Data showed 0 visitors but 8 pageviews in CFA. I suspect this data indicates a failure to filter out bots.
One of the reasons I considered AdSense and Google Analytics data was that initially, I didn't set up any filters and counted every hit and loaded page immediately, leading to surprising results. A newly created blog was logged as having hundreds to thousands of daily visitors.
Right after briefly wondering if my blog blew up, I quickly realized it was all crawler bots and was shocked by their intense activity. I tested several filters afterward, but the results showed huge discrepancies compared to GA4 or AdSense—so much so that it felt like data from completely different websites.
Around then, I accepted that exact data is impossible to obtain, so I decided to use GA4 for stats and fetch AdSense data since actual ad revenue is settled through AdSense. AdSense seemed like the most reliable source—though not everyone applies for AdSense—so I decided to include GA4 as well to offer more flattering figures. However, after switching to CFA due to authentication renewal issues, the metrics appear to rank in scale as CFA > GA4 > AdSense.
As mentioned, exact data is practically impossible to know. Spending all resources to distinguish bots from real users would be putting the cart before the horse, so it's best to accept it with an easygoing mindset. CFA likely has more features, but I'm currently just serving whatever comes from the API. I originally fetched API data in real-time whenever opening the dashboard, but due to severe loading delays, I questioned the need for real-time data and restructured it to update Cloudflare D1 via hourly Cron workers instead.
Enough with the background details—I should get back to fixing the AdSense API to identify the exact issue and find a solution, but as usual, I lack the motivation to act. Looking things up and researching has become so bothersome. I even wonder if I should just stop developing altogether.
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