One step I forgot to mention in this Video: You also should add the Domains you are cross-domain tracking into your Google Analytics Referral Exclusion list. Go to your Admin section in GA and click on Tracking Info. There you will find your Referral exclusion list. Add the domains you entered into the Auto Link Domains field just like we did it at 7:34
Thanks for the tutorial! However, I cannot get the google analytics part. Cos I hv set 2 properties for 2 domains, so that there should be 2 tags in gtm. Should I only create one property instead? If so, how to set up the property?
Should i set cross-domain tracking from GTM (linker parameters) and from GA4 interface together, or just one setup is enough? Conversion linker is used by google ADS remarketing tag, if i don't set this link, would my google ads work fine? What if i make this setting with the GA4 cross domain tracking together?
Thank you Julian! But, how to make it works with "events"? I follow the instructions and it works only if I use "Pageview" as the Track Type of the Google Analytics property in Tag Manager. If I use "Event" as Track Type, it doesn't works and it counts the same users twice. How can I do if I want to tracks my users actions with events in 2 different domains sites?
Hi @MesureSchool , do you have a solution for Form Submissions. So when the Form gets submitted the Visitor gets redirected to f.e. the Payment Processor that the Google Analytics Session ID will also gets transferred? So same case as in your video but instead of a normal link click, its a form submission?
what about facebook pixel? i have one domain where the checkout occurs and i have another domain where its landing and shop pages. i have added the facebook pixel for the checkout domain via google tag manager and im not sure if i should add the facebook pixel to my other domain via google tag? i guess i a little confused there and then where cross domain fits in
Hi! I have a question.... I have two different domains. A user arrives to one site, then checks out in my other business in a different site. I was to track the purchase in the different site, but both have different Measurement ID and data streams. How and can I still track this?
My client insist using his webstie for products category and checkout at his shopify! such a headache, thank you so much. One question please, you mentioned 1-way cross domain & 2-way cross domain tracking, how to acheive the 2-way?
Dear Julian, We have a domain where users click on a button and land on a different domain (with a different UA tracking code) to complete the bookings. How do we track the conversions in this scenario?
Why would you not need cross domain tracking for blog.example.com and offers.example.com, if you have a GA property for example.com? Is one way to check that if you see that it counts numerous sessions and users as you navigate between them? Thanks!
They are sub domain of example.com, so you don't need cross domain set up for that. If you want to counts the user navigate between these different subdomains, you might want to try to rewrite the URL, and add the subdomain before page path, so that you know exactly what pages they are navigating.
So helpful. Thank you for the tutorials as always. One question: I’m currently setting up different GTM container for each microsite and domain but they’re part of one brand. Is it better to use the same GTM container for cross domain tracking to work? Thanks for your help!
Awesome thank you! One issue I'm noticing is that for 'Active Page', regardless of what website the user is on, GA shows '/' as the active page. Any way to fix this?
I have my second domain with a page that has parameters. For example, I need to implement cross-domain tracking between say "site1.com and seconddomain.com/form?fid=123"; between "site2.com and seconddomain.com/form?fid=456" and between "site3.com and seconddomain.com/form?fid=789". How do I set this up considering the seconddomain.com has different "fid" parameters?
Hey Julian! What about the 👉 Conversion Linker Tag 👈 ?? If I use it, and have cross domain tracking activated there, that should do the trick, right? (Please upvote)
@@MeasureSchool I know but that for Google Analytics what about GTM should I set up the pixel on the subdomains? Cause it didn't work on our subdomains. For example our website is www.myweb.com I set up a GTM with myweb.com And we added the pixel but GTM is working only with www.myweb.com What's the problem? Or it simply need to be added to all subdomains (GTM).
Apologies if other comments addressed this (comments aren't searchable on mobile): is there a way to set this up in GA4 via GTM? I have two domains (a Wix site and an Acuity Scheduling page) tracked in my GA4 data stream but want to migrate from a native GA4 integration on each to both just having GTM installed. So far removing the native GA4 integration breaks the cross-domain tracking. All I have in GTM is the basic GA4 tag, which doesn't have the same options shown here for the old UA tag. Unsure what else I need to set up in GTM to get it working again. Thanks in advance for any guidance.
Great video. I have one question: If I set cross domain tracking for site A and Site C, but user goes from site A to site B by way of a link on site A to say my Chrome store web app) and then from site B to site C by way of say the conversion thank you page, will I lose the user's session and any attributed google ads campaign data? I hope that makes sense.
