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Adding Google Analytics to your Board · **Released**: 05-02-2008

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics (abbreviated GA) is a free service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. Its main highlight is that a webmaster can optimize AdWords advertisement and marketing campaigns through the use of GA's analysis of where the visitors came from, how long they stayed on the website and their geographical position. {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Analytics}

Why is Analytics Important?
If you (the Board Owner) want to know what is really happening on your site and how best to optimize it to increase visitors and participation and hopefully...... get a conversion.... (make money).... then GA is an important tool for you...

TimberFloorAu · #32 08-19-2008, 09:54 PM

I think what the Original Poster is stressing is:

you have 3 parts to your webpage.

Some stay the same some vary.

Header
Body/Main
Footer

Header and Footer are called via template on every page.

So as a page loads.

Header.... then body...then footer

If the Analytics code is within the footer, then its the last thing to load. Therefore it only replicates/analyses the simplest of information, and therefore essentially becomes a click counter.

Because it is not effectively tracking site activity on a page by page content by content basis.

However if the Analytics code is within the body.

The most important information ( main/body content ) is loading with the anlaytics code.
Thus giving more comprehensive results on page activity/content activity.

http://www.googlecommunity.com/forum...tml#post119529

Seems must be before </body> tag

I wont use this code, as we have other analysis, but I think the OP has it right.

Just my opinion of course.

Ozzy

Brad Jones · #33 09-08-2008, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBlackPoet

in order for analytics to work it has to be in a part of the site that is unique from other pages... the body pages are unique. when you put the code in the footer .. you are not getting the results such as site overlay, landing page, bounce rates.., etc....

I'd be pretty excited if I was wrong, so that I would have even more data to peruse, but I have the requisite GA code in my footer template, and I have data on all that you described. Have you actually tried it in the footer template and found a difference between that and placing it on each page before the </body> tag?

emath · #34 09-11-2008, 09:39 PM

google code has to between the head tags ,
i advice to search for <head>
and replace with
<head> + ur google code .

Brad Jones · #35 09-11-2008, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imiviortal

google code has to between the head tags ,
i advice to search for <head>
and replace with
<head> + ur google code .

Which is why Google suggests you put it right before the </body> element?

samiro · #36 12-11-2008, 06:59 PM

you can just put the code in the footer template ...
so simple !

bbcentral · #37 12-18-2008, 05:24 AM

I've been using the code in the footer of 2 forums and a regular website, and I have always seen plenty of data come through. It's always accurate too.

I haven't ever had any problems with it.

If Google was having incorrect data come through, by now they would have changed the instructions, but it still says to always add the code immediately before the /BODY tag.

I trust Google with their thousands of happy customers over some guy from Texas.

jdebler · #38 12-18-2008, 11:12 AM

That guy in Texas knows exactly what he is talking about, especially in post #4. His advice there doesn't apply to everyone, and putting it in the footer works for what most people need it for, but he definitely isn't wrong.

fly · #39 12-18-2008, 12:02 PM

What's the argument about? Google suggests putting it right before the </body> tag. You don't have to, but that's what they suggest...

bbcentral · #40 12-19-2008, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdebler

That guy in Texas knows exactly what he is talking about, especially in post #4. His advice there doesn't apply to everyone, and putting it in the footer works for what most people need it for, but he definitely isn't wrong.

With all due respect, he's completely wrong and hasn't got a clue what he's talking about. Maybe his knowledge comes from some different software package, or maybe he's used to some ancient version of Urchin before Google took over. I've spent considerable time using Analytics, I've read most of their documentation and successfully implemented it into several of my own forums and websites.

Fact #1: Analytics is supposed to track every page on your forum
Fact #2: Analytics is clever enough to be able to work out what page the visitor is currently looking at
Fact #3: Analytics can track conversions without modifying the code or placing it on only some pages. For example, if I want to track how many people register, I setup a "Goal" for register.php. Whenever someone goes to that page and ends up completing the registration, it tracks that as a conversion.

And here's Google's official documentation about Goals and Funnels:
https://www.google.com/support/googl...n_US&utm_id=ad

And here's the documentation about Goals on dynamically generated pages:
https://www.google.com/support/googl...14&ctx=sibling

You'll notice that you configure everything through the Analytics website, not once does Google ask you to change your code. You use regular expressions, head or exact matches based on the URL of the page.

Google does all the work for you, so the correct instructions for this mod should be:

Open your footer template
Find </body>
Paste the code just before </body>
Save the template

If you don't believe me, try it out for yourself.

fly · #41 12-20-2008, 04:11 PM

I challenge you to find </body> in the footer (on a default style anyway).

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