User numbers and statistics
How many people actually use Copernico? And for what purposes? Where and how are users engaging with the portal’s content—and with our social media posts? What role do the English-language pages play, and how international is our readership? Behind the scenes, we seek to understand these patterns as far as technology and data protection requirements allow.
As a thematic and knowledge-transfer portal, it is important for the Copernico editorial team to monitor not only the portal’s technical performance but also how it is used. Even as a non-commercial service, we want to know whether our content is reaching a broader audience, which topics and features are particularly in demand, and whether they are easy to find—including for users abroad. We are also interested in whether our social media content is reaching people, how users arrive at the portal, and how many visitors we can reasonably expect overall.
To answer these questions, we rely on a range of technical tracking methods—although these often allow only approximate conclusions to be drawn.
User Experience and Usability
The world of web design and the development of online services has become highly professionalized over the past fifteen years. Dedicated roles and specialized expertise now focus specifically on examining the user experience (UX) of websites and on designing and continuously optimizing intuitive, easy-to-use interfaces (usability).
These aspects have long been a priority for us. During the portal’s first year of development, we worked closely with a UX expert who, for example, tested the functionality and suitability of potential navigation designs in collaboration with our web agency, Outermedia. Together with our partners, we also explored key thematic areas and content needs. We even tested different name proposals for the portal through street surveys.
The graph shows the (very encouraging) development of visitor statistics over the past three years, which is due in no small part to a significant expansion of the portal's content. With its contributions to the culture and history of Eastern Europe, Copernico may sometimes cover niche topics—but it reliably finds its audience here. The high visitor numbers are supported by regular feedback and the portal's generally high level of awareness.
It comes as no surprise that most visits to the portal originate in Germany itself. However, the second place is interesting: in the early years of the portal, the second highest number of visits came from Canada, which we attributed to the strong expatriate community there and corresponding contributions to the portal. Since February 2022, the list has changed significantly, with one-fifth of portal visits coming from the United States and the United Kingdom—a consequence of the war in Ukraine and an expression of a changed, news-driven attention to the region.
The statistics show the usage times of the portal in the local time zone of the portal visitors. These statistics are interesting to us because they provide information about usage contexts—is the portal used more in the morning, for example in a school or work context, or more in the evening, in a private context? As can be clearly seen, usage times are actually very balanced and spread throughout the day, with minor peaks in the late afternoon and evening.
Equally interesting is the breakdown of the types of devices used to access and use Copernico. Like all modern websites, Copernico is responsive and optimized for a wide range of resolutions on computer monitors, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. What is unusual is the high level of use by desktop devices, which indicates that Copernico is used more conventionally at a desk than on the go as a research and information resource. However, this is not a big surprise either.
Copernico runs several social media accounts, primarily to promote its own posts, calls, and partner content. There are always adjustments to be made: at the end of 2024, for example, we—like many other institutions—discontinued our activities on Twitter.
The (Im)Possibilities of Measurement
Like many other websites, we primarily rely on two methods of tracking. A separate installation of the widely used analytics software Matomo records user activity—provided the individual’s browser allows it and consent for the relevant cookies has been granted. In practice, this applies to only a small fraction of page visits, which then need to be scaled up by a factor of 15 to 20 to estimate realistic figures. Because the data we collect is limited, we cannot determine exact numbers, but it does provide a reasonably good overview of usage patterns and behavioral trends. All our tracking methods are anonymized and we do not record or store IP addresses, so we cannot draw deeper conclusions about individual users or repeated visits.
At the same time, we use the log and analysis software GoAccess, which evaluates server statistics and log files rather than relying on browser-based tracking. After all, a website is ultimately just a collection of files stored on servers, accessed by devices, and displayed in web browsers. Visits to these files can, in principle, be counted reliably. The problem is that it is increasingly difficult to distinguish human from automated traffic, making it nearly impossible to separate large-scale automated requests—or even the usual attacks that target websites—from genuine users. Here again, we can only estimate figures and cannot draw precise conclusions about actual human visitors.
Tracking is somewhat simpler on the social media platforms we use. Providers such as Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and Google (YouTube) offer reasonably good insights into how our posts are received. In addition, we have occasionally run digital advertisements—for example, on the websites of professional conferences—and can cross-reference the resulting traffic with our measurements. Taken together, this gives us a picture that may not be precise in every detail, but is reliable overall.
How Is Copernico Developing? Numbers and Facts
What is working particularly well? How has site usage evolved? When analyzing website statistics, there are always a few key metrics and parameters that are commonly used to assess usage, user behavior, and potential areas for improvement. Unsurprisingly, this kind of analysis is most intensive on commercial websites. However, it is also important for portals like ours to understand whether and how content is being found and used. In this respect, Copernico’s structure and thematic focus have a few notable characteristics.
