The Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence (CSAFE) launched a redesigned website on Aug. 28, 2020, to better reflect its purpose of infusing statistics and probability into forensic science. The new site utilizes search engine optimization, resulting in nearly 20,000 users finding the CSAFE website through organic search (i.e., Google, Bing and other search engines). Total views of the homepage increased 208% from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021.
The more user-friendly interface increased the average time visitors stayed on content pages by an average of 28% across the site. With a total of 99,968 pageviews, the data suggests that the new CSAFE website achieved the goal of reaching more individuals by providing robust articles, tools, resources and more via an online channel.
New Website Highlights
Website data was taken from forensicstats.com analytics for Aug. 28, 2020, through Aug. 28, 2021.
- Total Website Pageviews: 99,968
- Total Users: 36,470
- CSAFE homepage
- 13,165 pageviews vs. 4,271 from August 28, 2019–August 27, 2020
- 208% increase in pageviews
- CSAFE Resources page
- 860 pageviews vs. 367 from August 28, 2019–August 27, 2020
- 134% increase in pageviews
- CSAFE Events page
- 1,915 pageviews vs. 492 from August 28, 2019–August 27, 2020
- 289% increase in pageviews
- CSAFE Website User Acquisition:
- Organic Search: 19,987
- Direct: 13,743
- Referral: 2,636
- Social: 1,032
Most Visited Pages
These pages generated the highest number of visits:
- CSAFE homepage: 11,111 pageviews
- Misuse of Statistics in the Courtroom: The Sally Clark Case: 4,060 pageviews
- Forensic Science Education: CSAFE Training for Forensic Professionals: 2,550 pageviews
- CSAFE 2021 Field Update: 2,454 pageviews
Insights Series
The CSAFE Insights series resonated with forensic practitioners and researchers alike and publishing these digests of the latest CSAFE research onto the CSAFE website, beginning in late April 2021, proved equally valuable. As of Aug. 28, 2021, CSAFE has published 18 Insights on forensicstats.org. Most traffic comes from within the CSAFE website, a direct link or a search engine like Google.
CSAFE Insights have received 1,727 total pageviews from April 2021–Aug. 28, 2021. Readers are spending an average of two minutes viewing each page. The following Insights generated the most views on the CSAFE website:
- Insights homepage: 390 pageviews
- Everest—We Are Going to Lose Many: A Survey of Fingerprint Examiners’ Attitudes Towards Probabilistic Reporting: 203 pageviews
- Latent Print Comparison and Examiner Conclusions: 150 pageviews
- Psychometric Analysis of Forensic Examiner Behavior: 121 pageviews
- Probabilistic Reporting in Criminal Cases in the United States: 120 pageviews
- Implementing Blind Proficiency Testing in Forensic Laboratories: 116 pageviews
CSAFE includes links to relevant resources, other publications and tools developed by CSAFE researchers in each Insight. Data shows that users typically click on links provided in the “Learn More” section and are most likely to click on links directing them to resources and tools on the CSAFE website or to the full text of the publication.
