How to track custom parameter with Google Analytics and utm.gif

Question

Hi there

The situation I'd like to use GA to track some serverside operations. That's why I cant make use of the GA Javascript fuctions. But, as you might know, you can request the utm.gif right from your server. This already works fine.

The Problem I'd like to trackt custom parameters. But i have no idea how to add them in the right format to the url-request

This one should do the custom parms. But I did't get any results in GA.

utme=5(Init*load_success*http://www.mydomain.de)8(userstatus)9(fan)11(2)

Full list of params:

    ref   ts
    utmac   UA-XXXXXX-5
    utmcc   __utma=186215409.1789216404.1265552708.1280074861.1280493144.21;+__utmz=;
    utmcs   ISO-8859-1
    utmdt   Button
    utme    5(Init*load_success*http://www.mydomain.de)8(mycustomvar)9(mycustomvalue)11(2)
    utmfl   -
    utmhn   mydomain.de
    utmje   -
    utmn    1114675642
    utmp    button
    utmr    http://www.mydomain.de
    utmsc   -
    utmsr   -
    utmul   de-de
    utmwv   4.5.7

Answer 1

not sure what's going wrong, given what you posted, but how about you write out what you want to send the traditional way (with javascript) and put it on a test page. Use firebug or whatever to grab the requested url that's built and compare it to what you have now.

Answer 2

The value of the utme gif Request parameter is encoded by ga.js--it's the only one that is, as far as i know.

Calling *__trackEvent* is the usual way to set the value of utme. These are client-side events though, which is no doubt why you are trying to set utme directly.

So if you just want to bind 5(Init*load_success*http://www.mydomain.de)8(userstatus)9(fan)11(2) to the variable utme, and you can't rely on user-behavior to trigger that binding, then here's what i suggest:

Pack your data into a 'custom variable' scoped to the page--this way, when the __trackPageview() is called, the value will be set.

Here's the analytics code required in your HTML to implement that:

The method signature for a custom variable:

pageTracker._setCustomVar(slot,    // integer between 1 and 5, inclusive (just use '1')
                          name,    // user-defined name for the custom variable
                          value,   // string representing the value for the custom variable
                          scope,   // you want '3' for page-level (an int, not a string though)  
);

Within the HTML (order matter, of course):

pageTracker.__setCustomvar(1, "A Name", "A Value", 3);
pageTracker.__trackPageview();

A key point here is that the parameter 'value' can be set dynamically, so for the 'value' parameter, i guess you want to pass in 5(Init*load_success*http://www.mydomain.de)8(userstatus)9(fan)11(2)

Finally, here are the two key sources (Implementation Guide, Usage Guide) on Custom Variables from the GA Team