Will changing the property from http to https in Google Analytics affect main unfiltered view?

[Kevin_P]

I set my client up with an unfiltered view in Google Analytics. This is the one with historical data going back for years, so I don't want to do anything that will affect this view. Recently, the website moved from HTTP to HTTPS. There's a setting for the property that will allow me to change the property name to https://EXAMPLE.com and change the default URL to https://EXAMPLE.com. Questions:

1. If I change the property name and the default URL, will this somehow affect my unfiltered view in a way that I'll lose historical data or data moving forward?

2. I have heard that changing the default URL to HTTPS will help me avoid a common problem others have experienced (where they lose the referrer in Google Analytics and a bunch of their sessions go to direct / other). Is this true?

[jdenbo_edf]

Hi, I'm so glad i found this.  I have a similar situation.  We are changing from http to https.

Just to make sure i understand this correctly.  We do not need to change anything in GA.  But modifying the property name to https will reinforce what we did?

Thank you. Julie

[Kevin_P]

I love the professional passion, Verónica and Paul!

Verónica, Paul's response was more specific to my question about Google Analytics, but I appreciate you bringing up related issues with Google Search Console.

[Kevin_P]

It clarifies, thanks! That's the info I needed. I appreciate it.

[ThompsonPaul]

"The wrong name in the 'Property name' field or wrong setting in the http_ or https doesn't affect the data collection in your GA account." _I know - which is why I explained that changing the protocol there to HTTPS won't have any effect on the archive View either, which was the OP primary question.

"...verify all the properties and choose the preferred one" will not have any effect on "help[ing] me avoid a common problem others have experienced" as you state. That problem (Referral visits recorded as Direct in GA) is caused by the referral data being stripped out of the request when it travels from an HTTP site to an HTTPS site. There's nothing in GSC that can have any effect on this - it is entirely controlled by the server headers of the connection request.

There's nothing about Kevin's original question that has anything to do with or can be addressed in Search Console.

P.

[VeroBrain]

Hi Paul,

The wrong name in the 'Property name' field or wrong setting in the http or https doesn't affect the data collection in your GA account. The data is collected via UA number in the GA tag for your website regardless of the domain your GA tag is on.

Assuming GA is linked to Google Search Console, where it is essential to verify all the properties and choose the preferred one for getting accurate data, plus this will "help me avoid a common problem others have experienced".

Mª Verónica

[ThompsonPaul]

He's talking about the effect of updating the default URL in the Google Analytics Property Settings, Veronica - nothing to do with Google Search Console.

P.

[ThompsonPaul]

Lemme try that again

1. Updating the protocol in your GA Property settings won't have any harmful effect on your archive view (or any other view).

2. Setting the Property address to HTTPS isn't what's going to determine if the incoming referral data is available - that's been determined before the visits actually arrive by the browser connection and server headers. If the visit to HTTP is coming from HTTPS, the referrer data was stripped out before the request was sent. GA  just uses whatever it receives. (My point was, even if you don't set the protocol to HTTPS in your Profile, the referrer data will come through anyway. But getting your GA set to the correct HTTPS address reinforces this, so still a good idea.)

Hope that clarifies?

Paul

[Kevin_P]

Hi, Paul. Sorry, I wasn't sure from your response...

1. I understand that "updating the protocol to HTTPS won't have any negative effect on your archival GA view." By this, I think you mean updating the actual website protocol (not making changes in Google Analytics.)

So, within Google Analytics, if I change the property name and the default URL to HTTPS, will this somehow affect my archival view of Google Analytics in a way that I'll lose past data or data moving forward?

2. I think you are saying that if I change the property name and the default URL to HTTPS within Google Analytics, I "should" be able to see the referrer properly and not lose the referrer and a bunch of their sessions to direct / other. Is this right?

[ThompsonPaul]

The short answer, Kevin, is no, updating the protocol to HTTPS won't have any negative effect on your archival GA view.

Just having the visitor connection resolve at the HTTPS address "should" transmit the referrer info fully (it's the browser that determines this, not GA), but always good to back this up by having the GA property properly configured for the HTTPS update.

Little sidenote - since your site is now HTTPS, any referrals it sends to other non-HTTPS sites will get stripped. If it's important to you to have those other sites recognise you sent them traffic (this is important in some partnership/affiliate,/advertiser situations for example) you can add a Meta Referrer tag to your site so that it will send at least some of the referrer info even to a non-HTTPS site. You can select how much info gets passed based on your security sensitivities.

That what you were looking for?

Paul

[VeroBrain]

Hi Kevin,

Assuming that you set up a 301 (permanent redirect) from the http to the https:

How to do it?:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6332964?

Where?
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

What properties?:
http://example.com/
https://example.com/
http://www.example.com/
https://www.example.com/

After all those were done:
Into this property only: https://example.com/ (Assuming that you prefer the https non www version)
verify the robot texts
upload a sitemap
fetch as google
You will see data starts to be shown and index within a few days.

Forgot to mention the bad news on regard a migration to https, due to Google considers the https a new website, it will crawl all as "a new website".

That is great at first, though any failure from old times will appear with "red flags" because the 2017 algorithms will work. I mean broken links, 404s and so, that you didn´t know those were there, will be shown up.

That is why it is highly advisable to perform an SEO audit and fix up all, before a migration.

Although, in many years of SEO practice, only one client came before the migration.

You do NOT change the Analytics code, therefore it will continously showing old data and new data into the same view. Good luck!

Mª Verónica