What are site analytics?
People who run websites use data about how the site is used to make informed decisions. Since our sites are community run, we give the most engaged users special access to some of the data we collect. Once you earn the privilege, you can visit /site-analytics to explore site statistics in two tabs:
History
Three graphs show a timeline of posts, votes, and traffic. Date selectors across the top of the page control the range of dates displayed:
Site milestone dates are also provided and, if clicked, will change the start date of the graphs. Selecting the "Weekly" checkbox will change the data points to per week.
Data series can be toggled via checkboxes to the left of each chart:
Get a CSV copy of the displayed data suitable for offline analysis by clicking the "csv" link. Note that unlike most other sources, such as SEDE, this data includes information on deleted posts.
Google Analytics
This tab gives you access to select Google Analytics data from the last 30 days. There are some things to keep in mind when viewing this data:
The numbers are sampled so it's not uncommon to see implausible results such as several search engines at exactly 211 visits.
We have a limited API quota, so arbitrary date ranges are not supported.
Search terms are so unreliable that we just aren't showing them.
How should I use this data?
Since this is a restricted privilege, we'd prefer you not share the raw data. However, we do hope you will share your analysis of the data with other users on meta. For instance, mature Stack Exchange sites tend to get the majority of their traffic from search engines (and particularly Google). Sharing the current percentage of traffic from search might shed some light on your site's particular strengths or weaknesses.
Please don't feel any obligation to share this data. (And if you don't yet have the privilege, please don't pressure those who have into sharing.) It's mostly intended as a way to satisfy your own curiosity about the state of the community.