Oil Spill Web Page Stats

BuzzardsBay.org Web page statistics and traffic for the Bouchard Oil Spill

This page describes the increase in internet traffic to the Buzzards Bay website that resulted from the Bouchard No. 120 Spill.

The Buzzards Bay NEP’s website used both page counter’s and reports from our webpage domain host at the time to track which pages visitors to our homepage visit most. We continue to use this information to help us improve upon those pages that generate the greatest interest.

In the graph to the right we show the number of web page “hits” since the inception of our website, based on counters placed on most of our pages. We did not place counters on all our pages early on, and because the way these counter’s work, the data shown in the graph are underestimates. Our cgi script web counter is imperfect, and does not work with all browsers, and in fact, the count shown is closer to the number of “visitors” than “hits” (any page or part accessed) based on the data we get from our domain host. As shown by the graph on the right, our counter increased dramatically the first week of the spill, peaking at 2700 counts per day on May 2.

BBNEP website traffic

BBNEP website traffic breakdown during the opil spill

Much more meaningful data was provided by our domain host which is shown for the period April 2 to June 2 in the graphs below (daily totals shown in each category). Web page “hits” nearly reached 50,000 per day, and “visitors” topped 2800 per day because of the spill.

Even before the Bouchard oil spill accident, the dramatic increase in visitors during the past year reflects the increasing diverseness of information on our web site, the high ranking of the site on search engines, there are an ever increasing awareness of the activities of the Buzzards Bay NEP. We now have more than 350 pages in 75 Megabytes on our site, and this depth of information has probably been the most important factor in the increased use of our website.

Who is using our website? We have no way of really knowing, but based on the number of hits cumulatively on the town information pages, it is very clear that many residents and students in the watershed likely use these pages. Our Septic System Test Center pages cumulatively account for the most hits on our site every month. Based on feedback, we know these pages are visited by Health Agents, engineers, septic system designers, state and federal agency personnel, and homeowners interested in these systems.

In reviewing the domains of our visitors, and the summary of pages visited, we have found some surprises and interesting statistics. Every month we receive hundreds of visits from countries all across the globe. In any given month, 10% to 15% of the visits may be from educational institutions. One of our most popular pages started out as just an afterthought: A page set up for health agents with simple instructions on how to calculate geometric means. Apparently many students and health officials often search the web for such succinct explanations. The table below shows the top pages viewed in December 2002.

We are always trying to improve our site, so please do not hesitate to send us your comments to the email:webmaster .

Privacy notice: Our domain host reports the originating domain of our users an tracks pages hit and length of visit. Our domain does not report to us, nor do we track, the individual identity of visitors to our site. Please also visit our privacy policy page and our website disclaimer page for more information.

Thanks for visiting.

