
Interesting, so I kept the code off, as I’m sure you know that website loading speed is a ranking factor in Google.
The difference was very small, but I thought every second or parts of seconds must all help.
So the answer is No?
This all seemed like a very good idea and I gave myself a pat on the back that night.
Actually, the answer is Yes!
I use Google Adsense adverts on my websites and next morning I checked my stats as usual.
Disaster!
Earnings were way down on normal, but I decided to stick with the test to see what might happen.
The Adsense stats never improved until I put back the analytics code.
Google say it should not affect Adsense earnings in any way, but in practice it does seem to be a problem.
So, Should You Use Google Analytics Code On Your Website?
If you are tempted to try removing the Google analytics code from your website to try to speed it up, I would say don’t bother!
Have a look at Find The Stats For Google Adsense Mobile Anchor Overlay.