Is it the same process for linking more than two sites? I have a client with five websites-you start on the main page, and then get sent off to one of four other domains depending on the location you choose. Would I list all five sites in the "Auto Link Domains" field and go from there?
Hi Julian I just saw this video again, because of a doubt that I regarding "strange" indicators in step funnel in GA3 that I posted on our group in FB (still over this issue with no explanation). Despite that, and as I watching the video a new doubt came into my mind. Does this video procedure applies to GA4 also? Can we do or must we do it the same way?
Hi - very good video, thanks! we have a case where we have various domains and as well as that for every domain a different google tag manager. So we tried to follow the same steps on every GTM container, but somehow it does not work. Do you know, if we would need that case differently?
Hey Julian, I have a problem with the cross domain tracking configuration. I am able to follow my session through both sites no problem and it shows that the session's source is my UTM in the real time section, just like I want it, except that when I test out my conversions (goals) it seems like it gives credit to a referral source ? Any tips on how to fix this ? Thanks !
@MeasureSchool suppose domain A and domain B are tracked as cross Domains, I want to track form submission on domain B as a goal in Google analytics, Will i track it as a goal in the Same Google analytics account?
HOL' UP. You mention our domains have to use the same tracking ID? But will this not mess up the whole website reporting for each domain? Audience overview etc? Will it not treat 2 domains as 1 website?
I'm curious about what has mentioned in the video, if my two domain have install two different GTM (with same GA property), just by taking the same steps as mentioned in the video will still attribute the correct data to GA account? How about if A domain has install GTM tag, B domain install GA tag, will it still work?
Hi Julian, we are changing our domain from let's say from exam.com to exam1.com. Now if I set up new google analytics it will start from today. Or we should just put the old analytics script on the new domain and everything goes fine...Obviously we are going to have 301 and all. I mean should we not changing the domain in analytics, what should we do?
@@MeasureSchool If you have 1 GA tag tracking across 2 domains like demoshop.com and demoblog.com, GA's going to show / for both home page visits (unless you show hostnames). So what I was trying to say is it only seems to be useful out of the box if the 2nd site you're including in cross domain tracking doesn't have any duplicating URL's?
Yes, if 2nd site you are including doesn't have duplicating URL with 1st site, it should work out of the box. However it's best practice to include hostname when you are implementing the cross domain tracking. It gives you so much clarity.
What happens if a user wants to share your page by copying the url and the url has the code /?_ga=2.51366945.18161885.8358985-12345623.98765432 ? When the user's friend opens the link with that url, will the friend count as the same user?
Question at @4.17 did u really mean SAME ACCOUNT? and not SAME Tracking ID? I am confused whether I should use it for a website that has only one Property (main website) on GA. But has multiple domains (com.au, com.hk)
Hi!! Thanks so mucho for your video, really amazing info. I did with differents clients and it worked!! but with one client I cant implement it. The second domain is webinar jam and it seems this platform does not allow me to do it. What is wrong with it? Thanks
Hi Julian, have a related question, how can we do this, like if a user browses through demoshop.com to demoblog.com then demoblog.com's GTM script should work normally but if a user directly visits demoblog.com then GTM script shouldn't fire/work. Thanks!
@MeasureSchool You say that if you use two separate Analytics properties for two different domains then you don't NEED cross domain tracking. Is that the case though? You do need it, you just can't do it. The diagram in your video should ask "SHOULD you use the same UA on all your domains?" and the answer should be YES if you want cross-domain. Am I getting this wrong?
@measureschool Hey julian, bit of an older issue but is there any update on the checkout situation? Installed gtm as you recommended 6 months ago on a video and no luck with triggering on checkout pages 🤦🏽♂️ PLEASE advise ☺️
Shopify have been cracking down adding extra script code onto their checkout pages. So that might be the reason it is not working. You can try to talk to Shopify support, and explain to them, and also have you tried this app in Shopify platform? www.getelevar.com/shopify/meet-our-new-shopifiy-app-google-tag-manager-suite/ Check if they are still working with Shopify checkout?
@measureschool hi julian i have question, we have 3 domains and our cross domain linking works perfectly but when we move to 3rd domain with events tracking it changed the medium of that flow move it to direct , for example when a customer coming from paid and comes on 2nd domain and clicks on event which is created on target domain move to 3rd domain its loses it medium and events starts coming in direct medium. How can i resolve this matter with event tracking through cross domains. I think something is missing can you help its urgent. we are using GTM for all that and we have same GTM codes on all 3 domains.
