Google Analytics Tracking Codes - New and old - gat vs gaq

Published Thu. Nov. 01, 2012

I'm going through an older web site and am noticing the old non-asynchronous Google anylytics code on some of the pages...while others use the new asyncronous version. As long as both new and old version are NOT ON THE SAME PAGE, the two can co-exist if on seperate pages and still gather data.

As of 2010, we should all be using the asynchronous code snippet:

I use the php implementation with an include file

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standard Asynchronous version to be placed right before the closing head tag...although placement is less important these day...it will work in body as well. Just the old wouldnt work in head.

This version is faster, with more accurate numbers. (Old code would only count if the page completly loaded before you left.)

<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-1']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>

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Here is the Asynchronous version with options

(setDomainName setAllowLinker are for cross domain tracking)
More on that next time.

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<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-4']);

_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'none']);
_gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]);

_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>

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I have seen the urchintracker code used...

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<script type="text/javascript">
   _uacct = "UA-XXXXX-1";
   urchinTracker();
</script>

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And the older non-asynchronous (gat) - used to be placed on the body of the page to avoid being in head

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<script type="text/javascript">
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-#######-#");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}
</script>

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These can still be used on old sites, as long as not on the same page. But you should really use the new asyn version due to speed and acuracy of the data it provides.