- Page visits and referrals: We can now expect around 60,000 visitors per month. Copernico has established itself as a recognized portal well beyond its home region and is acknowledged by search engines and other websites as a reliable source of information. For several years, our content has also been represented in the so-called Google Knowledge Graph, which helps populate the infoboxes on search results pages. A significant portion of visitors now also reach Copernico through referrals from AI-based chat and assistant programs, such as ChatGPT. Apart from search engines like Google, ChatGPT accounted for the largest number of external visitors in 2025. We are naturally pleased that Copernico is seen as a trusted source and serves as a reference for search engines and AI systems—in fact, this recognition is even more important to us than purely numerical statistics.
- Average time on site: Copernico shows a high average dwell time, with visitors spending on average 2:01 minutes per session on the portal. For an online portal like ours, this is high and indicates that Copernico reaches users who are genuinely interested in the topics we cover—and that it can keep them engaged for longer periods.
Title page of the article on the daughters of Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort (1909–1944), featured in the focus section “Migration Stories around Steinort / Sztynort Castle,” about a well-known member of the military resistance against National Socialism. This article is by far the most popular contribution in the thematic magazine.
Title page of the article on the daughters of Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort (1909–1944), featured in the focus section “Migration Stories around Steinort / Sztynort Castle,” about a well-known member of the military resistance against National Socialism. This article is by far the most popular contribution in the thematic magazine.
Popular Articles and Page Content
It is also fascinating for us to track the popularity of individual sections, topic areas, and, not least, single articles and pieces of content. Particularly interesting—and editorially relevant—is the fact that the ranking of the most popular and most-read contributions varies significantly depending on language and geographic context.
For the German-language version of Copernico, the most heavily used contributions tend to be those featuring personalities who are especially well-known in German-speaking countries or who speak directly in the content. This is especially true for the focus on Steinort Castle and the von Lehndorff family, which prominently features, among others, Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort, a member of the resistance against National Socialism; the actress, painter, and model Veruschka (1939); the actress Hanna Schygulla (1943); and the theologian and politician Antje Vollmer (1943–2023).
** The ten most popular German-language thematic articles**:
- Ulla Lachauer, Agata Kern: Die vier Lehndorff-Töchter. Verlorene Kindheit und neue Welten (to the article)
- Hans-Jürgen Bömelburg: Die Familie Lehndorff und der ostpreußische Adel (to the article)
- Ulla Lachauer, Agata Kern: Antje Vollmer. „Doppelleben“ - auf den Spuren von Heinrich und Gottliebe von Lehndorff (to the article)
- Heinrich Lohmann: Staesz-Pfefferkuchengewürz! (to the article)
- Daniel Benedikt Stienen: Die Marienburg, die Ordensritter und der „deutsche Osten“ im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Wandel in Zeit und Raum (to the article)
- Grigori Chlesberg: Ortsnamen im Wandel. Geographische Wissensordnungen in der Geschichte deutsch-polnischer Grenzregionen (to the article)
- Ulla Lachauer, Agata Kern: Das Lehndorffsche Jagdhaus. Und die deutsch-polnische Freundschaft (to the article)
- Ulla Lachauer, Agata Kern: Hanna Schygulla. Meine Freundin Gottliebe Lehndorff (to the article)
- Jannis Panagiotidis: Russlanddeutsche Geschichte als Migrationsgeschichte (to the article)
- László Dávid Törő: Westungarn und das Burgenland (1921-1945). Eine Debatte in der österreichischen und ungarischen Geschichtsschreibung (to the article)
Some of these contributions also appear in the list of the most popular English-language content. However, articles on Jewish history, specific minorities and groups, and other topics are more prominently represented in this context:
The ten most popular English-language thematic articles:
- Anke Hilbrenner: Jewish History in Eastern Europe: The 19th Century (to the article)
- Jan Musekamp: The History of the German-speaking Volhynians as Part of a Global Migration History (to the article)
- Ulla Lauchauer, Agata Kern: The Four Lehndorff Daughters. A lost childhood and new worlds (to the article)
- Antonia Schlotter: “Wherever the Russian Settles in Asia, the Country Immediately becomes Russian.” (Dostoevsky). The “civilizing mission” of the Russian Empire in Central Asia in the 19th century (to the article)
- Tatsiana Astrouskaya: Post-War Jewish Migration from the USSR and the refuseniki movement (to the article)
- Daniel Benedikt Stienen: Malbork Castle, the Knights of the Teutonic Order and the “German East” in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Changes through time and space (to the article)
- Jannis Panagiotidis: Russian-German history as migration history (to the article)
- Kristina Jõekalda: The Baltic Region as the Prototype for All of Colonial History? (Art) Historiography and Daily Politics (to the article)
- Rüdiger Ritter: Jazz in the Eastern Bloc. A Playing Field for Nonconformists and Propaganda Strategists (to the article)
- Alexander Kleinschrodt: Instruments and methods. An image gallery on Copernican astronomy (to the article)
