How can we get traffic source data without the __utmz cookie? - google-analytics

Question

I used to be able to pull traffic source data by reading the __utmz cookie, by doing so I can post the data to an internal conversion tracking database. but now GA doesn't use this cookie and it appears that the other cookies don't have any client-side data we can use.
Are there any other ways we can pull the traffic source data into our own internal db?

Answer 1

You can simulating the Google Analytics Processing Flow and determine the values of traffic sources parameters like source, medium, campaign, ... using a custom JavaScript in page or through Google Tag Manager.
This can be a solution:
function crumbleCookie(a) {
for (var d = document.cookie.split(";"), c = {}, b = 0; b < d.length; b++) {
var e = d[b].substring(0, d[b].indexOf("=")).trim(),
i = d[b].substring(d[b].indexOf("=") + 1, d[b].length).trim();
c[e] = i
}
if (a) return c[a] ? c[a] : null;
return c
}
function bakeCookie(a, d, c, b, e, i) {
var j = new Date;
j.setTime(j.getTime());
c && (c *= 864E5);
j = new Date(j.getTime() + c);
document.cookie = a + "=" + escape(d) + (c ? ";expires=" + j.toGMTString() : "") + (b ? ";path=" + b : "") + (e ? ";domain=" + e : "") + (i ? ";secure" : "")
}
function writeLogic(n) {
var a = getTrafficSource(n, '.example.com'); //Insert your domain here
a = a.replace(/\|{2,}/g, "|");
a = a.replace(/^\|/, "");
a = unescape(a);
bakeCookie(n, a, 182, "/", "", "") // Cookie expiration sets to 182 days
};
function getParam(s, q) {
try{
var match = s.match('[?&]' + q + '=([^&]+)');
return match ? match[1] : '';
} catch(e){
return '';
}
}
function calculateTrafficSource() {
var source='', medium='', campaign='', term='', content='';
var search_engines = [['bing', 'q'], ['google', 'q'], ['yahoo', 'q'], ['baidu', 'q'], ['yandex', 'q'], ['ask', 'q']]; //List of search engines
var ref = document.referrer;
ref = ref.substr(ref.indexOf('//')+2);
ref_domain = ref;
ref_path = '/';
ref_search = '';
// Checks for campaign parameters
var url_search = document.location.search;
if(url_search.indexOf('utm_source') > -1) {
source = getParam(url_search, 'utm_source');
medium = getParam(url_search, 'utm_medium');
campaign = getParam(url_search, 'utm_campaign');
term = getParam(url_search, 'utm_term');
content = getParam(url_search, 'utm_content');
}
else if (getParam(url_search, 'gclid')) {
source = 'google';
medium = 'cpc';
campaign = '(not set)';
}
else if(ref) {
// separate domain, path and query parameters
if (ref.indexOf('/') > -1) {
ref_domain = ref.substr(0,ref.indexOf('/'));
ref_path = ref.substr(ref.indexOf('/'));
if (ref_path.indexOf('?') > -1) {
ref_search = ref_path.substr(ref_path.indexOf('?')+1);
ref_path = ref_path.substr(0, ref_path.indexOf('?'));
}
}
medium = 'referral';
source = ref_domain;
// Extract term for organic source
for (var i=0; i<search_engines.length; i++){
if(ref_domain.indexOf(search_engines[i][0]) > -1){
medium = 'organic';
source = search_engines[i][0];
term = getParam(ref_search, search_engines[i][1]) || '(not provided)';
break;
}
}
}
return {
'source' : source,
'medium' : medium,
'campaign': campaign,
'term' : term,
'content' : content
};
}
function getTrafficSource(cookieName, hostname) {
var trafficSources = calculateTrafficSource();
var source = trafficSources.source.length === 0 ? 'direct' : trafficSources.source;
var medium = trafficSources.medium.length === 0 ? 'none' : trafficSources.medium;
var campaign = trafficSources.campaign.length === 0 ? 'direct' : trafficSources.campaign;
// exception
if(medium === 'referral') {
campaign = '';
}
var rightNow = new Date();
var value = 'source=' + source +
'&medium=' + medium +
'&campaign='+ campaign +
'&term=' + trafficSources.term +
'&content=' + trafficSources.content +
'&date=' + rightNow.toISOString().slice(0,10).replace(/-/g,"");
return value;
}
// Self-invoking function
(function(){
var date = new Date();
var fr_date = date.getUTCFullYear().toString() + ((date.getUTCMonth() < 9) ? '0' + (date.getUTCMonth()+1).toString() : (date.getUTCMonth()+1).toString()) + ((date.getUTCDate() < 10) ? '0' + date.getUTCDate().toString() : date.getUTCDate().toString());
var session = crumbleCookie()['FirstSession'];
if (typeof session == 'undefined') {
writeLogic('FirstSession');
}
else {
writeLogic('ReturningSession');
}
})();
Code here: http://clients.first-rate.com/firstrate/NewSession%20and%20ReturningSession%20cookies.txt