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Web Paths

Paths show the routes visitors take through your website. Well conceived commercial sites are often built around purchase scenarios. For example a user visits the widgets entry page, reads up on widgets, maybe takes one for a virtual test and then proceeds to make an online purchase. These scenarios are story boarded by marketing departments before being translated into content by web designers and programmers.

Traffic Analysis - Paths
Figure 2: Usage Paths as reported by Mach5 Analyzer

Path analysis is a feature of a number of commercial tools and determines, within the limits of the information present in log files, the actual paths taken by users through the site. If the users suddenly drop out at some point during the scenario this page will require work. These reports are useful after a restructuring of the site or other changes that result in a drop in orders. The path to the order page can be followed to find out where potential clients are being lost.

Web Paths

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