Universal Language Selector/Compact Language Links/metrics/data

The usage of desktop interlanguage links in Wikipedia is tracked in detail in the interlanguage Dashiki dashboard.

The queries for collecting this data are described at the page Universal Language Selector/Compact Language Links/metrics.

Legacy data

Before the Dashiki dashboard was available, the legacy data had been collected in a Google spreadsheet from May 2016 until early 2018.

Summary of results

The trend from May 2016, when the feature's deployment started, until December 2016, was that of general growth in the percent of people who visit Wikipedia in different languages and click on links to other languages. This was especially clearly pronounced in languages of medium readership (between 100 thousand and 1 million pageviews per day), in some of which this percent grew three times or more (Hungarian, Danish, Ukrainian, Greek, Hebrew, Thai, and several others). This growth is seen in both outgoing and incoming links.

Growth is also seen in the Wikipedia editions with the largest numbers of readers (English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese), although it is smaller.

You can see the full list of languages and the corresponding growth by month in the "Wikipedia % monthly" and "Wikipedia % target monthly" tabs in the spreadsheet. You can also see the same languages grouped by the number of pageviews at the same tabs (scroll to the right).

Given that "percent" and "%" refers to "percent of clicks on interlanguage links out of the number of pageviews":

• In June 2016 0.2125% of Wikipedia visitors in all languages clicked on interlanguage links. In June 2017 it was 0.4042%. Growth of 90%.
• In June 2016 there were 17 Wikipedias with less than 0.2%. In December 2016 and January 2017 this number was 0, and in February 2017 there was one such language (Russian).
• In June 2016 there were 34 Wikipedias with more than 1%. In February 2017 this number was 267.
• In June the average percent for all languages was 0.6%. In December and January it was above 10%, and in February—above 7%.
  • for large-readership languages it was 0.28% in June 2016, 0.63% in January 2017, and 0.46% in February 2017.
  • for medium-readership languages it was 0.37% in June 2016, 2.76% in January 2017, and 1.75% in February 2017.

Tabs

Wikipedia % monthly

This is the average of clicks on interlanguage links per visit. It calculates how many user visits result in the user clicking on any of the interlanguage links for that page. The "growth" is given as the percent of the difference from June 2016. The columns after "Growth" show the same numbers, but group languages by number of pageviews. This is a key metric, showing the usage of the feature in each project, with correction for actual visits (counting only the clicks themselves would change according to season and other factors). Higher numbers mean that more readers click interlanguage links.

Wikipedia % target monthly

This is the average of arrivals via on interlanguage links per visit. It calculates how many user visits result from the user clicking on an interlanguage link in another language and checks whether the feature affected the destination. The "growth" is given as the percent of the difference from June 2016. The columns after "Growth" show the same numbers, but group languages by number of pageviews. This is a key metric, showing the impact of the feature on visits to other languages, with correction for actual visits (counting only the clicks themselves would change according to season and other factors). Higher numbers mean that more people arrive to a Wikipedia in this language using an interlanguage link.

Wikipedia

Shows the number of clicks from this language to a Wikipedia in another language. This is raw data coming from running queries on Wikimedia stat servers.

Wikipedia weekly total

Sums the clicks from all Wikipedias per week and per month. "Minus 5" means "all languages except en, de, fr, nl, and sv".

Wikipedia target

Shows the number of clicks from Wikipedia in other languages to Wikipedia in this language. This is raw data coming from running queries on Wikimedia stat servers.

Wikipedia target weekly total

Sums the clicks to all Wikipedias per week and per month. "Minus 5" means "all languages except en, de, fr, nl, and sv".

Wikipedia pageviews

The pageviews per day in each language. This is raw data coming from the Pageviews API.

Wikipedia %

The percentage of clicks on interlanguage links from a Wikipedia in a given language to Wikipedias in other languages out of the number of pageviews in that language each day.

Wikipedia target %

The percentage of clicks on interlanguage links from other Wikipedias to a Wikipedia in a given language out of the number of pageviews in that language each day.

Wikipedia %

The percentage of clicks on interlanguage links from a Wikipedia in a given language to Wikipedias in other languages out of the number of pageviews in that language each week.

Wikipedia target %

The percentage of clicks on interlanguage links from other Wikipedias to a Wikipedia in a given language out of the number of pageviews in that language each week.

Notes

The data is filled by running scripts at the stat1002 server and copying the numbers to a public Google spreadsheet.

The only data collected from the servers is the aggregate number of clicks between different languages, and the number of pageviews. No private or personal data, such as the usernames, IP addresses, browsers, or operating systems, is collected or published in this process.