Hi Julian, I love your videos but didn't find anywhere anything saying how to install GTM for a development site that is located on a subdomain. I would love to know that. Can we install the GTM on the subdomain and once we move our site to the root, everything will automatically follow? I would love to get a tutorial on this or an answer from you. Thanks!!!!
Conversion and cross-domain tracking are different thing. However If you set up the cross domain tracking correctly, the conversion will be more accurately be attribute to the correct traffic source. Hope it helps.
@@MatthewMiao thank you. Let give you an example. I have online food order website. And a third party website linked with my website. I don't have any access to the third party website. In general user comes to my website and goes to the third party sites by clicking the food menu to order their foods online. And there user converted to leads. I can measure only outbound traffic event. But How can I track conversion in that third party website?
@@soumadipghosh838 Here is what I think: 1. Do you have access 3rd party website? If you don't, then you can't track conversion of ordering food on their site. This is just out of your control. The best is to track outbound link like you already did. 2. If you have access to 3rd party site, then install and setup cross-domain tracking properly. You should be able to attribute conversion correctly to the original traffic source. Hope it helps.
@@MatthewMiao Hey, I have the same issue. Does the outbound link show anything other than just the click (that sent the user from my page to the 3rd party site)?
Thanks for the video! Question - is the process the same if you do not own both domains. Example: a popular website partners with a purchasing provider, and while they partner they are separately owned. A user enters Domain 1 and chooses to make a purchase by clicking on embedded links that lead to Domain 2, where the user completes the purchase process. NOTE: The Google Analytics Key would be the same one on each domain. In this scenario, would everything you describe in your video still be true? If not, what would change? If yes, are there additional steps that you can recommend to me?
Hi Julian. Another question - I have all my Auto Link Domains set up in the Variable for Pageviews. Should these domains be set in the tag instead, as your video suggests?
To answer your questions: 1. You can choose to set up the cross domain tracking in all the Tags, which is a long tedious work. or 2. Set up the cross domain in the GA variables, which can automatically used by all the tags which are using this GA variable. This can save you tons of time. So you can choose either one of the two options. I think the option 2 is the best practice to follow.
Is there a way set cross domain tracking cookies? I want to be able to set a 1st party cookie on example.com and then read the same cookie on example2.com. Thanks In Advance!
1st Party cookie can only be read by the domain which created that cookie. So, example.com cookie can't read the cookie on example2.com(separate domain). That's the limitation of 1st party cookie.
@@MeasureSchool I understand. So then is the only way to track information across domains is through URLs parameters? Maybe if I have a script on domain1 that dynamically changes the URL then I can read the referring URL parameters to set a cookie on domain2. Thoughts on a better solution?
@@ehro I am not sure of your final goal. If you just want to know where the user is coming from, you might need to think if the cross domain tracking is a viable solution to you. If not, pass the UTM in the URL, and capture in domain2, store them in 1st party cookie might be a solution. I have videos in my channel about how to modify/add links, which might help you on this.
Julian ... Fantastic your video .. Congratulations ... My question is actually linking two domains to activate the google ads purchase tag. I have an e-commerce ... after the customer adds to the cart he goes to another domain to finalize the purchase. In this domain exchange, the google ads conversion tag is not activated ... How can I configure the tag to be activated? do you have a video that teaches? or can you describe? Thanks...
Hey Julian, I am following most of your videos on youtube about google anaytics and tag manager. I would like to take up your course on udemy. But i want to know if there is a demo account where I could set and check the tags if I take the course on udemy.
That Udemy course is slightly outdated now. Here is the updated version with the demo account for you to use: measureschool.com/products/gtm-beyond-the-basics/
@@MeasureSchool suppose domain A and domain B are tracked as cross Domains, I want to track form submission on domain B as a goal in Google analytics, Will i track it as a goal in the Same Google analytics account?
Dude, I've been following you for years. You still look like a boy... and it's only that grey hair you start getting that shows me it's been years. Thanks for your work!
Hi Julian. I currently have cross domain tracking set up, and I have it set up on sub-domains. Someone a long time ago, told me to set it up that way because my sub-domains careers.mywebsite.com and ecommerce.mywebsite.com are hosted on different servers than our root domain mywebsite.com. My question is... If I remove those sub-domains from my Cross Domain Tracking, but I leave the GTM tracking code on the pages, will these still track? Or because they're hosted separately, and DNS is set up differently, should I leave it the way it is?
