Responsive design and Google analytics mobile tracking codes?
-
Hi all,
We are currently rebuilding a site using responsive design, however i have just had a thought. On another site where we have a mobile site under a sub-directory we utilise mobile tracking codes as we found that this was far more accurate for recording visits.
On a responsive design site evidently all pages, desktop and mobile, will be under the same URL, yet the content will adjust to the screen size of the device. Should we also change the tracking code to be mobile code on the lower resolutions or would the same code be sufficient?
-
Rich,
Because responsive design inherently only uses one html file, what you're describing isn't so simple. Obviously, you only want to include 1 GA tracking code, but you COULD include some logic that fires a different one on page load depending on detected screen width. I think your best bet is to just use the standard GA code in your HTML, then include some JS that detects which of the layouts are displayed on load, and sends it in a custom variable. Alternatively, GA, by default, will capture screen size as a data point, so, as long as your responsiveness is working properly, you can just create segments in GA based on those and view site behavior accordingly.
Mike
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
-
Specifying image dimensions for site speed vs. responsive
I'm working on improving site speed from an SEO perspective, and one bit of advice I see often is to specify the dimensions of the images you're using so the browser knows the size of the image it needs to download. However, I am wondering what impact this may have if the site is responsive? If you specify the large dimensions suited for a desktop browser, would you be forcing a mobile browser to use that sized image? Has anyone seen dramatic improvements in site speed using the <picture>tag for responsive images?</picture> Thanks! Jannette
Web Design | | JannetteP1 -
Google Indexing Multi-Store Best Practice
Hi Guys, We currently have a main store view and a uk store view setup with a Litespeed Redirect for our website, redirecting UK IP Customers to the UK Store. We recently noticed that we were running into some issues with Google indexing pages from the uk site as well as the main store view. With trying to avoid duplicate content, my question being: What is the best practice for google indexing the UK and Main store views? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Web Design | | centurysafety0 -
How does Google's AJAX Announcement Impact the likes of AngularJS?
Google's announcement last month about depreciating their AJAX crawl directive and Distilled's recent article have got me thinking a lot about how this change impacts frameworks like AngularJS. For those of you that use or are considering using frameworks like AngularJS, does this change impact you? Has it changed your mind about services like Prerender etc? All discussions relating to AJAX crawling welcome. Some resources to get started: https://prerender.io/js-seo/angularjs-seo-get-your-site-indexed-and-to-the-top-of-the-search-results/ https://www.distilled.net/resources/prerender-and-you-a-case-study-in-ajax-crawlability/
Web Design | | ecommercebc1 -
Fetch data for users with ajax but show it without ajax for Google
Hi, We have a thematic footer which shows similar pages links relevant to the search criteria made on a page. We want to fetch those footer similar links through ajax when users search on site but the links will be shown without using ajax when Google fetches those pages. We want to do this to improve our page load time. The links content & count will be exactly same in both cases whether Google fetches the search pages or user fetches those pages. Will this be treated as negative by Google, Can this have any negative affect on our rankings or traffic. Regards,
Web Design | | vivekrathore0 -
Is there an issue if we show our old mobile site to Google & new site to users
Hi, We have our existing mobile site that contains interlinking in footer & content and new mobile site that does not have interlinking. We will show existing mobile site to google crawler & new mobile site to users. Will this be taken as black hat by Google. The mobile site & desktop site will have same url across devices & browsers. Regards
Web Design | | vivekrathore0 -
Going Mobile - Advice Requested
Hi, I run a website called tvfoodmaps.com. We currently have a desktop website and a mobile app (native apps). However the largest community of our users tend to use our desktop site on their mobile phones. Our bounce rate is about 12% higher for mobile devices than desktop users and our pages per visit drops by almost 50% from desktop to mobile. My hypothesis is that mobile users when presented with a "designed for desktop" site are more likely to leave since the navigation isn't as natural. I'm considering investing in either a responsive design for the site or a dedicated mobile site and wanted the communities input on what metrics I should be looking at to determine "is it worth it"? Or should I just stick with service the desktop version to the mobile users?
Web Design | | tvfoodmaps0 -
How can the Web site designer and the SEO strategist work together peacefully?
The organization I work for has decided to re-design or re-develop the existing company Web site. My part in this project is to come up with new features to add to the site, as well as making the site SEO-friendly (copywriting, link-building, keyword research, etc.). I don’t know a thing about Web site design, coding, format, etc., and I guess I will have to work with a designer on this project. How would I go about finding a Web site designer? Should they have some SEO knowledge? How much designer, coding and site structure knowledge should I have? And how do we not infringe on one another as we work together? (Sorry so many questions.)
Web Design | | Obie0 -
Empirical Data on the effect of embedded Google Maps on Search Ranking
Does anyone have any empiric data on the effect of an embedded map on SERP's? Please understand that I already have anecdotal info and a personal opinion. I am looking for data. Thanks
Web Design | | RobertFisher0