Google Analytics

Chapter 10. Advanced Tracking Techniques

This chapter addresses common website architectures that can cause problems with the Google Analytics tracking. Remember, the technology that Google Analytics uses to track visitors, called page tagging, is based on JavaScript and cookies. So any website architecture, like multiple domain names, that affects cookies or JavaScript can interfere with tracking. You usually make most of the changes required to deal with these website configurations to your website and not Google Analytics directly.

If your website contains a small number of static HTML pages, it is very likely that this chapter will not apply to you. However, if you have a dynamic website that crosses multiple domains and subdomains, this chapter will offer valuable information about how, and why, you should configure Google Analytics.

Tracking Across Multiple Domains

Google Analytics can track visitors across multiple domains. This functionality is primarily used on websites that have a third-party shopping cart, but you can use this capability for other purposes. If your website traverses multiple domains, you will want to track your visitors as they move from one domain to another. If you do not track them across domains, each visitor will appear as a new visitor each time she moves from one of your websites to another. It will also be difficult to attribute conversions to different marketing activities.

You should implement tracking across multiple domains only if there is some ...