I am implementing cross domain tracking for a client. We will be using Universal Analytics with Google Tag Manager.
Let's say the client has three domains: example.com, example.de and example.se. We would like to have a master account that tracks everything, but we would also like to be able to drill down and see a single domains stats. Perhaps this already exists without any customization but I have been unable to find anything on how though.
What I can see there are two ways to go about:
Create a filter that automatically appends the domain to the tracked data. So instead of /about in my view, I would get example.com/about and example.se/about. But how would this work with event tracking? Is it possible to get a report the way the client want's?
Use custom variables and dimensions. This way I could set up a variable for Domain and send in before tracking the data. But will it be sufficient to get the reports wanted?
Appreciate any help.
Thank you,
Bjorn
Hostname ist already tracked, you can set it as second dimension to break down pageviews etc. by domain (works with events, too). However that is really cumbersome and most people follow the route you have outlined in Point 1. (Google suggest that themselves in their filter documentation) - however you'd still need hostname set as second dimension to break down by domain in the events report (or you create custom reports filtered by hostname for events for each domain).
Or you create segments based on hostname (since you can compare up to for segments that would allow you to compare the overall performance and domain performance).
Plus of course you can create additional views filtered by hostname and add the domain name only in the rollup-profile for all domains.
So there are several ways to do this somehow okay-ish, but nothing really better than the solutions you already came up with yourself.
Related
There was a mistake and we used one google analytics script in two different websites. We removed the script from one of the sites but because of this mistake we now have a lot of invalid data.
How can I remove the data of the other website?
you cant remove data already in the reports. General "best practice" is to leave the default All Website Data view without any filters applied, and then create one (or more) reporting views (depending on reporting needs) and apply an Include Hostname filter. This prevents data from invalid hostnames ending up in reports (such as in this instance).
To view the historical report data without the erroneous site data included, you can create and apply a segment to only include sessions (or users) for hostname yourdomain.com
How can I set up Google Analytics goal to track traffic from a single website and track whether the user ends up on specific pages (as in, track how they move through the funnel/website) as well if they convert to a subscriber (I can put that tracking code on a signup / thank you page).
But I am concerned about traffic only from a single domain, as a specific and unique measuring statistic, in addition to overall traffic tracking, obviously.
I can't figure it out for the life of me....
Thanks.
The filtering would not be a goal setting. Set up, either:
A custom segment that filters users based on the referrer / hostname / whatever you need. It sounds like you are looking to filter on the referrer or referrerPath. Then set up the goal and when you report, change the segment
Or set up a separate view that filters for traffic based on the criteria above. That view can then have the goal, inclusive funnels, set up.
Both methods have drawbacks, the second method is cleaner if that goal is something you plan on reporting on for the foreseeable future.
I have the same GA code on 2 domains that I'm trying to track: domain.com and domain.de. Do I need to add setAllowLinker and setDomainName in both domains? Both sites are under the same account/profile but using hostname filter.
(the sites won't link between each other)
If the sites do not link between each other you don't need a special setup - the linker functions maintain sessions between domains (which is not possible with cookies, so the session data is transmitted via Url) and setDomainName sets the cookie domains, which likewise is not necessary in your case.
I do not understand you second question. If you have created a second data view / profile for you com-Domain it starts at 0 visits (pageviews etc) because the view collects data only from the moment it was created, which might be your problem here (plus I think the etiquette at stack overflow suggests to have only one question per Post, so you might edit the seconds question out and put it in a second post).
I need help understanding and also instructions on how to properly use "_addIgnoredRef".
First I will explain what type of situation I am in. We have 2 subdomains (each subdomain has it's own webserver/application) that is being used as one website, meaning there are links going back and forth between these two subdomains. For the sake of just using an example, let's say we have "abc.website.com" and "123.website.com". We have links on abc.website.com that links to 123.website.com and vice versa, however they are treated as one website.
Second, we do not develop or change any google anyalytics code to the domain website.com. We only have access to the subdomains, abc.website.com and 123.website.com.
So the issue we are seeing is that Google Analytics is telling us that we have referrals coming from these two subdomains. I understand that it's because we have these two subdomains linking back and forth.
I do understand GA has a command that allows me to IGNORE the referrals by using _addIgnoredRef . However, am I safe to assume that I go to abc.website.com and append this to the GA code,
_gaq.push(['_addIgnoredRef', '123.website.com']);
and vice versa for 123.website.com?
Ultimately we want to not see referrals coming from 123.website.com and abc.website.com, but we don't mind seeing referrals coming from website.com or www.website.com.
If what I have assume is correct, then I must be missing something because that is what I have setup currently. Then my next question would be, do I have this correct?
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'website.com']);
Do I need the trailing period?
You can go on and on about how that having two subdomains as one website isn't a good idea for many reasons but this is what was provided to us when we first started. We will eventually merge them into one website, but for now let's just say it will take awhile and we need to "bandage the situation".
First off, adding _addIgnoreRef will only convert the referral into direct traffic. If this is desired, then yes, you would add:
_gaq.push(['_addIgnoredRef', '123.website.com']); //add to abc.website.com
and
_gaq.push(['_addIgnoredRef', 'abc.website.com']); //add to 123.website.com
The trailing period isn't necessary, just as long as you are consistent across the entire website. According to Google, the trailing period comes more into play when you have multiple layers of subdomains - https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/methods/gaJSApiDomainDirectory?csw=1#_gat.GA_Tracker_._setDomainName
I am trying to do some analysis in Google Analytics and discovered that there is a particular bot that is sending a ton of 'fake' traffic to my site. I'd like to exclude this traffic from the analysis. It comes from a certain source (the same one every time) and is always on 1 of 4 Service Providers. I have isolated the traffic with the following segment:
INCLUDE "Service Provider" Matches RegExp "W|X|Y|Z"
AND
INCLUDE "Source" Matches RegExp "nameOfSource.com"
^^That returns the exact traffic I would like to exclude. So one would assume that when I set the INCLUDEs to EXCLUDEs it would give me what I need (everything except that segment). Instead, it excludes all traffic from nameOfSource.com.
Does anyone have an idea of how I could successfully exclude that traffic, without removing the legitimate traffic from nameOfSource.com as well?
Thanks in Advanced!
Google Analytics has filters for this purpose.
First of all create another profile so you have 2 profiles an unfiltered profile with all your data and create a a second profile and on that profile add the filters you want.
You can find this under the admin section in your GA account.
AND statements in Advanced Segment are not cumulative but they are not cumulative but they run one after the other.
You can do it with Advanced filter.
on field A extract "nameOfSource.com" from source
on field B extract "W|X|Y|Z" from ISP
output A+B to a custom var
Then you can use a second filter to exclude trafic with this custom var, or use an Advanced segment on it.