Why I quit google analytics and how I replaced it
What is GDPR (RGPD in french) and why it’s important ?
GDPR is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy in the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA). It also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA. It applies to all companies that offer goods or services to people in the EU, or that monitor the behavior of people in the EU. The GDPR aims primarily to give control to citizens and residents over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU.
What’s the problem with google analytics ?
Google analytics is a service provided by google that allows you to track your website visitors. It’s a very useful tool to understand how your website is used and how to improve it. But it’s also a tool that can be used to track your visitors and their behavior. This is a problem because it’s not always clear what data is collected and how it’s used.
Moreover, google has been fined several times for not respecting the GDPR. For example, in 2019, google was fined 50 million euros for not having obtained the consent of users to collect their data.
Since I don’t want problems with the GDPR and I don’t really want people to be tracked on my website by google because of me, I decided to stop using google analytics.
So now, how to replace it ?
I discoved Abla, a privacy friendly analytics tool. It has a free version that allows you to track up to 50k viewed pages per month. Abla is also not blocked by adblockers, so it’s easier to track trafic on your website.
Finally, Abla is referenced by the CNIL (the french data protection authority) and is certified to be GDPR compliant. Thus, we don’t need to ask for consent to “track” visitors.
image source : https://abla.io/assets/images/abla-dashboard.webp
Conclusion
I hope this article will help you to understand the GDPR and why it’s important to respect it. You now know that I’m tracking visitors but I truely respects annonymity and privacy. I’m doing my best to be up to date with the lastest regulations and I hope you will do the same.