Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Google URL Builder / Campaign Tracking on two Different Domain using the Same Analytics Code
-
Hey Everyone,
I think I know the answer to this but I'd like to get some confirmation.
I currently have a landing page at "www.xyz.com", it's a separate domain in which only the landing page exists and not a vanity URL which redirects. However, the navigation and all the links on "www.xyz.com" actually link out to "www.abc.com". The domain / landing page "xyz" has the same analytics tracking code as domain "www.abc.com".
My question is this, if I use Google URL builder to create custom URL's to track for each ad that I'm running in Adwords, will this data show up in the analytics of "abc" even though it's a separate domain because it has the same analytics code?
In other words, does campaign data show only if the domain and the google analytics code line up, or does the domain not matter and as long as you have the same analytics code (despite two separate domains) that campaign data (built through Google URL builder) will show?
My hunch and best guess it that as long as the analytics code is the same (regardless of a separate domain) that the data in campaign will show with the custom URL's I build. I'm aware that I can test this and I will but I'd like to get an idea from the community first to make things easier. Anybody have experience with this? Answers greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
-
Thanks Tom, I'll try to implement this.
The link for http://psgrep.com/ isn't working? If I implement the solution for cross domain tracking above, will my adwords data flow through? Right now I'm getting no behaviour data even though my adwords and analytics are linked up or is there additional work I will need to do that is available on the link that isn't working?
Thanks!
-
Hey Jon,
I hope what is written above is more helpful and explains I do not want to copy the instructions Word for Word.
But I think this will give you enough to understand if you have implemented these changes you are all set if not please make the changes.
Because there are code changes that should be in place to use to different domains in order to track them you need to set up her primary and secondary.
You are on the right track I hope the information above gives you what you need if it does not.
Let me know and I would try using http://www.analytics-debugger.com/en http://memo.suan3se.com/?p=643 & http://psgrep.com/
in order to set up and know that it set up properly.
Sincerely,
Thomas
-
HI Jon,
There are because
Because cross domain tracking is dealing with a primary and secondary you do have to change the tracking snippet
For Adwords
by following the steps in the link above you will be able to set up Adwords
I have pasted example below using example1.com as well as example2.com represent the different domains. One of the easiest ways to set this up is to simply use the Google analytics debugger it is available in the chrome store as well as a this incredible resource
Here is exactly what you need to do for ad words because it is slight differences you will need to use Google auto linker plug-in
Step 1: Set up a property in your Google Analytics account.
autoLink plugin
to your tracking code, it automatically loads with your pages and does a substring match on all your links. It then recognizes any links that include a domain name that you’ve specified in your tracking code. Any traffic that clicks a link to those domains get counted as cross domain traffic.
The tracking code snippet must contain these changes every place it appears on your secondary domain.
For three or more domains
Follow the example above, but add the other domains to the autoLink plugin. Even the additional comma here is important:
ga('linker:autoLink', ['example-1.com', 'example-3.com'] );
See what this looks like in full context
The tracking code snippet on your secondary domain(s) should look like this:
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cross-domain
for GA
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1034342?hl=en&ref_topic=2772342
For cross domain tracking, set up one property in your Google Analytics account. Use the same tracking code snippet and tracking ID from that property for all of your domains.
You need to edit the tracking code snippet for cross domain tracking to work. If you haven’t already included the snippet on all your webpages, you might want copy and paste it into a text editor before continuing with the instructions here. This way, you only have to make the changes once before including the modified snippet on all your webpages.
For details on setup help, follow the instructions on how to set up the web tracking code, but remember: You must customize the snippet using the instructions in this article for cross domain tracking to work properly.
Step 2: Edit the tracking code for the primary domain.
Find the create line in the snippet. For a website called example-1.com, it looks like this:
ga('create', 'UA-XXXXXXX-Y', 'example-1.com');
Make the following changes to the snippet (the changes you need to make are in bold red text
ga('create', 'UA-XXXXXXX-Y', 'auto', {'allowLinker': true});
** ga('require', 'linker');**
** ga('linker:autoLink', ['example-2.com'] );**
Remember to replace the example tracking ID (UA-XXXXXX-Y) with your own tracking ID, and replace the example secondary domain (example-2.com) with your own secondary domain name.
http://www.analytics-debugger.com/en
https://www.google.com/search?q=google+analytics+debugger&oq=google-analytics-debugger
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-analytics-debugger/jnkmfdileelhofjcijamephohjechhna
I hope this is more helpful and explains I do not want to copy the instructions Word for Word.
But I think this will give you enough to understand if you have implemented these changes you are all set if not please make the changes.
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1042508
TRACKING ACROSS MULTIPLE DOMAINS
autoLink plugin
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/4627488
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cross-domain
I hope this will tell you yes or no
let me know,
Tom
-
Hey Thomas,
Just to be sure, could you answer the question whether my assumption is correct or not? I'll read through the resource you sent but your opinion would be great.
