How accurate is google analytics?

[SamCUK]

I have a new site that has just entered the SERPS so I'm tracking stats pretty carefully using google analytics. Yesterday according to my affiliate stats I had 10 unique visits with 2 sign ups for one of my products but google analytics only shows a total of 5 visitors yesterday on my site? ( A 20% conversion rate 2 out of 5 also seems ridiculously high). I'm guessing there were also a number of users that visited my site but didn't click through one of the affiliate links and just browsed the site so the visitor number could be higher? I'm not sure where this huge discrepancy comes from?

[OlgaG]

Hi Samuel,

in short, Google Analytics is accurate enough, and here are a few suggestions to address your discrepancy concerns:

1.  The number of visitors you mention is not large enough to make conclusions about the accuracy of this or that tracking system.

2. Google Analytics might not track  visitors if they don't have java script set or if they block Google Analytics. As a result, Google Analytics reports on a fewer number of visitors.

3.  Your affiliate stats, on the contrary, might track not only java script but also robots that index your website. As a result, your affiliate stats reports on a larger number of visitors.

Happy ranking!