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
Related
I currently manage quite a few Google Analytics accounts for different websites and am trying to work out how to remove certain Anayltics spam from these accounts. I have previously added filters like excluding Russia visitors as the businesses are local UK based but I am now getting a lot of traffic from:
Language - not set
&
Page - sharebutton.to
If i was to exlucde the above would that get rid of any actual visitors as well as spam or will it get rid of 100% spam?
If someone could help with this that would be brilliant.
Many Thanks
Paul
Filters based on countries or the name of the spam are not efficient because both can be easily changed by the spammers.
Also, it isn't possible to filter the (not set) entries in Analytics, this label is added after the visit is recorded when Analytics doesn't find a value for that dimension.
Instead what you should use
One hostname filter, this will help prevent the majority of the spam, whether it shows as referral, page, language, etc. and independently of the name used by the spammer.
A source filter for the sneaky crawlers which are far less frequent.
Here you will find detailed instructions on how to create the hostname filter and other measures you can take to prevent fake traffic.
Like many others I suffered the fake referrals and spam stuff in my google analytics, I have put all the relevant filters in place and read the forums and tips, etc.
Everything seemed to settle down, but now I can see big spikes in real-time visits, like 25/35 all at once, just showing landing on my homepage, there is no 'fake' address showing up like before (free-share-buttons, you-porn.ga etc), nothing, just multiple visits all at once, the locations are spread across the world, but mostly in the USA, this seems to be happening once a day from what I can tell. What is causing this?
I'm actually at the point where I'm thinking, GA not even worth bothering with for a small business like mine, frustrating and just seem to be wasting precious time on stuff like this.
Fake direct visits are the latest form of attack from ghost spam, especially from free-share-buttons. If you catch it in real time you will see that this spammer(might be others) makes 1 referral hit with multiple fake direct visits (10 or more) at the same time.
The problem with the conventional methods is that they were excluding the source, in this case, the referrals, and while the referral will still be stopped, the fake direct visit will go through.
Fortunately, there is a way to prevent the direct visits along with the referral and any ghost spam form for that matter, like organic or pages.
What all ghost spam have in common is that they use a fake or not set hostname. Based on this if you create a filter that will include only valid hostnames you will get rid of all fake direct visits and ghost referrals with one filter.
You can find more information on these related questions about this issue and the valid hostname solution
https://stackoverflow.com/a/30470413/3197362
https://stackoverflow.com/a/28354319/3197362
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.
Google Analytics is recording a page called ".../form", but separately it is also reporting redirects to that page as "/form?/=test"
Under Site Content they are both listed separately.
In a case like this am I right to assume these are separate metrics that need to be added together to provide a truer picture of activity.
Or is it a case where ".../form" also includes all traffic from "/form?/=test"
EDIT: The URLs were due to redirected legacy traffic and since both were recording data in GA just trying to see about data collected to date.
It seems to me that absolute URLs are needed rather than relative.
Is there somewhere to point to "http://my.domain.com/form" instead of just "/form"?
This question is an continuation on another StackOverflow post where no clear answer is given. (Moderators hungry for flagging, pease read this entire post on Stack overflow first!)
SITUATION You give your technically correct, canonical domain URL to a client who will put it on their website. Days go by and they forget what exactly you instructed them that your canonical/prefered domain was. Ever wondered about the practical & technical implications? And so, they choose themselves either of the below domains to list the url on their blog/news/company site:
SCENARIOS
A ...
B ...
C ...
GIVEN I know HOW to setup redirect via Apache to 301 all non-preferred ones to the preferred one, as well as how to set the preference in google webmastertools etc etc.
PRIMARY QUESTIONS
Technically, is there any speed difference between how fast A, B or C domains will load, given proper setup and assuming the others redirect 301 to the preferred one?
Any DNS resolving time bonuses on speed when setting either for either of above urls?
SECONDARY QUESTIONS
Which of the three is likely to be published by geeks, programmers and techies? And which likely to be published by non-geek non-programmers blog/news/companies?
Is it more ideally if they choose your preferred domain as URL as well as the anchor text e.g. X instead of Y or doesn't this matter at all?
Why do all major sites use www. when google clearly says that it doesnt matter which you you chose, as long as you choose and stick to it. Still don't you say its strange that Google amongst almost all top ranking websites, use the www instead of non-www?
as a programmer, which of these domains A, B or C shall I choose to propagate consistenly in my site as well as tell others is my preference?
DNS wise there is no difference, a look up is a look up.
In terms of speed, in general terms again nothing should make a differnce (if for example you specify the virtual host options in the ServerName. You then dont need to do redirections) You could see some issues with cookies if the pages change domains by incorrect links.