I set about looking for a way to block my own hits from the results, having done a good search for up to date techniques, it seems that a cookie and a filter in analytics are the current standard.
I came across loads of articles explaining all this, but none were really clear, so I thought I might cover the subject again. Partly for those who follow after me, and partly so I never need to research this again.
So for posterity here's how to go about it.
Creating the Cookie
Firstly, I created a bookmarklet to generate the cookie . This is covered in another post.
Remember, you must put the same name into both the cookie and the exclusion filter.
How to add an exclusion Filter to Analytics in 10 steps
I am going to assume you are logged into analytics...
1. Click on Filter Manager
2. Click on Add Filter
3. Enter a name for the filter
4. Choose the Filter Type (select Custom Filter)
5. Make sure the custom filter type is Exclude
6. Choose the Filter Field (Select User Defined)
7. Put your Cookie-Name (See Creating the cookie above) into Filter Pattern
8. Select your site/s from the available profiles. You can use this method for a single site or as many sites as you like that are listed in your profile.
9. Click Add to move your sites to Selected Website Profiles
10. Click Save Changes
That's it, really quite simple. Just make sure you put the same name in the cookie and the Filter-Pattern (Step 7) and everything will be fine.
You have now made sure that your hits will be excluded from your analytics results.
I would like to thank, Justin Cutroni, as his blog was the first clear explanation I encountered.
A shameless plug..
Bring the benefits of over 15 years experience in internet technologies, from programming through to usability & design, persuasive copy-writing and site speed optimizations.
Check out my consulting company, Technical Magic.
No comments:
Post a Comment