Referral exclusion not working with GTM?
-
Hi, how are you?
I have my website with Google Tag Manager implemented. Google Analytics is one of the tags I have configured.The problem is that Referral exclusions aren't working for me. I excluded 3 domains, and I keep seeing them in my Referral Traffic report.
Any idea why this could be happening?Best wishes,
Ariel -
So good to hear!
-
Fixed it.
Seems that the IT guys left some old ga.js tracking codes that were activated in some transactions. When you have mixed tracking codes between analytics.js and ga.js this kind of pathological behaviors happen.
Thanks!
-
Not yet. Still trying different possible causes. Hopefully I'll have some results in the next few days.
-
Did this ever get resolved?
-
Nope, still trying to contact Google to fix this issue.
-
Did you figure this out?
-
Yeah, I've seen that article. The problem is that I don't have acceso to the other domain, and that what I did is exactly what it says in the last step, that's why I'm really lost!
I just contacted some people in Google to see if they can check what's going on.
-
I don't see anything wrong there ... I wonder if something like this would help you? I've never done it myself, but this article might be worth checking out: http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2013/12/24/cross-domain-tracking-tag-manager/#sr=g&m=o&cp=or&ct=-tmc&st=(opu qspwjefe)&ts=1420936709
-
There's no way a user can come from those subdomains without passing from my site first. The path you give as an example is accurate.
Analytics is being tracked threw a tag in Google Tag Manager. You can see the configuration of the tag in http://imgur.com/Pqi3Gt5. Can you find anything wrong?
-
Ah, that makes more sense. Is there any way that traffic could be coming from those domains without having gone to your site first? Can you give me an instance of a path a user might take?
Example: User goes to product page on shop.domain.com, checks out, is referred to na.otherdomain.com, and comes back to shop.domain.com.
I am trying to see if there is another issue in the path of the user.
Also, can you share the tag you are using on your site for GA?
-
Yes, but those subdomains aren't from my website, they are from the website of payment gateway from where my visits return to my website after paying.
-
In your attachments, the screen grabs referenced two subdomains, one starting with eu and one with na.
-
I'm sorry, what subdomains are you talking about?
-
Are these subdomains on the same tracking code as the root domain?
I can't find a live instance of pages on these subdomains, can you give us examples of the tracking code on one page of each subdomain and the main domain (the one being tracked)?
-
Any ideas why this isn't working?
-
Yes, that's what I did, please check the tho images I attached, one of them (http://imgur.com/IrzKXiY) is a screenshot of the Referral Exclusion in the admin section.
-
With the new version of Google Analytics and GTM, you no longer code referral exclusions into the ga.js, instead you should be excluding them in the admin section.
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/upgrade/reference/gtm
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
-
"Display" referrals on google analytics
We have just had 200+ visits on the 'Display' channel within 5 minutes - these referrals are from all over the world and this is very out the ordinary for our business - should we be concerned? 9cHllwW
Reporting & Analytics | | RayflexGroup0 -
Does referral exclusions remove the ecommerce value from Google Analytics?
Quick question on Referral exclusions. We have a client that just rebuilt their Magento website, referral data from Paypal was never an issue, the site properly attributed to source. New web devs finished the site and all purchases through Google Analytics from PayPal Is now showing as referral traffic. Doing research on the issue the suggestion was to create a referral exclusion in GA from PayPal. My question on that, will the ecommerce value default to the previous referral or will it delete the e-commerce value completely from what is gathered?
Reporting & Analytics | | BCutrer0 -
Referral Traffic from Google
Hello, I have a question about my company's new website. I've worked in SEO and studied Google Analytics results for a few years now but have never really come across something like this. I started in this position in January of this year and when I started breaking down the traffic sources in Google Analytics, I noticed most of the traffic was coming from Google.com as a referral source. I had never seen Google.com as a referral source before so I looked into options for what it could be. It was not a paid ad and our organic traffic was coming through in Analytics, Before I could get any further, our new website was launched (we switched CRM's to WordPress) and the referral traffic from google went from 2,966 in January of 2015 to 22 in February 2015. for more comparison, in February of 2014, the referral traffic from Google was 2,496. I expected a drop when we switched CRM's but we correctly re-directed all pages and created a new sitemap and our organic traffic is up since the switch (not enough to cover drop in referral). I thought at first this had to do with our Google sellers account being de-activated when we made the switch, but I quickly fixed this over a month ago and no change. I'm wondering if anyone has ever seen Google.com come through as a referral source in Google Analytics and if they we're able to figure out what it actually was. This would be a great help! Thank you, Alex
Reporting & Analytics | | RASEO1 -
Some goal conversion in Google analytics showing under referral
Yesterday I have created Google analytics account for a new website but few goal conversions comes from payment gateway site (paypal.com, epdq.co.uk) and showing under referral. How to fix this issue so I can know the real source of Goal conversion. *Note - utm_nooverride=1 on thank you page applied, payment gateway URL is already placed in Referral Exclusion List. So please don't suggest either of them. Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | Alick3000 -
Referral Traffic Issue
I'm working on a site that has low traffic volumes due to its niche. That's fine but we are daily getting referral traffic from unrelated domains without a link. These visits are always 100% bounce which is impacting the overall click.through rate. The domains are not the same and different ones come through all the time, so it is difficult to keep on top of. Any ideas what could be going on here and an effective way of dealing with this?
Reporting & Analytics | | MickEdwards0 -
Potential Security Issues Installing Google Analytics GTM
Greetings MOZ Community!! My SEO firm plans has requested that Google Analytics GTM be installed on my website to better track goals and events. My developer will be responsible for installing the GTM script on my website and the SEO firm will actually configure GTM to track goals. Is anyone aware of GTM causing server errors/issues when installed? My developer claims that running GTM would create additional vulnerability to hacking. Is anyone aware of potential security risks from running Google Tag Manager? Once Google Tag Manager is installed, will it make the site more difficult for my developer to administer? Will there be increased risk of the code breaking? Overall, is GTM a big improvement over the existing version of Google Analytics? Is it worth the effort to install? My SEO firm is very much in favor of this upgrade. I would like to move forward provided there is no major downside. I look forward to feedback. Thanks, Alan
Reporting & Analytics | | Kingalan10 -
The client's website serves as the main referral?
Hi mozzers, I have this weird case where one of my client's first referral is its own website!! I am really confused especially that I have checked there www vs non www and the non www is redirected to the www. This means that it resolve to one version which is good! Any thoughts on why the main referral is its own site? Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | Ideas-Money-Art0 -
Google Analytics - Referral Traffic Question
How Google Analytics determine that some particular web site referred traffic if there is no back link on that site?
Reporting & Analytics | | DiamondJewelryEmpire1