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What is Matomo Analytics?

Matomo Analytics is an alternative to Google Analytics. Due to the current legal rulings in Europe, companies are increasingly asking themselves whether the time has come to switch to Matomo Analytics. The timing is not bad, as Google is also just mandating the switch to Google Analytics 4.

Why switch to Matomo?

Among the most important reasons

  • Open Source Software.
  • 100% accurate data, as there is no data sampling.
  • Complete import of Google Analytics including historical data.
  • Server locations in Europe. Important point for the DSGVO topics 🙂

An introduction to Matomo Analytics

If you are thinking of changing your analytics program, I would recommend Matomo Analytics. Especially if your company operates for the European market. (GDPR)

In this article I’ll introduce you to all the important features and a short installation guide.

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Marc Heiss

Author: Marc Heiss
Position: Management
Updated: 07.05.2022

How do I install Matomo Analytics?

To start, you have to choose between the two options:

  • Matomo on Premise -> You install Matomo on your own server.
  • Cloud service -> Matomo runs on a cloud server in Europe.

I would recommend you to use the cloud service, as it is much easier and faster to set up and you can benefit from all the tools that Matomo provides.

What are the most important features?

  • Nutzernalaysen
  • E-commerce tracking
  • Target projects and funnels
  • Custom Reporting
  • Heatmaps & User Recordings -> very similar to Hotjar
  • Data import from Google Analytics
  • No data sampling
  • Matomo Tag Manager -> counterpart to Google Tag Manager

Google Analytics import function:

The Google Analytics Importer plugin imports Google Analytics reports into a Matomo instance. When you run an import, your Google Analytics (GA) property is automatically created as a site in Matomo (as well as your goals and custom dimensions) and all historical reports in GA are imported so you have all your web analytics data available in Matomo as well.

Here you can find the official article about the Google Analytics import to Matomo.

Data sampling in comparison:

If you use Google Analytics (GA), you could be making important business decisions based on inaccurate reports. This is because GA implements a so-called data sampling once you have reached a certain amount of data. So what you see in a GA report is more of an estimate than the full picture. (You can recognize this by an orange flag in the upper left area of the report).

This is where Matomo comes in, as it always displays 100% of the data in your reports. To summarize, here’s the bottom line: To make confident, data-driven decisions, you need the actual data.

DSGVO Compliant:

  • Data anonymization
  • GDPR Manager
  • Users can disable any tracking
  • First-party cookies
  • Persons can view the collected data
  • Possibility to delete visitor data upon request
  • The data is not used for other purposes (compared to Google Analytics)
  • IP anonymization
  • Data is stored in the EU (Matomo Cloud) or in a country of your choice (Matomo On-Premise)

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