Google Analytics

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- Website Tracking
  - Tracking Basics
  - Troubleshooting & Validation
  - Legacy Guides
    - Traditional Syntax
    - Syntax Comparisons
  - Tracking Customizations
  - Method Reference
    - Global Objects
      - _gat
      - _gaq
    - Tracker Objects
- Mobile Tracking
  - Overview
  - iOS
  - Android
  - Mobile Websites
  - Downloads
- Flash/Flex
- Silverlight

Syntax Comparisons

This document shows tracking code illustrations for a variety of common tracking customizations. If your Google Analytics tracking snippet contains the urchin.js markup or the traditional ga.js syntax, use this guide to migrate your tracking to the improved Asynchronous snippet.

Migrating to Async Tracking

Basic Page Tracking
Browser Settings Detection
Campaign Duration
Campaign Fields — Custom
Campaign Tracking Disabled
Cross-Domain Linking
Cross-Domain Form Data

Ecommerce Tracking
Event Tracking
Sources — Search Engines, Keywords, Referrers
Session Timeout
Tracking Limited to a Sub-directory
Using a Local Server
Virtual Pageviews

Migrating to Async Tracking

As a best practice, first copy and save your existing tracking code customizations to a text file (not a word processor document). With a backup copy, you can ensure that you've migrated all customizations for your site.

To convert your pages to use the asynchronous snippet:

Remove your existing tracking code snippet and any customizations you have made.
To reduce errors, we recommend that you remove the existing tracking code snippet from the include file or mechanism that injects it into your web pages. You can paste your existing tracking code snippet in a text file to keep track of any customized methods you use.
Insert the asynchronous snippet at the bottom of the <head> section of your pages, after any other scripts your page or template might use.
One of the main advantages of the asynchronous snippet is that you can position it at the top of the HTML document. This increases the likelihood that the tracking beacon will be sent before the user leaves the page. We've determined that on most pages, the optimal location for the asynchronous snippet is at the bottom of the <head> section, just before the closing </head> tag.
Modify the _setAccount method with your web property ID.

For more information on web property IDs, see the "Web Property" section in the Accounts and Profiles document.
Add your customizations back in using the asynchronous syntax. Use the customizations described in the rest of this guide. See the Asynchronous Tracking Usage Guide for detailed information about the asynchronous tracking code.

Note: To ensure the most streamlined operation of the asynchronous snippet with respect to other scripts, we recommend you place other scripts in your site in one of these ways:

before the tracking code snippet in the <head> section of your HTML
after both the tracking code snippet and all page content (e.g. at the bottom of the HTML body)

If that isn't an option, you can still put the asynchronous snippet at the bottom of the page. You can also split your snippet to retain some of the benefits of asynchronous tracking.

Basic Page Tracking

Basic page tracking is the best place to familiarize yourself with the asynchronous syntax. These examples set up the tracking object with the correct account and call the page tracking method.

Async Snippet (recommended)

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._trackPageview();

urchin.js Tracking

_uacct = "UA-XXXXX-X";
urchinTracker();

Browser Settings Detection

These examples illustrate browser setting customizations such as disabling Flash detection, turning off browser name/version detection, and so forth.

Async Snippet (recommended)

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_setClientInfo', false]);
_gaq.push(['_setAllowHash', false]);
_gaq.push(['_setDetectFlash', false]);
_gaq.push(['_setDetectTitle', false]);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._setClientInfo(false);
pageTracker._setAllowHash(false);
pageTracker._setDetectFlash(false);
pageTracker._setDetectTitle(false);
pageTracker._trackPageview();

urchin.js Tracking

_uacct = "UA-XXXXX-X";
_ufsc = 0;    // track browser info
_uhash = "on"; // (on|off) unique domain hash for cookies
_uflash = 0;  // detect Flash version
_utitle = 0;  // track title in reports
urchinTracker();

Campaign Duration

By default, the duration of an AdWords campaign is set for 6 months. You can adjust the duration of campaigns by using the _setCampaignCookieTimeout() method.

Async Snippet (recommended)

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_setCampaignCookieTimeout', 31536000000]);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._setCampaignCookieTimeout(31536000000);
pageTracker._trackPageview();

urchin.js Tracking

_uacct = "UA-XXXXX-X";
_ucto = "31536000"; // the number of seconds in 1 year
urchinTracker();
</script>

Campaign Fields — Custom

Google Analytics automatically collects your Google AdWords data if you have linked your Adwords account to your Analytics account. To track keyword links from other advertising sources, or from email campaigns or similar sources, you can create custom campaigns fields using the methods below. For more details, see "Campaign Tracking" in the Traffic Sources guide.

