Google Analytics Stopped Tracking Visits - NEED HELP!

[WhiteboardCreations]

Hi Moz Community,

I have about 10 sites, static HTML sites and WordPress sites, which ALL stopped tracking Google Analytics on August 2nd. They go to a flat-line! Dead! No data!

Has anyone else experienced this either currently or before? I have confirmed all code is correct as it's been tracking these sites for years. One site gets 5,000+ visits a month and they are sitting at only 1,500 now and will be a fun conversation to have with the client.

If all code is correct, what should I do? How do I overcome this without having to re-create another account/tracking ID?

Never dealt with something like this before and there is not much on the web or in other forums. Would appreciate any help or advice or tips! - Patrick

[KaneJamison]

Great to hear that it's fixed.

We call that master view a Raw account, and label the rest as Filtered (Filter Type). We use Filtered (Primary) as the main account that we look at day to day. So yes - definitely set those master accounts up.

[WhiteboardCreations]

Hi Kane,

Actually, that is exactly what happened. One of our developers added an | exclusion at the end of their sole Spam Bot Filter and it in turn, shut down collection of data. So, I worked with the Google Adwords support team and they determined that was the cause.

We removed it, I picked up some new, great pointers from them, and all are back up and running. They advised to always have a Master Analytics View which collects ALL data (even the spammers), then another called Filtered View, which eliminates the spammers and then a Test View to play with new filters.

It is something so simple to implement and now I know moving forward with all new clients/accounts and have been spending time updating all current accounts to have these 3 views in Analytics.

• Patrick

[KaneJamison]

Hey Patrick,

I have a good guess as to the problem. Has anyone installed Bot Filters on these accounts? If someone installed a bunch of bot filters incorrectly (for example a hostname exclusion instead of a hostname inclusion) that would cause tracking to disappear despite proper on-site installation.

August 2nd was the day that Moz published a blog post on this exact topic, so that in particular makes this my best guess.

If you want to post screenshots of the filters on these account I'm happy to glance at them.

[WhiteboardCreations]

Hi Alick,

Correct, none of the affected 14 sites were or have been penalized by Google for any of their reasons (malware, spammy links, etc). Actually most are just your standard brochure type informational website and only 2 are actively doing any SEO/PPC campaigns.

We checked Real Time and saw they were not working. We also confirmed the notices in GA for the tracking code not working any more. I got that tip from you, so thank you very much for that.

I have re-entered all the GA codes and/or plugins for the WP sites and will monitor more today and over the weekend. It was a completely random event which doesn't make any sense.

• Patrick

[WhiteboardCreations]

Hi Dirk,

Thanks for the tip on installing the Tag Assistant. I have done that now and will toy around with it today/this weekend. I confirmed that all the tracking codes were properly set up, however, in the GA profiles, you visit > Admin > Tracking Info > Tracking Code > and I saw notices from each of the 14 affected sites that the code wasn't being recognized.

I believe I have corrected the issue, but still doesn't explain why for years there was no issues, no hosting changes, no WP changes (as it would've affected so many more sites, and not just mine or my clients, but 1,000's around the world from a plugin update or something), not isolated to just WP sites as I had HTML sites affected.

I will be monitoring and checking these sites and all the others just in case. Never seen anything like this before. Thanks for your reply!

• Patrick

[WhiteboardCreations]

Thanks for the reply, David.

What is weird is of the 80+ accounts I can see and manage, 14 in total were affected once I got through checking all site profiles. On Aug 2nd, the 14 sites go to zero.

The odd part is some are WordPress sites and 5 are static HTML sites. Some are hosted in GoDaddy. Some are not. Some sites I haven't even logged into for months (especially the HTML sites). They track everything up to Aug 1st as normal.

• I checked all front end source code for the GA code = confirmed positive
• I checked for duplicate GA code = confirmed negative
• I checked the WP sites for combating GA plugins = confirmed negative (some were using Google Analyticator and some just the normal Google Analytics and some using Yoast or All In One SEO, but none of them had 2 GA plugins)
• I checked the Filters as some have Filters, others don't. The one's that have the Filters are using the same ones to block referral spam as my 3 company sites, and pretty much all of the others I manage, so it can't be Filters
• I checked for spacing in the code as suggested above = confirmed negative

What I've had to do is remove whatever plugin they were using. Then installed another and authenticated. I will know by morning if that worked as the "Tracking Code" is not showing errors and is showing that is is actively tracking data. The Real Time is as well, so I assume my trick worked, but want to make sure it remains.

• Patrick

[O2C]

It seems extremely weird that ALL of your sites have stopped recording and not just the odd one!

We often get this issue with our clients as they feel the need to go into their Wordpress sites and add the Analytics code them selves. Often causing it to duplicate the code and stop Analytics recording the data properly!

First, I would 'view source' of the web pages and check that their is only one set of Analytics code on the site
Then check to see if there are any filters on the Analytics account that is causing it to block the data

Not convinced that they will solve your issue as for them to affect multiple sites all at once is weird, and you may have already checked the above! But it's worth a shot.

[DirkC]

On top of what Alick already mentioned you could also install the Chrome Tag Assistant plugin to double check that your code is really sending data - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tag-assistant-by-google/kejbdjndbnbjgmefkgdddjlbokphdefk

When your traffic drops to zero is almost certain that there is an issue with the tracking code.

rgds

Dirk

[Alick300]

Hi Patric,

I presume your site is not penalized by Google.

There are a few ways you can check to see if the Google Analytics tracking code on your website is working.

• Check your Real-Time reports - If you see data in these reports, it means that your tracking code is currently collecting data.
• Check the Tracking Status in your property - Which tells you if your tracking code is working or not.
• Please also check analytics code for any extra space.

Thanks