: How to track subdomains with Google Analytics while having mod_rewrite redirect to a subdomain? When users come directly to domain.com or www.domain.com, I am redirecting them to shop.domain.com

@YK1175434

The following example describes how to keep the referrer while switching from http to https.

In your .htaccess:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ %{SERVER_NAME}/?referrer=%{HTTP_REFERER} [L,QSA,R=301]


The Google Analytics call:

(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');
ga('create', 'UA-xxx-y', 'auto');
ga('set', 'anonymizeIp', true);
try {
var match = /.*[?&]referrer=(.*)/.exec(window.location.href);
if (match && match.length > 1) {
var _from = decodeURIComponent(match[1]);
if (_from && _from.length > 0) {
console.log('Override referrer:', _from);
ga('set', 'referrer', _from);
}
}
} catch (err) { ; }
ga('send', 'pageview');

Vote Up Vote Down

@Rambettina238

Instead of overriding the referrer information, you should add the subdomain to the Referrer Ignore List that Google Analytics stores.

You can do this using the _addIgnoredRef() method in the GA API.

Google's description of the the method:


_addIgnoredRef()

Excludes a source as a referring site.
Use this option when you want to set
certain referring links as direct
traffic, rather than as referring
sites. For example, your company might
own another domain that you want to
track as direct traffic so that it
does not show up on the "Referring
Sites" reports. Requests from excluded
referrals are still counted in your
overall page view count.

code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/gaJS/gaJSApiSearchEngines.html#_gat.GA_Tracker_._addIgnoredRef
Note: the examples given by Google may not be 100% correct. Check out the following link for a detailed discussion and example implementation:
www.roirevolution.com/blog/2011/01/google_analytics_subdomain_tracking.php

Vote Up Vote Down

@Turnbaugh106

You can override the referrer that Google Analytics is using, read more in the documentation for _setReferrerOverride.

To somehow provide this correct referrer, you need to pass it via the 301 redirect. I can suggest adding a query parameter to your redirected url, and writing a javascript snippet that will extract this information from the document.location.

An example of adding javascript to your GA code:

var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXXX-1']);
var _from = unescape(window.location.href.replace(/.*[?&]from=(.*)/,''));
if (_from && _from.length > 0) {
_gaq.push(['_setReferrerOverride',_from]);
}
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);


And, an example of using mod_rewrite to transfer the referrer, if a referrer exists:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domain.com.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (.*)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ shop.domain.com/?from=%1 [R=301,QSA,L]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domain.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ shop.domain.com/ [R=301,L]


You will need to repeat the above for domain.com as well.

Vote Up Vote Down