The cross domain tracking don't have anything to do where your domain is hosting or DNS set up. So it's doesn't matter. Another thing is that, careers.mywebsite.com + ecommerce.mywebsite.com + mywebsite.com, are all belong to one domain, they are just different subdomains. Technically you don't need cross-domain tracking, just make sure your auto cookie setting is true in GA variable setting(which will create cookie in the root domain, so all your subdomain will have access to), you should be all set.
Thank you for an awesome video Julian! 1. I did the exact steps like you presented in the video. 2. Also, I created Conversion Tracking tag in GTM and inserted Conversion Action details from Google Ads. Tag is set fire when visitor goes to /thankyou (after form submission). Thank you page is on cross domain. Question: Should I modify Conversion Tracking Tag in order to work properly on cross domain thank-you page or just do what you did in the video and then I could see conversions in Google Ads? Thank you so much for doing excellent work on your channel!
Hello, I like your video. Can you explain it more clearly? I want to see the reports in Google Analytics, how demoblog.com and demoshop.com will display traffic when the same GA account. Assuming I have 100 domains, see the report ???
Thanks again Julian. Having a couple of issues in my implementation and I've got a couple of questions: 1. Would this setup still work if demoblog.com in your example was redirected from demoshop.com/blog in the main navigation or would you need to do something different with the linking domains in Tag Manager? 2. Does the same Tag Manager container need to be installed on both sites or would it still work if demoshop.com had Tag Manager with GA installed and demoblog.com just had GA installed (without Tag Manager)?
Hi, Ynah, Thank you for commenting, so in most cases, the live chat on the website lives on the , which make it a pain to track inteaction with GTM. Here is an article I find that talking about tracking Hubspot chat with GTM, you can have a look: integrate.hubspot.com/t/tracking-on-hubspot-chat-with-google-tag-manager/7157/8
Hello Julian, do you do consulting or you can recommend someone? I am one man show running small talent agency company and I am looking for tech to help me to set up correctly and if there anything else missing with Adwords Remarketing -Analytics- tag manager- Crate audience to help me to for my company to have a better results 🙂. I hope to hear from you have a nice day Tatyana
Hi Julian, I have added the cross-domain traffic as explained in the video, but I do not see the changes in real-time Top Active Pages when I go through one page of sub-domain to another. I see them only when I refresh the subdomain page, which is not right. (To mention, I don't have the same problem when I see the same domain on separate Google Analytics account which had been made only for the subdomain).
Thanks a lot for the content you put out. It's very helpful. However, after doing what you teach in this video it's still not working for my scenario, let me explain... I run a Shopify store and use the Shopify Buy Button. The frustrating thing (it's an understatment) with that Shopify Buy Button is that it brings the visitors to a mystore.myshopify.com pop up (instead of staying on mystore.com). to me it's 2 problems: - it doesn't look very trustworthy to the potential customer when they see the domain changes all of a sudden (and it reveals that you have a Shopify website) - it shows as 2 different users on Google analytics (the exact issue you talk about on your video) I did what you describe in your video, unfortunately, still 2 users on GA live view... Huh... The question is: How can we link the same GTM to both mystore.com and mystore.myshopify.com? I think that's where the problem is from for us. Any help is appreciated!
I was briefly hoping, that you got rid of the annoying intro music :D Well if you need a new one, I can create one for you. And thank you for this video!
When doing this, your homepage url sessions will surely be inflated when you have different domains using the same GA tag, ie someone visits one website and then the other in your example, you’d have two homepage visits (displayed as “/“ in page behaviour). How do you separate these to prevent skewing homepage visit data?
Hey Julian I have a website that has a schedule button that goes to my scheduling software to complete the action (a scheduling software domain that I do not own). Unfortunately, the thank you page is also on that software domain (I am going to see if I can get the company to change that). Does cross domain tracking still work in this case or am I out of luck when I don't own the domain where the conversion is occurring?
I have Acuity Scheduling which has a native GA integration. If yours does too and you put the same GA on both domains it should work. Worked for me in GA4. Now I'm trying to figure out how to replace the native integrations with GTM GA4 but that's another story.
If the users path is sourcedomain.com to targetdomain.com then back to sourcedomain.com, how do you make sure the User ID is carried through all three steps?
