Custom variables not getting tracked in GA dashboard - google-analytics

I am using custom variables in my javascript that is accessible to all the pages and below is my GA tracking code immediately preceding the closing head tag in the only page called index.html.
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-33766550-1']);
var currentCountry = 'N/A';
if (localStorage.getItem('country')) {
currentCountry = localStorage.getItem('country');
}
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'Country', currentCountry]);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function () {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
The GA tracking is working fine for me.
I have so far been able to track only one custom variable that has been defined in the main tracking code in the head section called country(as shown above).
The rest of the custom variables that I have used in the javascript file(this js is always accessible in index.html) seems to be not getting called at all. This js file contains the different _gaq.push commands for the different custom variables, as shown below.
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 5, 'Page', 'app/index.html#portfolioDetailPage']);
Question: Why am I not been able to track these custom variables in the GA unlike the 'country' custom variable I passed in the main tracking code?
Do i need to pass _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']) after each of the _gaq.push for custom variables declarations?
Can anybody please suggest, I am in a big mess :(
Thanks

You are missing the scope parameter. Double check the signature for _setCustomVar.
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/methods/gaJSApiBasicConfiguration#_gat.GA_Tracker_._setCustomVar

Thanks Eduardo. I might of typed it wrong I am actually using the correct code. I was using custom variables for tracking whereas in my scenario event tracking made more sense.
if(_gaq) _gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Page', 'Home_Page_Landing', 'app/index.html']);
Thanks

Related

Event tracking not working

I am trying to integrate the Google's event tracking on my application using the below script. I can able to see the Events in "Realtime" tab. But I am not able to see the events in "Content" tab.
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'none']);
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'XXXXX']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'request.fullpath', 'plan_desc', 'plan_code>']);
Are you grabbing the script that defines the gaq function?
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'none']);
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'XXXXX']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'request.fullpath', 'plan_desc', 'plan_code>']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
Also, for your event push, are the values you are pushing in supposed to be JS objects? if so, you may want to get rid of the quotation marks.
GA takes a certain amount of time before it translates data that you see in real-time into it's other sections.
It might be that if you have only added the code within 48 hours that results are not ready to view yet.
I would suggest you trying Google Analytics Debugger extension for Chrome to see if tracking events reach google.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-analytics-debugger/jnkmfdileelhofjcijamephohjechhna?hl=en
If you are trying to use Rails variables in the JS, as request.fullpath looks like one you must make sure you are rendering it out in your templating engine. For example, if you are using ERB, you must call it like this...
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', '<%= request.fullpath %>', 'plan_desc', 'plan_code>']);
Obviously repeat for the other variables, if they aren't Ruby and are plain JS objects, you need to omit the quote marks around them.

Google Analytics custom events not tracking properly

Here's the GA output code:
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA_CODE']);
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'SUBDOMAIN']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Priority', 'Created (day)', 'Label info', '']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>
the trackEvent line seems to be correct...but not tracking for some reason. Is it because I left the value field nil?
For _trackEvent, the value parameter should be an integer. Since it's an optional parameter, you can just leave it out:
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Priority', 'Created (day)', 'Label info']);
Having a non-integer value will prevent the event from being tracked.
I beleive _trackEvent won't work properly when called from GA tracking code snippet, at least it was not made for such usage. If you want to execute an event after page loads, try calling it for example from onLoad event of your body tag.
Secondly, passing an optional value parametr as '' would make it undefiened, which looks like it could produce an error, so, since it's optional, don't pass it at all.
And there's a delay in GA reportings, data processing takes about 24 hours (you can switch between new and old versions, sometimes one shows data faster than another).

Google Analytics code always reports page name as being "$A"

I have some code (below) that I'm using to track pageviews on Google Analytics. In Google Analytics, all pages end up having the name "$A".
I can't seem to find anyone who has had the same issue and I can't see what I'm doing wrong:
<script type="text/javascript">
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
</script>
<script src="/__utm.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
It sounds like, rather than there being a problem with the tracking code, that the problem is actually with a filter configured for your account.
Specifically, $A makes it sound like you have an improperly configured Reyes based filter that, rather than outputting the regex match, is instead outputting the string "$A", which is meaningless unless you're properly using RegEx.
Can you post detailed information about the profile? In any case, you shouldn.t be filtering on a main profile, since filters cannot be undone, so any configuration errors on your main profile will result in permanently lost data.
My recommendation is to totally remove the filters in pladce, duplicate the profile and apply your desired filters against the duplicate, to mitigate potential data loss problems like this.

Google Analytics, Page views are not tracking correctly

I have installed the below google tracking code in my site
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-xxxxxxxx-x']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
In my GA account under visitors -> page views are not showing correctly. After many visits to the site it is showing only page views as 2. The total number of page views doesn't seems correct.
Is there any problem in my tracking code. Please give me a solution on this.
The Code is placed just before the </body> closing tag as it was recommented as best practice of placing analytics code. We placed the code in all pages and the status in GA is "Receiving Data". It is a video sharing website where we also use Google Analytics Plugin of JW Player. Following is a url to a site page storybridge.tv/StoryBridge/freespirits/story/fightclub
I also checked and confirmed that there is no other script that use the variables _gat and _gaq.
Make sure that other scripts on your pages do not use the variables _gat and _gaq, since those are global variables used by the asynchronous tracking code. As long as those variables are not used by other scripts on your pages, there should be no other interference with the tracking code from your own scripts.

do i need to call _gaq.push(['_trackPageView']) more than once on a page when using goog analytics asynchronous code?

i am using the vanilla ga asynchronous code thusly, right before end of </head>:
<script>
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-xxxxxxx-1']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>
</head>
now, later in the middle of the page i call:
<script>
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar',
1,
'usertype',
'anon',
2
]);
</script>
the question is, do i need to make another call to _trackPageView?
that is, should i add another
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
...?
Yes, you will need to make another call to _trackPageView in order to count the _setCustomVar. However, this will count as 2 separate page views, which is going to inflate the # of page views for the page. So you should instead move the _setCustomVar up to before _trackPageView is called.
Calling two _trackPageviews will send the custom variable to GA, however this will cause a few negative consequences:
Bounce rate will turn to 0%
pages per visit will increase by 1
To get around this you can:
move the custom variable before the initial _trackPageview, or:
trigger some other call to GA, such as an Event, User Timing Event, Social Event (or last resort, _trackPageview,'fake page name', and filter the 'fake page name' out of all reporting)

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