CODEWITHSUNDEEP
parametersgoogle-analyticsanalytics.jsuniversal-analytics
Drewdavid
Drewdavid

Reputation: 3192

More discreet way to track internal click source than a '?' URL parameter?

I traditionally use some kind of tracking parameter such as ?position=X to identify a special click source to content on my website

However I find that people actually end up sharing these "parametered" links and dilute my Google Analytics tracking results

Is there a way to add this data to Google Analytics without having it explicit in the URL? I'm open to using custom variables / custom dimensions, but I have not considered this usage of them yet

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1103

Answers (2)

Ishara Shehan
Ishara Shehan

Reputation: 446

why don’t you try event tracking in google analytics. It is very easy to configure and all you need to do is place the code in “OnClick” event in a link. No need to pass parameters. Refer thelink below for more info https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/eventTrackerGuide

using secondary dimensions, you can find the source and other info which is related to you.

Upvotes: 1

Eike Pierstorff
Eike Pierstorff

Reputation: 32760

Add a timestamp to the parameters. Add a piece of javascript to you tracking codes that dismisses the query parameters if the timestamp is older than 30 minutes (i.e. don't track the Url directly but pass it as a parameter to the ga send method, either with or without the parameter depending on time passed). Plus make sure the parameters are added via javascript on the original page so they will not have impact on search engine results (might result in duplicate content if hardcoded). This is not actually more discreetly (parameters are still visible) but will solve your, ehm, proliferation problem.

Alternatively you could check document.referrer oder use UAs get method to check the referer field and strip the parameter if the referer is empty or does not originate within you domain (not every browser is sending a referrer, though).

For a custom dimension you'd still need some kind of trigger, so while this might be useful in you reports it will not solve your problem with collecting the data.

Event tracking would measure the click on the link, not the arrival at the destination page (numbers should be close, but aren't necessarily the same).

Upvotes: 0

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