Visit statistics

HotDog sites don't track anyone unless you turn statistics on, and then only after the visitor agrees.

Turn statistics on

Add one line to site.yaml, for the service you use:

analytics: { provider: plausible, domain: example.org }

analytics: { provider: matomo, url: "https://matomo.example.org/", site_id: "1" }

analytics: { provider: ga4, id: G-XXXXXXX }

• Plausible counts visits without cookies. If you run your own Plausible, add src: with your script's address.
• Matomo is statistics you can run yourself. url is your Matomo's address, site_id the site's number there.
• Google Analytics 4 needs the measurement ID from Google, starting G-.

In the editor, Privacy & statistics does the same with a form:

What visitors see

On their first visit, a small banner at the foot of the page asks whether the site may count their visit:

• It sits at the bottom, not over the page, and the page works without answering.
• Decline comes first, and looks just like Accept. Saying no is as easy as saying yes.
• Nothing is counted until someone accepts. Only then is the statistics script added to the page.
• Declining, then or later, removes the statistics cookies.
• Browsers that send Global Privacy Control have already said no, and aren't asked.
• Cookie settings in the footer lets anyone change their answer.
• The answer is remembered in the browser itself, not in a cookie.

Your privacy page follows

Turning statistics on adds them to your privacy page, saying what's counted, by whom, and that it waits for consent. You don't have to remember to update it.

Counting without asking

Some services are built to count without cookies or personal data, and some sites decide they can count without asking. That has to be written down: add gated: false:

analytics: { provider: plausible, domain: example.org, gated: false }

Your privacy page then says visits are counted without asking, and the checks warn about it on every build (analytics-ungated), so it's never forgotten. Whether you may count without asking depends on where you and your visitors are: in the EU and UK, cookies and similar tracking need consent.