Async Snippet (recommended)

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_setCampNameKey', 'ga_campaign']);    // name
_gaq.push(['_setCampMediumKey', 'ga_medium']);    // medium
_gaq.push(['_setCampSourceKey', 'ga_source']);    // source
_gaq.push(['_setCampTermKey', 'ga_term']);        // term/keyword
_gaq.push(['_setCampContentKey', 'ga_content']);  // content
_gaq.push(['_setCampNOKey', 'ga_nooverride']);    // don't override
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._setCampNameKey('ga_campaign');       // name
pageTracker._setCampMediumKey('ga_medium');       // medium
pageTracker._setCampSourceKey('ga_source');       // source
pageTracker._setCampTermKey('ga_term');           // term/keyword
pageTracker._setCampContentKey('ga_content');     // content
pageTracker._setCampNOKey('ga_nooverride');       // don't override
pageTracker._trackPageview();

urchin.js Tracking

_uacct = "UA-12345-1";
_uccn = "ga_campaign"; // name [default: utm_campaign]
_ucmd = "ga_medium"; // medium [default: utm_medium]
_ucsr = "ga_source"; // source [default: utm_source]
_uctr = "ga_term"; // term/keyword [default: utm_term]
_ucct = "ga_content"; // content [default: utm_content]
_ucid = "ga_id"; // id number [default: utm_id]
_ucno = "ga_nooverride"; // don't override [default: utm_nooverride]
urchinTracker();

Campaign Tracking — Disabled

Google Analytics automatically enables campaign tracking, but you can disable it using the _setCampaignTrack() method.

Async Snippet (recommended)

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_setCampaignTrack', false]);    // Turn off campaign tracking
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._setCampaignTrack(false);       // Turn off campaign tracking
pageTracker._trackPageview();

urchin.js Tracking

_uacct = "UA-12345-1";
_uctm = "disable"; 
urchinTracker();

Cross Domain Linking

To track traffic across domains, you can use the _setAllowLinker() function to track user clicks between two domains. For details on setting up cross-domain tracking, see Cross-Domain Tracking.

Async Snippet (recommended)

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'none']);
_gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
...
<a href="http://example.com/test.html"
onclick="_gaq.push(['_link', 'http://example.com/test.html']); return false;">click me</a>

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._setDomainName('none');
pageTracker._setAllowLinker(true);
pageTracker._trackPageview();
...
<a href="http://example.com/test.html"
onclick="pageTracker._link('http://example.com/test.html'); return false;">click me</a>

urchin.js Tracking

_uacct = "UA-12345-1";
_udn = "none";
_ulink = 1;
urchinTracker();

...
<a href="http://newsite.com/test.html"
onclick="__utmLinker('http://newsite.com/test.html'); return false;">click me</a>

Cross Domain Form Data

You can use the _linkByPost() method to pass user data from one domain to another where cross domain tracking is enabled for both domains. For details on setting up cross-domain tracking, see Cross-Domain Tracking.

Async Snippet (recommended)

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'none']);
_gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
...
<form name="f" method="post" onsubmit="_gaq.push(['_linkByPost', this]);">
...
</form>

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._setDomainName('none');
pageTracker._setAllowLinker(true);
pageTracker._trackPageview();
...
<form name="f" method="post" onsubmit="pageTracker._linkByPost(this);">
...
</form>

urchin.js Tracking

_uacct = "UA-12345-1";
_udn = "none";
_ulink = 1;
urchinTracker();
...
<form name="f" method="post" onsubmit="__utmLinkPost(this)">
...
</form>

Ecommerce Tracking

Ecommerce tracking involves calling three key methods in your tracking setup. See Ecommerce Tracking for details.

Async Snippet (recommended)

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
_gaq.push(['_addTrans',
  '1234',           // order ID - required
  'Mountain View',  // affiliation or store name
  '11.99',          // total - required
  '1.29',           // tax
  '5',              // shipping
  'San Jose',       // city
  'California',     // state or province
  'USA'             // country
]);
_gaq.push(['_addItem',
  '1234',           // order ID - required
  'DD44',           // SKU/code
  'T-Shirt',        // product name
  'Green Medium',   // category or variation
  '11.99',          // unit price - required
  '1'               // quantity - required
]);
_gaq.push(['_trackTrans']);