Jesse, Good question. I used to have the same question too. So what I understand now, is that both from domainA.com to domainB.com, and then go back, they are all using the same GA setting variable(If you are doing through GTM), and so it will all have the same settings of allowlinker domainA.com, domainB.com. So they will all linked together. Anyway, this is how I think. Let me know what you think?
If the user path is A domain to B domain then back to A domain it will be 1 user 2 session, depends on the situation, if this happens a lot (like an expected behavior) and you do not wish the second entry be reported as referral: 1. You do not have access to modify B domain> set up GA referral exclusion 2. You have access to modify B domain> set up GA referral exclusion and cross domain tracking in GTM
Great instructional video as always! When implementing this, do you recommend changing the settings in GA to show the full page URL in reports (support.google.com/analytics/answer/1012243?hl=en) in order to differentiate between the home pages (or any other page with matching page paths) on the connected sites? This is what we've done in the past, but I wasn't sure if there is a better way of doing this now.
Personally, I think it's a must and best practice to set up filter as you mentioned to restructure the page URL. We need to include the domain to differentiate pages across different domain.
@@MeasureSchool First of all Julian thanks for replying to this. Greetings from Cologne. I have breathing digital marketing for the past year and was asked to implement tracking for a chain of hotels in Cologne. However, the hotel website is one domain, where guests book is another domain and there is a third domain where people book gift vouchers. I was wondering if the procedure is exactly the same as on this video of yours. Or whether I should do anything additional. I really appreciate your reply and am a super fan. :)
@@MeasureSchool I guess what I am traing to ask is whether it does not matter how many extra domains there are. Would the procedure be the same for domain a, b, c together - for example.
Hey, thanks for the wonderful video. at 10:01 I see you mentioned GA will look though the website and if it finds the configured domain, it will attach the session information. Then you click on the 2nd link from your 1st website to redirect. I want the same thing except going from 1st domain to 2nd domain. My use case is if user comes on 1st domain, close tab and goes to 2nd website. What changes should I make in the process to follow this? I have mentioned a complete use case in this question on stackexchange, please have a look if you got sometime. thanks webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/129855/track-visitors-across-different-domains-using-google-analytics-even-when-they-do
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One step I forgot to mention in this Video: You also should add the Domains you are cross-domain tracking into your Google Analytics Referral Exclusion list. Go to your Admin section in GA and click on Tracking Info. There you will find your Referral exclusion list. Add the domains you entered into the Auto Link Domains field just like we did it at 7:34
can you clarify this, please?
Thanks for the tutorial! However, I cannot get the google analytics part. Cos I hv set 2 properties for 2 domains, so that there should be 2 tags in gtm. Should I only create one property instead? If so, how to set up the property?
I wanted to ask it. Thank you
@@tszwoonso8091 yes, only one property. Simply DO NOT add the code from GA, the GTM code is a replacement for GA installation
Should i set cross-domain tracking from GTM (linker parameters) and from GA4 interface together, or just one setup is enough?
Conversion linker is used by google ADS remarketing tag, if i don't set this link, would my google ads work fine? What if i make this setting with the GA4 cross domain tracking together?
Hey Julian,
Can you please show, how it needs to be done on GA4 and all the events that I have in GA4.
Thanks in advance.
Julian, I am truly in love with you and your awesome videos. Thanks for saving my life again! :D
Thank you very much @measureSchool . It perfectly solved my cross domain tracking problem. You are the men
Thank you Julian! But, how to make it works with "events"? I follow the instructions and it works only if I use "Pageview" as the Track Type of the Google Analytics property in Tag Manager. If I use "Event" as Track Type, it doesn't works and it counts the same users twice. How can I do if I want to tracks my users actions with events in 2 different domains sites?
I have two domains and they go to the same tracking code. But I want to be able to Filter the traffic in my analytics. how do i do that?
3:12
You said subdomain tracking doesn't need to track.
So why don't we need to track it?
Way better than Google's resources. Thanks!
Hi @MesureSchool , do you have a solution for Form Submissions. So when the Form gets submitted the Visitor gets redirected to f.e. the Payment Processor that the Google Analytics Session ID will also gets transferred? So same case as in your video but instead of a normal link click, its a form submission?
what about facebook pixel? i have one domain where the checkout occurs and i have another domain where its landing and shop pages. i have added the facebook pixel for the checkout domain via google tag manager and im not sure if i should add the facebook pixel to my other domain via google tag? i guess i a little confused there and then where cross domain fits in
Thankyou so much for posting this tutorial. You solve just the problem I was trying to solve.
