Forum / Page Views for Stories Available to the Public?

  • Tim-elhajj.thumb
    Tim Elhajj
    Aug 04, 07:28pm

    Now that Fictionaut is a live venue, is there a way to discover page views (from the general public) that any page may get? I'm looking to determine if a page is popular, or not getting much traffic?

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    Matt Dennison
    Aug 04, 09:11pm

    Is there any difference between views and reads?

  • Tim-elhajj.thumb
    Tim Elhajj
    Aug 06, 11:48am

    I could be wrong, but I think you have to be logged in for your "view" to be counted in the little counter with every story. So people not in the community -- say, anyone who crusies in from a google search -- can view the page, but it doesn't necessiarly get added to the statistics.

    I have just been noticing that one of my stories here seems to be climbing higher in the search results for my name at Google/Bing. I wondered if that meant it gets a lot of annonymous hits or perhaps that it's linked from other pages? I have no idea how those search engines weight results.

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    Dulce Maria Menendez
    Aug 08, 04:49pm

    The one and only piece I have here has 2298 views and I am not sure if it is because someone is actually reading or searching for me....

    Is there a way to check out the referrals? I think that is what you are asking above.

    Thanks.

  • Author_wide.thumb
    Jürgen Fauth
    Aug 08, 06:11pm

    "Views" counts both logged-in and anonymous page views, but I believe that it counts them only once per visitor, so it's technically not the same as "page views."

    Google indexes pages according to link popularity, so your story might have gotten linked around, causing it to rise.

    I'd love to offer more in-depth stats on who looks at your stories, but for now, one way to check referrals is a reverse Google search, like this:

    link:http://www.fictionaut.com/stories/tim-elhajj/i-am

    That example doesn't turn up any incoming links though. Doesn't seem to work for Didi's story either -- I seem to remember that one was on StumbleUpon?

  • 242571683_10161684842776030_7257569444107088687_n.thumb
    Dulce Maria Menendez
    Aug 08, 08:36pm

    I put it on Stumbleupon but at the time it was only in the hundred or so.

  • Tim-elhajj.thumb
    Tim Elhajj
    Aug 12, 04:28pm

    Thanks Jürgen! I didn't realize views were tracked in the way you describe, but that's almost as good as the type of page view information I was looking for.

    I am not sure what a reverse Google search is or why the link to my story "I Am" on Fictionaut qualifies as one. It seems like the kind of thing I should be able to Google, but I'm not really understanding the results I get.

    Didi - That's a fabulous story. And, wow, lots of hits, too. Maybe I should promote my Fictionaut stories more. It's an interesting idea that for some reason never occurred to me. I tend to think just the opposite -- When to "hide" my stories on Fictionaut, so it doesn't inhibit getting it placed somewhere else. You've given me something to think about.

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