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._trackPageview();
pageTracker._addTrans(
  '1234',           // order ID - required
  'Mountain View',  // affiliation or store name
  '11.99',          // total - required
  '1.29',           // tax
  '5',              // shipping
  'San Jose',       // city
  'California',     // state or province
  'USA'             // country
);
pageTracker._addItem(
  '1234',           // order ID - required
  'DD44',           // SKU/code
  'T-Shirt',        // product name
  'Green Medium',   // category or variation
  '11.99',          // unit price - required
  '1'               // quantity - required
);
pageTracker._trackTrans();

urchin.js Tracking

_uacct = "UA-12345-1";
urchinTracker();
</script>
<form name="utmform" id="utmform">
<textarea name="utmtrans" id="utmtrans" style="display:none">
UTM:T|1234|Mountain View|11.99|1.29|5|San Jose|California|USA
UTM:I|1234|DD44|T-Shirt|Green Medium|11.99|1
</textarea>
</form>
<script type="text/javascript">
__utmSetTrans();

Event Tracking

Using Event Tracking involves making an event call in the appropriate place in your pages, such as in an onclick handler. For more information on Event Tracking, see the Event Tracking Guide. Note: Event Tracking is not available with the urchin.js tracking code.

Async Snippet (recommended)

This section shows two ways to set up tracking using the Asynchronous syntax. With Event Tracking, the onclick handler uses the exact same syntax.

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
...
<a onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'category', 'action', 'opt_label', opt_value]);">click me</a>

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._trackPageview();
...
<a onclick="pageTracker._trackEvent('category', 'action', 'opt_label', opt_value);">click me</a>

Session Timeout

By default, user sessions are timed out after 30 minutes of inactivity on your site. These examples show how this can be modified using the _setSessionCookieTimeout() method.

Async Snippet (recommended)

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_setSessionCookieTimeout', 3600000]);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._setSessionCookieTimeout(3600000);
pageTracker._trackPageview();

urchin.js Tracking

<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "UA-12345-1";
_utimeout = "3600"; // the number of seconds in 1 hour
urchinTracker();
</script>

Sources — Search Engines, Keywords, Referrers

By default, Google Analytics identifies a list of websites as search engine referrals in your reports. You can use these methods to alter the search engine list. For more information, see "Search Engines" in the Traffic Sources guide. You can also configure Google Analytics to ignore referrals from certain domains, or to treat specific keyword searches as direct traffic.

Async Snippet (recommended)

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_addIgnoredOrganic', 'ignore']);
_gaq.push(['_addIgnoredRef', 'urchin.com']);
_gaq.push(['_addOrganic', 'new_search_engine', 'q']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._addIgnoredOrganic('ignore');
pageTracker._addIgnoredRef('urchin.com');
pageTracker._addOrganic('new_search_engine','q');
pageTracker._trackPageview();

urchin.js Tracking

_uacct = "UA-12345-1";
_uOno[0] = "ignore"; // keyword to treat as referral
_uRno[0] = "urchin.com"; // referral to treat as direct
_uOsr[41] = "new_search_engine"; // new search engine to treat as referral
_uOkw[41] = "query"; // keyword query parameter for new search engine

urchinTracker();

Tracking Limited to a Sub-Directory

Use the _setCookiePath() method to set a sub-directory as the default path for all tracking. You would do this to confine all tracking to a sub-directory of a site.

Async Snippet (recommended)

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_setCookiePath', '/path/of/cookie/']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._setCookiePath('/path/of/cookie/');
pageTracker._trackPageview();

urchin.js Tracking

<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "UA-12345-1";
_utcp = "/path/of/cookie/";
urchinTracker();
</script>

Using a Local Server

Use these methods if you are tracking your website using the standalone Urchin software and using Google Analytics as well. For details see the Urchin Server section of the Tracking API reference.

Async Snippet

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_setLocalRemoteServerMode']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._setLocalRemoteServerMode();
pageTracker._trackPageview();

urchin.js Tracking

_uacct = "UA-12345-1";
_userv = 0;
urchinTracker();

Virtual Pageviews

Use the _trackPageview() method along with a URL you fabricate in order to track clicks from users that do not lead to actual website pages on your site. In general, we recommend you use Event Tracking for tracking downloads, outbound links, PDFs or similar kinds of user interactions. This is because virtual pageviews will add to your total pageview count. However, if you want to configure goals based on clicks to PDFs or downloads, you need to use this method (but be aware that these clicks will be tallied as part of your overall pageview count). For tracking Flash or Silverlight content, we recommend that you use the Adobe Flash Tracking library or the Microsoft Silverlight component.

Async Snippet

_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/downloads/pdfs/corporateBrief.pdf']);

Traditional (ga.js) Snippet

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker('UA-XXXXX-X');
pageTracker._trackPageview('/downloads/pdfs/corporateBrief.pdf');

urchin.js Tracking

urchinTracker('/downloads/pdfs/corporateBrief.pdf');