Hi! I have a question.... I have two different domains. A user arrives to one site, then checks out in my other business in a different site. I was to track the purchase in the different site, but both have different Measurement ID and data streams. How and can I still track this?
How do we do cross domain tracking with GA4 considering universal analytics is gonna be deprecated soon
What if I want to track what users do on a different site after they leave ?
How would one do it if it's a domain and its subdomain?
DOes this still work if you go from site A to site B then to site A again?
My client insist using his webstie for products category and checkout at his shopify! such a headache, thank you so much. One question please, you mentioned 1-way cross domain & 2-way cross domain tracking, how to acheive the 2-way?
Dear Julian, We have a domain where users click on a button and land on a different domain (with a different UA tracking code) to complete the bookings. How do we track the conversions in this scenario?
Why would you not need cross domain tracking for blog.example.com and offers.example.com, if you have a GA property for example.com?
Is one way to check that if you see that it counts numerous sessions and users as you navigate between them?
Thanks!
They are sub domain of example.com, so you don't need cross domain set up for that.
If you want to counts the user navigate between these different subdomains, you might want to try to rewrite the URL, and add the subdomain before page path, so that you know exactly what pages they are navigating.
So helpful. Thank you for the tutorials as always. One question: I’m currently setting up different GTM container for each microsite and domain but they’re part of one brand. Is it better to use the same GTM container for cross domain tracking to work? Thanks for your help!
Awesome thank you! One issue I'm noticing is that for 'Active Page', regardless of what website the user is on, GA shows '/' as the active page. Any way to fix this?
I have my second domain with a page that has parameters. For example, I need to implement cross-domain tracking between say "site1.com and seconddomain.com/form?fid=123"; between "site2.com and seconddomain.com/form?fid=456" and between "site3.com and seconddomain.com/form?fid=789". How do I set this up considering the seconddomain.com has different "fid" parameters?
@measureschool how about if the main domain i.e. - .com automatically redirects to a country domain via 301 without loading a website (or GTM)?
Hey Julian!
What about the 👉 Conversion Linker Tag 👈 ??
If I use it, and have cross domain tracking activated there, that should do the trick, right?
(Please upvote)
if you want to deploy google ads
I need help we have subdomains and GTM didn't work on them he works on main domain only. what should we do?
subdomains don't have to be cross-domain tracked
@@MeasureSchool I know but that for Google Analytics what about GTM should I set up the pixel on the subdomains? Cause it didn't work on our subdomains.
For example our website is www.myweb.com
I set up a GTM with myweb.com
And we added the pixel but GTM is working only with www.myweb.com
What's the problem? Or it simply need to be added to all subdomains (GTM).
Apologies if other comments addressed this (comments aren't searchable on mobile): is there a way to set this up in GA4 via GTM? I have two domains (a Wix site and an Acuity Scheduling page) tracked in my GA4 data stream but want to migrate from a native GA4 integration on each to both just having GTM installed. So far removing the native GA4 integration breaks the cross-domain tracking. All I have in GTM is the basic GA4 tag, which doesn't have the same options shown here for the old UA tag. Unsure what else I need to set up in GTM to get it working again. Thanks in advance for any guidance.
Thanks bro, worked like a charm!
Brilliant. Thanks a lot for sharing
is www.example/blog considered a subdomain or a domain?
do i need to setup cross-domain tracking for urls like these?
@Arturs Malnieks Does this need to happen for an actual subdomain situation?
Super helpful. Amazingly explained. Thanks!
Will it work if I have 3 different GTM for 3 different sites? Do I need to set on 3 of the GTMs ?
Great video. I have one question: If I set cross domain tracking for site A and Site C, but user goes from site A to site B by way of a link on site A to say my Chrome store web app) and then from site B to site C by way of say the conversion thank you page, will I lose the user's session and any attributed google ads campaign data? I hope that makes sense.
Yes, you will loose it
Is it the same process for linking more than two sites? I have a client with five websites-you start on the main page, and then get sent off to one of four other domains depending on the location you choose. Would I list all five sites in the "Auto Link Domains" field and go from there?
yes
Hi Julian I just saw this video again, because of a doubt that I regarding "strange" indicators in step funnel in GA3 that I posted on our group in FB (still over this issue with no explanation).
