fractalnavel

It's easiest to explain the issue by recounting the series of events:

2007.07.27:
I attempted to use the technique described in "How can I make Google Analytics identify additional search engines in the Referral reports?" to track search referrals made by our website's internal search feature. 

Code excerpt:

...

We do not use any of the other tracking functions.  No other changes were made.

2007.07.29:
I checked the reports this evening and noticed that nearly all traffic had disappeared. 

2007.07.30:
This morning I removed the code addded three days earlier.

Subsequently:
Still not showing data in the reports.  There are a very few items from visitors who did not include "www." as the domain prefix, so I know that data _is_ being collected. 

Apparently, whatever error was triggered exists and persists on the server side, and there's no way I can remedy it.  I will shortly be creating another profile to catch future data (assuming this error is confined to the prior profiles), but I would greatly prefer to continue capturing data in the original profiles for historical comparison purposes, etc. (accumulating since March 2007).  It occurs to me that some filter could be used to remove the leading "www." from all incoming hostnames in an effort to circumvent the error we are experiencing, however, I'm not certain this would work, nor is this really the right approach to the problem.

Requested actions:

(1) Highest priority: can this error be removed from the profiles in question so that data can continue to accumulate there ?

(2) Please document this potential for persistent damage in the help center article (http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=57046&topic=11036) so that others are warned.

(3) It would really be great if:
(a) I could use this approach to tracking internal searches the way I intended;
(b) or at least, this damaging behavior could be prevented if someone attempts the same thing in the future.

Clearly, if (1) is to be of maximum value, it would need to happen very soon.

If you could please contact me at your earliest possible opportunity I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Chris

From: "Chris"

Subject: RE: [#xxxxxxxxx] MIssing data due to additional search engine configuration attempt

Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2007 13:23:17 -0400

Unfortunately, our situation is not covered by any of the scenarios

below. Data tracking and reporting had been working just fine until the

introduction of the code changes that I indicated earlier, and then

failed to be restored once those changes were reversed.

---Chris

 

From: Analytics Support [mailto:analytics-support@google.com]

Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 04:38

To:  Chris

Subject: Re: [#xxxxxxxxx] MIssing data due to additional search engine configuration attempt

Hello Chris,

Thank you for your email. I reviewed your website and I noticed that you

have a customized implementation of the tracking code. Unfortunately,

we're unable to provide support for custom implementations of Google

Analytics. For this level of support, you can contact one of our highly

qualified Google Analytics Authorized Consultants for assistance with

advanced needs. These partners deliver a number of professional services

such as installation support, training, and advanced filter and e-commerce

configurations.

For a complete list of our worldwide partners and a more detailed

description of the services they offer, please go to

http://www.google.com/analytics/support_partner_provided.html

For additional questions, please visit the Analytics Help Center at

http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/?utm_id=tf. You can also

find helpful tips and information by visiting the Google Analytics Help

Forum at http://groups.google.com/group/analytics-help?utm_id=tr.

Sincerely,

Aditya

Analytics Support

*************************

For the latest updates as well as some helpful tips on Google Analytics,

check out the Google Analytics blog at http://analytics.blogspot.com

*************************

 

From:  Chris

Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 09:00

To: 'Analytics Support'

Subject: RE: [#xxxxxxxxx] MIssing data due to additional search engine configuration attempt

Aditya:

Would you look at the profile on your end if I reduced the usage to simply:

_uacct = "UA-xxxxxxx-1";

urchinTracker();

I understand that "custom implementation" would be out of the scope of your support. However, we are not having problems with this part of the processing. The issue is that in an attempt to implement "How can I make Google Analytics identify additional search engines in the Referral reports?" some sort of persistent damage was incurred on the profiles at your end.

Do the Google Analytics Authorized Consultants have access to the processing at Google Analytics ? That is where this issue needs to be resolved.

Thanks for your time,

Chris

we'll see where this goes from here .  yeah, i'll check their forums, post a question if i can't find anything related to this, and - hey ! - i'll google around for an answer ;-)  i wonder if _they_ thought of this.

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