Thanks!
-
here is a detailed answer to your question.
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/gaTrackingSite
https://developers.google.com/analytics/resources/concepts/gaConceptsDomains
Please let me know if I can be of more help,
Thomas
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Adwords Duplicate Keywords with Different Match Types - Good or Bad?
If you have the following keywords in an Ad Group advertising for a product, let's for example call it "target" product [target product] "target product" +target +product I've found that the exact match keyword has the highest conversion rate in almost all circumstances. So it would make sense to have a higher max bid on the exact match then phrase or broad batch. Even with lots of negative search terms to maximize conversion on the broader matches, if the bid is the same as exact match, the cost per conversion will be much higher (too high.) However in chatting with an Adwords Support Rep (on a different matter) they stated after looking through my account at the end of the chat: " duplicate keywords will impact on quality score. your all keywords will compete with each other" However many of the ad groups in question these duplicate keywords have quality score of 9 and 10. So obviously if there is an effect it seems it may be minimal. I thought it was pretty common for people to bid higher on more exact match and lower on more broad match. What's the real story here? Was this support rep not seeing the big picture?
Paid Search Marketing | | JCCMoz1 -
Looking at google shopping results from other country
Hi, I run shops in several languages out of London. One of our key revenue drivers is google shopping. It is important for me to look the the shopping search results for example in germany. Recently Google changed something so when I want to look at the german shopping results from here, eg. http://www.google.de/shopping it always shows me the english ones with prices in pounds. Is there a trick to still get the foreign results? Thanks in advance Dieter
Paid Search Marketing | | Storesco1 -
Will pausing my AdWords PPC campaigns impact my organic rankings?
Over 95% of my revenue comes from organic search; less than 5% comes from AdWords PPC (all other sources account for about 1-2%). My ROI on AdWords is roughly zero. It's negative if you include opportunity costs. My question is: if I pause all of my AdWords campaigns, is there ANY chance that my organic rankings (and organic click-through rates) will suffer? This is really two questions. First, could Google retaliate to my reduced ad spending by dropping my rankings? Second, will searchers think differently about my organic link if they don't also see the accompanying paid link on the SERP?
Paid Search Marketing | | ahirai2 -
Google Analytics showing my Adwords campaign bounce rate at 0%
I am relatively new to Adwords, and I can't figure out why the Adwords section of Analytics is showing all my site visitors at 0% bounce rate. Does that mean the account connection is not done right? Obviously Google ads are not a 0% bounce rate. If I can't get that to work, does anyone know how Google ads appear in Traffic? Is it Direct or Referral? I'm sure there's some simple answer I'm just not aware of, I would appreciate anyone's help. Thanks!
Paid Search Marketing | | Crystalline_150 -
Adwords negative keywords / keyword lists conflicting?
Does any of you had any experience on large 5k+ shared negative keyword lists impacting normal campaign negative keywords in Adwords even if they are not selected on these campaigns? And a second question; does anyone know how selected negative keyword lists can be removed from a campaign? I seem to be able to add them but not to remove them... Cheers!
Paid Search Marketing | | hellemans0 -
Google Shopping Feed being blocked by robots.txt
I had created a manual Google Shopping Feed that was working fine, and then someone well meaning put a block in my robots.txt file so Google couldn't read the images folder. because of this, Google now won't accept my feed. I changed the robots.txt file to allow them to read the images again, but it's been 3 days now and I'm still getting the error saying my products are disallowed because the robots.txt file won't let them scan for images. Does anyone know how long it will take for Google to see it again?
Paid Search Marketing | | sparrowdog0 -
Increasing Google Ad spend - is it worth it
Hi We are currently spending approx £500 pcm on google ad words however if I increased this spend to £4000 pcm what kind of results would this achieve? For example would it just be more visits per day as the budget is larger? Also what is the best way to track the success of an adwords campaign - the ultimate goal of the campaign would be to generate a lead whether this be a phone call, email or using our book an appointment form. Our service covers a geographical area (Scotland) and for organic search we are doing well 1st pages listings for searches such as pvc doors edinburgh etc so I am unsure whether it's worth increasing my PPC spend or put more resource into SEO, or even Facebook ads?
Paid Search Marketing | | ocelot0 -
What audience size do you need for a successful retargeting campaign?
I recently launched a trial of a retargeting campaign but after a month I have only 100 impressions and 0 clickthroughs. I am working in a competitive space but I placed a relatively low bid because I read that retargeting campaign banner ads should cost less. The number of people who have been added to the retargeting list by visiting the site is under 10,000. What do you think is most likely to be the problem causing a low number of impressions and clickthroughs? Can a retargeting campaign be successful with a small audience size?
Paid Search Marketing | | ProjectLabs0