Overview

Archive-It partners may integrate their accounts with the Internet Archive's self-hosted instance of Plausible Analytics to collect statistics about access to their web archives. Statistics cover access to accounts, collections, and archived web pages. Follow the instructions below to get started. 

Prerequisites

A Plausible Analytics account is required to access reporting directly.

On this page:

• Access
• Account management
• Dashboard features
• Export data
• Limitations
• Related materials

Instructions

Access

1. Login with your Plausible Analytics credentials here: https://analytics.archive-it.org/
   
2. Click on the "site" on your home screen to access your Archive-It account’s dashboard:
   
   

Account management

• Use the kebab icon (⋮) at the top-right corner to administer account settings, such as your email address or dashboard appearance style.

• Use the chevron icon (⌄) next to your ID number to administer your account settings, like users, timezones, or email notifications.

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Dashboard features

Explore access to your web archives over time with the following tools and views:

Interval

Use the drop-down menu above the top-right corner of the graph to change the time interval for your current dashboard view:

Filter

Use the Filter tool above the top-right corner of the graph to narrow results to a specific page, traffic source, user location, or access technology:

Top sources

The top sources of traffic to your Archive-It account, collections, and archived web pages are listed below the graph visualization, in the top-left quadrant. Click the Details link at the bottom of the panel to see statistics for all sources. 

Top pages

The Top Pages dashboard panel lists your Archive-It account, collections, and archived web pages by number of visitors. Use the tabs in the top-right corner to toggle your view among:

• Top pages: All pages related to your account.
• Entry pages: Landing pages for incoming traffic.
• Exit pages: Last pages viewed by exiting visitors.

Click the Details link at the bottom of the panel to see all page statistics. 

Location

The Location dashboard panel maps and lists the geographic locations of visitors to pages related to your account by number of visitors. Use the tabs at the top-right corner of the panel to toggle your view among:

• Map: Cartographic visualization of visitor locations.
• Countries: Countries listed by number of visitors.
• Regions: States and provinces listed by number of visitors.
• Cities: Approximated cites listed by number of visitors.

Click the Details link at the bottom of the panel to see all location statistics. 

Device

The Device dashboard panel lists the technological characteristics of visitors to your account, collections, and archived web pages. Use the tabs at the top-right of the panel to toggle your view among:

• Size: Description of device type listed by number of visitors.
• Browser: Name of web browser type listed by number of visitors.
• OS: Computer operating system listed by number of visitors.

Click the Details link at the bottom of the panel to see all device statistics. 

Export data

Download

Click the download icon in the top-right quadrant of the graph visualization to download the data for the current view, inclusive of any filters and interval, as a ZIP archive of CSV files:

API access

The Plausible Stats API provides programmatic access to access data. Use the API to stream data to your preferred front end interface. Follow directions here from Plausible Analytics to get started.

Limitations

• Data is current as of the creation of your Plausible Analytics account. Internet Archive staff are working actively to incorporate historical data for users of the legacy integration with Google Analytics.
• This integration does not yet support collecting campaign statistics or UTM tags.
• Plausible Analytics does not yet distinguish new users from total unique visitors.
  • In order to maintain privacy, the Internet Archive tracks users by a unique cryptographic hash that refreshes daily rather than by an IP address that identifies them permanently. This is consistent with how Archive-It reported user behavior with the legacy Google Analytics integration.

Related materials

• How to collect and share Archive-It analytics - Watch the introductory webinar with Internet Archive staff and Archive-It partners (recorded April 10, 2024)