Share This Article
In this blog post, we will be discussing how different domains affect trackers. A lot of businesses use the same default tracking code on all their pages, which is not always a good idea. In fact, it can lead to skewed data and false conclusions about your website’s performance. For example, if you have one domain for marketing purposes and another for customer service purposes, then when the same default tracking code is installed on pages with different domains what will result?
In this blog post, we will be discussing how different domains affect trackers. A lot of businesses use the same default tracking code on all their pages, which is not always a good idea. In fact, it can lead to skewed data and false conclusions about your website’s performance. For example, if you have one domain for marketing purposes and another for customer service purposes, then when the same default tracking code is installed on pages with different domains what will result?
When Google Analytics identifies that two or more sessions are actually from the same person but come from different origins (different browsers or devices), they automatically merge those sessions into one session in order to provide accurate analytics reporting results. This merging process happens without any notification to the user.
However, this merging process can cause a lot of trouble when different domains are used for marketing and customer service purposes because it will make changes in visitor behavior hard to analyze. So what’s an advertiser or business owner with two or more completely separate websites to do?
With tracking codes installed on every page of your website you would be able to determine which domain is converting better than others so that you could allocate your budget accordingly. With just one code installation across all pages, however, accurate data becomes difficult if not impossible to measure.
The best solution for advertisers and businesses who want as much accuracy as possible is installing Google Analytics separately on each individual site/domain they own and then linking those reports together through the Google Analytics 360 Suite.
The problem with this solution is that it requires time and effort to install a tracking code on every site and then link them together, but these sites will also require more maintenance in order to ensure they are running smoothly without any errors.
You could use one analytics account across all of your domains as well by installing the same default trackers on each domain and linking those reports through Google Tag Manager or other third party tag management tools, but there’s no guarantee that you would get accurate data from such a setup because different browsers may be used for different pages depending on what content was being viewed at the time. It can even become difficult for advertisers or business owners who own multiple websites to keep up with all the different domains and how they are performing.
* The most straightforward method for tracking your sites is to install trackers on every site, but this can lead to a large amount of maintenance as you would need to ensure that each site installs new versions of those default trackers at appropriate times in order not only keep the data accurate across all websites, but also make sure there’s no overlap or duplication between any codes.
* Another way to manage multiple domains without much effort is by using Google Tag Manager which will allow advertisers or business owners who own more than one website to assign certain tags – including analytics code – onto specific pages from their account dashboard and automatically update them when needed through an RSS feed it sends to the tags.
* This way, you have a single source of analytics for all domains under one account and can set up cross-domain rules to restrict access or require certain permissions when needed. You also don’t have to manage different versions of default trackers which means less maintenance work.
The benefits: using Google Tag Manager will help with management across multiple websites by giving users more control over what is loaded onto their pages, as well as updates without any hassle on their part (since those are handled through an RSS feed). It also saves time since they won’t need to keep tabs on both new releases and active codes in addition to managing them individually; it has no overlap or duplication between any codes either so data will be easier to collect; and it is browser-friendly, meaning you can use a single code for all browsers (IE, Firefox) without any issues.
The drawbacks: Google Tag Manager will only work with sites hosted on the same domain or subdomain as itself so if your site has multiple domains where content resides on different servers altogether then this won’t help – there are other tools out there that may better suit those needs instead but they need more configuration up front than GTM does.
The other drawback is that data will need to be collected manually. This means more time will be spent on this task in the long run, and if you have a large website then it might not even be feasible at all (you’ll reach your quota of 100 visits per day quickly).
In conclusion: Google Tag Manager offers many benefits for those who are serious about tracking their web traffic; there are some drawbacks but they’re worth considering before deciding whether or not GTM works for you.
Note: I need to fill in the content from here down.
The Bottom Line
Google Tag Manager offers many benefits for those who are serious about tracking their web traffic; there are some drawbacks but they’re worth considering before deciding whether or not GTM works for you. There is one major caveat, however – it does require a deep understanding of HTML and JavaScript coding, so it may be wise to consult with somebody more experienced than yourself if possible. For most people this won’t be an issue because Google’s documentation on how to use GTM is quite thorough (although it can get confusing at times) and all of the tools necessary are included in your purchase price- which includes access to tutorials as well! That being said, it’s important to use GTM smartly.
Google Tag Manager offers many benefits for those who are serious about tracking their web traffic; there are some drawbacks but they’re worth considering before deciding whether or not GTM works for you. There is one major caveat, however – it does require a deep understanding of HTML and JavaScript coding, so it may be wise to consult with somebody more experienced than yourself if possible. For most people this won’t be an issue because Google’s documentation on how to use GTM is quite thorough (although it can get confusing at times) and all of the tools necessary are included in your purchase price- which includes access to tutorials as well! That being said, its important to use GTM smartly and make sure you’re not doing too much on the site that causes it to slow down or become unresponsive. I would recommend reading through Google’s documentation as well as some tutorials before diving in – there are a ton of examples and explanations online, but sometimes its hard to find what you’re looking for- so I’ve linked below one tutorial about how different domains can affect your tracking code: “Double Click” by Daniel J. Lewis from The Audacity To Podcast blog The Case of Double Click