CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascripthttp-redirectgoogle-analytics
Tom Lehman
Tom Lehman

Reputation: 89203

Spoof referrer to Google Analytics?

Whenever a user visits "Page A" on my site, I immediately redirect him to "Page B" by setting window.location with Javascript. "Page A" has no Google Analytics tracking on it -- when someone is redirected from "Page A" to "Page B" I want to track him as if he entered the site via "Page B". Unfortunately, my current setup breaks referrer information since people who are redirected to "Page B" appear to Google Analytics as if they came from "Page A":

alt text http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2792776/screenshots/2010-05-06_1402.png

After users are redirected to "Page B", I want to tell Google Analytics their "real" referrer (i.e., the referrer to "Page A"). How can I do this?

(Note: I realize that using a real HTTP redirect instead of a Javascript-based redirect would solve this problem. Unfortunately this isn't an option)

Upvotes: 5

Views: 2140

Answers (2)

Tom Lehman
Tom Lehman

Reputation: 89203

The solution described in this blog post seems to work -- I added this to "Page A":

<script type="text/javascript"> 
  var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-xxxxxx-11");
  pageTracker._initData();
</script>

Which seems to capture the initial referrer without recording duplicate pageviews

Upvotes: 2

Yuval Adam
Yuval Adam

Reputation: 165242

Why are you not using a proper HTTP redirect?

It is the right way to redirect users, and it will not break Google Analytics.

Barring this option, I'm not sure you can use a JS redirect and maintain proper GA behavior. The browser decides which URL to send as the referrer, and this is not something you can control.

Actually, you can try to use the ?utm_nooverride=1 parameter. It's a long shot, but it just might work.

Upvotes: 2

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