trafficSourceTracker.js

A replacement for Google Analytics last non direct click tracking done by __utmz cookie. This can be used to collect data about source of traffic for integration with crm

Google Analytics classic used to provide a handy cookie which contained the traffic source information for the user visiting the site. The data stored in the cookie followed google analytics last non direct click model for traffic attribution and stored the source in a handy format. This was a boon for any marketers looking to integrate traffic source data into 3rd party tools like CRM and other databases.

With the move to universal analytics this source tracking was moved serverside leaving all the existing integrations in a lurch. Google Analytics will eventually discontinue classic analytics. This presented a need for replacement script that followed the default attribution model favored by google analytics.

Whats it good for?

• Enhance CRM data with marketing campaign data
• Send a bit more context with Contact Form Enquiries
• Send traffic source data to another site [affiliate]

Some more use cases and approaches can be seen in the launch blog post.

Installation

Include the trafficSourceTracker.js file on all pages before </body> recommended minify it before use.

<script src="/trafficSourceTracker.js"></script>
<script>
//initiate script
trafficSrcCookie.setCookie();
</script>

// Todo add method to disable collection of Google Analytics Client id. getGaClient:false

Or even better deploy it via Google Tag Manager.

• Setup a custom html tag
• Add the script code to a tag and initiate script via trafficSrcCookie.setCookie();
• Trigger All Pages

Usage

To use it call trafficSrcCookie.getCookie();

This will return an object with all key value pairs.

Arguments: none

Return: Returns a javascript object if the cookie is saved. Returns null otherwise. The object returned by this function has following properties:

Key	Type	Value
ga_source	string	‘direct’, ‘google’ or the source fetched from either the utm_source parameter or document.referrer
ga_medium	string	‘(none)’, ‘cpc’, ‘organic’, ‘referral’ or the value fetched from the utm_medium parameter.
ga_campaign	string	‘(not provided)’ or the utm_term parameter fetched from the parameter or document.referrer.
ga_content	string	‘’ or fetched from utm_content parameter.
ga_term	string	keyword data for organic search or fetched from utm_term parameter.
ga_gclid	string	google adwords click id parameter
ga_landing_page	string	‘’ or fetched from document.location.href.
ga_client_id	string	fetched from google universal analytics global object.

Where empty string represents absence of a field.

todo

Cross domain tracking: currently a new traffic source is registered when hostname changes for feature parity with google analytics classic cross domain tracking should be added to pass source data between domains.

License

This is licensed under the MIT License.