: Does Google Analytics track visits via Tumblr dashboard? I wondered if GA tracks visits to my Tumblr accessed through Tumblr dashboard by other Tumblr users. And if it can track visitors who

@Nickens628

Google Analytics only tracks pages that include your Google Analytics tracking code. This code is a piece of JavaScript included at the beginning or end of your pages that reports each visit to Google's servers.

The tumblr dashboard does not include this tracking code, so no visit will be recorded for people who read your post via the dashboard. There's no way to know how many page views you've had via the dashboard, although likes and follows are a good way to measure overall engagement.

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@Sent6035632

ga.js has no way of checking views on the internal tumblr dashboard.

Allowing such a screening would lead to:


Legal troubles under many (mostly european) privacy laws
[in a worst case scenario]
(i.e. 3rd party unscrutinized scripts like ga.js running on the
dashboard)

Opening the tumblr dashboard site to a brand new daring world of XSS
attacks (tumblr board actually takes the
"no-scripts-on-the-dashboard" rule religiously)
[in a less awful scenario]
(i.e. 3rd party unscrutinized external images like __utm.gif allowed to
appear on the dashboard)

Allowing advertising (also maybe phishing) from unauthorized rings on the tumblr dashboard.
Issues with the actual gathering of results: a typical tumblr dashboard contains content from 10 different parties, and the infinite scroll feature can push that figure up to 200 in just a few scrolls.


Also note that ga.js and other trackers also have trouble tracking visits to the tumblr mobile version.

And yes most of this issues could be worked out, if Tumblr cooperated w/ Google.

But Tumblr isn't exactly a team player, and Google doesn't really care: Analytics is meant to track actual visits to pages that could generate advertising. Typical digital advertising: a banner, an adsense one, maybe, one that Google can monetize on.

Tracking views over the Tumblr dashboard may help assess the state of a viral campaign, but Google gets squat from that.

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