Total Page views of roughly 32,000 visitors in July 2007
Web page page views fraction of visitors cumulative fraction
geomean.htm 4140 0.037 0.037
index.htm 2187 0.019 0.056
phbeachinfo.htm 1455 0.013 0.069
nautical.htm 678 0.006 0.083
boatramps.htm 629 0.006 0.089
falmouth.htm 599 0.005 0.094
bbpreports/occurrence_salmonella_vibrio_parahaemolyticus_new_bedford_area_buzzards_bay_1979.pdf 590 0.005 0.099
mattapoi/matt-osp-1998.pdf 566 0.005 0.104
bourne-info.htm 524 0.005 0.109
baymaps/basin-roadmap.pdf 504 0.004 0.113
craninfo.htm 486 0.004 0.117
access.htm 439 0.004 0.121
bbweath.htm 436 0.004 0.125
bbpreports/study_marine_resources_westport_river_1968.pdf 410 0.004 0.129
etimain.htm 407 0.004 0.133
marion.htm 402 0.004 0.137
fishing.htm 400 0.004 0.141
etistuff/results/finalwaterloo8_04.pdf 376 0.003 0.144
boating.htm 373 0.003 0.147
sailing.htm 373 0.003 0.15
fairhaven.htm 364 0.003 0.153
town-info.htm 352 0.003 0.156
eelgrass.htm 351 0.003 0.159
bbpreports/bbp88-09_identification_collection_historical_data_buzzards_bay_interview_sheets.pdf 334 0.003 0.162
lawncare.htm 332 0.003 0.165
enjoybuzzardsbay.htm 323 0.003 0.168
oilspill-4-28-03.htm 317 0.003 0.171
wareham-info.htm 309 0.003 0.174
mattapoisett.htm 307 0.003 0.177
westport-info.htm 302 0.003 0.18
bbpreports/buzzards_bay_bibliography_reference_scientific_technica_reports_1985.pdf 287 0.003 0.183
dartmouth.htm 279 0.002 0.185
windfarms.htm 271 0.002 0.187
bbds/bbds-deir-sects07-15.pdf 262 0.002 0.189
ccmpold/buzzards-bay-ccmp-1992.pdf 260 0.002 0.191
rightoknow.htm 250 0.002 0.193
oilspill-pastupdates.htm 247 0.002 0.195
bayshed.htm 246 0.002 0.197
bbpreports/sea_level_rise_implications_action_plan_buzzards_bay.pdf 242 0.002 0.199
shellfish.htm 231 0.002 0.201
bbpreports/passive_retreat_mass_coastal_upland_due_relative_sea_level_rise_1987.pdf 227 0.002 0.203
new-bedford.htm 227 0.002 0.205
etistuff/results/costaenvccarticle2.pdf 221 0.002 0.207
bbpreports/pcb_pollution_new_bedford_1982.pdf 220 0.002 0.209
bbpreports/seasonal_study_plankton_larval_fish_water_quality_buzzards_bay_1989.pdf 215 0.002 0.211
bbpreports/sample_bylaws_regulations_bbp_89_12.pdf 215 0.002 0.213
herringruns.htm 209 0.002 0.215
codium-wareham.htm 208 0.002 0.217
hurricane.htm 203 0.002 0.219
etiresults.htm 198 0.002 0.221
openmeeting-conflictofinterest.htm 197 0.002 0.223
ccmptoc.htm 194 0.002 0.225
download/bilgesockwebreport.pdf 194 0.002 0.227
etistuff/mhoanitfinal03.pdf 189 0.002 0.229
bbpreports/nonpoint_source_managment_plan_watershed_snell_creek_westport_massachusetts_1989.pdf 183 0.002 0.231
gosnold.htm 182 0.002 0.233
identmis.htm 180 0.002 0.235
glossary.htm 174 0.002 0.237
eventsup.htm 171 0.002 0.239
newccmp-info.htm 166 0.001 0.24
jobs.htm 163 0.001 0.241
wastewater.htm 160 0.001 0.242
bbpreports/determination_flushing_rates_hydrographic_features_selected_buzzards_bay_embayments_1991.pdf 156 0.001 0.243
wetlandloss.htm 151 0.001 0.244
site-index.htm 149 0.001 0.245
gisdownload.htm 148 0.001 0.246
bbds/bbds-deir-sects05-06.pdf 144 0.001 0.247
funding.htm 143 0.001 0.248
geo-phase2/phase2sow08-24-05.pdf 143 0.001 0.249
etipartic.htm 142 0.001 0.25
wareham/lid-show-wareham.pdf 141 0.001 0.251
download/oilspillresp-s.pdf 140 0.001 0.252
pressclp.htm 139 0.001 0.253
publichealth/beachtestingsummary2003.pdf 137 0.001 0.254
links.htm 135 0.001 0.255
laws.htm 135 0.001 0.256
rochester.htm 134 0.001 0.257
seafoodsafety.htm 134 0.001 0.258
violate.htm 133 0.001 0.259
oilvolume.htm 132 0.001 0.26
buzzards_bay_references.htm 132 0.001 0.261
bbpreports/nonpoint_source_management_plan_watershed_phinneys_harbor_bourne_masschusetts_1989.pdf 131 0.001 0.262
plymouth-info.htm 131 0.001 0.263
oilpollution.htm 131 0.001 0.264
eti.htm 130 0.001 0.265
response.htm 127 0.001 0.266
oilspill-status.htm 126 0.001 0.267
pastspills.htm 125 0.001 0.268
wetlands.htm 125 0.001 0.269
eelgrass/eelgrass-jetclamming-issues.pdf 124 0.001 0.27