Is Google Analytics cluttering up your studies with 100’s or 1000’s of distinctive pages that don’t actually exist?

The issue is created by ugly URL’s.   what I imply after I say ugly URL’s?

Right here’s an unsightly one:

http://www.Top5webhost.com/welcome?txn=222050&tl=30

What makes it ugly is the ?txn=222050&tl=30

These are parameters which can be appended to the URL of an important web page on the Top5webhost web site — the Welcome Web page.

The Welcome Web page is the place guests land after they open an account and begin the free trial of the Top5webhost software program.  Our objective is to extend the variety of guests that see this web page as a result of it means we have now elevated the variety of folks which can be taking a trial of the software program.

The difficulty is that Google Analytics doesn’t see the Welcome Web page as one web page.  No sir.  In reality, each time a web site customer lands on our Welcome Web page Google Analytics logs it as a brand new web page.

How Google Analytics Logs a Pageview

Google Analytics strips away the area (on this case Top5webhost.com) and appears on the remaining parts of the URL string to find out a novel web page.

Consequently, dynamic URL parameters create a novel web page within the eyes of Google Analytics each time.

For instance,

http://www.Top5webhost.com/welcome?txn=222050&tl=30

is just not the identical as

http://www.Top5webhost.com/welcome?txn=222051&tl=15

As a result of the txn and tl parameter are totally different, these URL’s will probably be logged as distinctive pages.  Consequently our Google Analytics studies are cluttered with 1000’s of distinctive pageviews that don’t actually exist and supply no worth to our enterprise.

NOTE:  It’s potential that your URL parameters do present insightful data to you.   If, for instance, one in all your URL parameters comprises product numbers, pricing or low cost codes you might have considered trying Google Analytics to log these as distinctive pageviews.

How To Take away These Pesky URL Parameters From Your Stories

You will get them cleaned up by adjusting the settings in your Google Analytics profile settings.

Right here’s only a sliver of our Aim URL’s report in our most important Google Analytics profile,

Discover how every conversion creates a brand new URL on this profile.

However you would possibly need to see a set of studies the place these ugly URL parameters are eliminated.

Chances are you’ll need to arrange a brand new Google Analytics profile.  You’ll need to do that in case you are afraid of messing up the info you have already got in Google Analytics or if you wish to have one set of studies that comprises URL parameters and one other that doesn’t.

Within the Profile Settings of your new or present Google Analytics profile add a comma separated record of the URL parameters you need Google Analytics to disregard.

From my instance the URL parameters are:

txn, tl

Save your modifications and watch for some knowledge to pour into your new or newly up to date profile.

Right here’s what we see after we have a look at the Aim URL’s report with the URL parameters faraway from the profile,

Fairly neat, eh?

Don’t neglect that Google Analytics doesn’t reprocess knowledge.  In different phrases, you received’t be capable of take away parameters from earlier knowledge — solely knowledge going ahead can have your URL parameters eliminated.