Reputation: 49
We have a website and a marketing automation platform with a tracking domain something like:
https://mywebsite.com
https://go.mywebsite.com
Cross domain tracking is set up in GA4. The same Google Tag is manually installed on the landing pages in the marketing automation platform as well as on our website.
I was doing research yesterday and understand that the ?_gl=1* part refers to cross-domain tracking. I also recognize the GA tag! (ga_6NL66ZXLF5)
My Question is: Does anyone know what the weird gobbledygook is, with the strings of letters and numbers?
Is this a sign that something has not been done correctly?
https://mywebsite.com/page-location/?_gl=1*10b5lc8*_ga*MTkzNzM1MDA5MC4xNjg2NzM5MDU1*_ga_6NL66ZXLF5*MTcwNTY2MTE1MS44MS4xLjE3MDU2NjMwMjYuNDQuMC4w
What I tried: Using GTM debugging mode and GA4 DebugView to examine the events more closely to see if I could see anything like these strings. I can't see anything resembling this. It is not referencing the session number or session ID. Everything looked ok.
I checked for similar questions, but none answer the question of what these weird strings are, and if it's normal to see that.
Upvotes: 0
Views: 859
Reputation: 549
No, these GA parameters are Google Analytics signs that indicate cross-domain tracking has been set up correctly between the domains. These parameters maintain your session and other tracking factors, such as your referrer, which allows analytics to collect and combine all your data without creating a new session. So, there's no need to worry - everything is working as intended.
Upvotes: 2