Despite that, and as I watching the video a new doubt came into my mind. Does this video procedure applies to GA4 also? Can we do or must we do it the same way?
is it necessary to install GTM on both domains? specially in case of different paltforms of domains
Hi - very good video, thanks! we have a case where we have various domains and as well as that for every domain a different google tag manager. So we tried to follow the same steps on every GTM container, but somehow it does not work. Do you know, if we would need that case differently?
Does anyone know how cross-domain tracking works if you use an external service/app which you don't own (the domain)?
Hey Julian, I have a problem with the cross domain tracking configuration. I am able to follow my session through both sites no problem and it shows that the session's source is my UTM in the real time section, just like I want it, except that when I test out my conversions (goals) it seems like it gives credit to a referral source ? Any tips on how to fix this ? Thanks !
@MeasureSchool suppose domain A and domain B are tracked as cross Domains, I want to track form submission on domain B as a goal in Google analytics, Will i track it as a goal in the Same Google analytics account?
yes
Brilliant video! Thank you so much
HOL' UP. You mention our domains have to use the same tracking ID? But will this not mess up the whole website reporting for each domain? Audience overview etc? Will it not treat 2 domains as 1 website?
I'm curious about what has mentioned in the video, if my two domain have install two different GTM (with same GA property), just by taking the same steps as mentioned in the video will still attribute the correct data to GA account?
How about if A domain has install GTM tag, B domain install GA tag, will it still work?
Same question here
Hi Julian, we are changing our domain from let's say from exam.com to exam1.com. Now if I set up new google analytics it will start from today. Or we should just put the old analytics script on the new domain and everything goes fine...Obviously we are going to have 301 and all. I mean should we not changing the domain in analytics, what should we do?
Does this require you setup the same tag manager container on each page for both domains then?
Seems like this is only applicable if the URL's on the cross domains are different, else visiting the shop & blog is always going to return /?
Can you be a little more specific? I am not sure I understand your question.
@@MeasureSchool If you have 1 GA tag tracking across 2 domains like demoshop.com and demoblog.com, GA's going to show / for both home page visits (unless you show hostnames). So what I was trying to say is it only seems to be useful out of the box if the 2nd site you're including in cross domain tracking doesn't have any duplicating URL's?
Yes, if 2nd site you are including doesn't have duplicating URL with 1st site, it should work out of the box.
However it's best practice to include hostname when you are implementing the cross domain tracking. It gives you so much clarity.
thank you so so so so so so so so much bro
What happens if a user wants to share your page by copying the url and the url has the code /?_ga=2.51366945.18161885.8358985-12345623.98765432 ? When the user's friend opens the link with that url, will the friend count as the same user?
no, as there is a timestamp attached to this query string and GA will disregard if it's out of sync
Question at @4.17 did u really mean SAME ACCOUNT? and not SAME Tracking ID? I am confused whether I should use it for a website that has only one Property (main website) on GA. But has multiple domains (com.au, com.hk)
Thanks! Will this work with affiliate marketing campaign?
Hi!! Thanks so mucho for your video, really amazing info. I did with differents clients and it worked!! but with one client I cant implement it. The second domain is webinar jam and it seems this platform does not allow me to do it. What is wrong with it? Thanks
not sure, would need to do more digging
@@MeasureSchool thanks, if you find something, could you please let me know! So far I havent found anything. Thanks!
Hi Julian,
have a related question, how can we do this, like if a user browses through demoshop.com to demoblog.com then demoblog.com's GTM script should work normally but if a user directly visits demoblog.com then GTM script shouldn't fire/work.
Thanks!
I'm not following, sorry
@MeasureSchool You say that if you use two separate Analytics properties for two different domains then you don't NEED cross domain tracking. Is that the case though?
You do need it, you just can't do it. The diagram in your video should ask "SHOULD you use the same UA on all your domains?" and the answer should be YES if you want cross-domain.
Am I getting this wrong?
well.. yes, you need to ask yourself before all this if you want to track your websites into one property or separate ones
@measureschool Hey julian, bit of an older issue but is there any update on the checkout situation?
Installed gtm as you recommended 6 months ago on a video and no luck with triggering on checkout pages 🤦🏽♂️
PLEASE advise ☺️
What ecommerce platform you are using? And any more details about checkout pages not working?
@@MatthewMiao Shopify, and no I just have that one issue still
Shopify have been cracking down adding extra script code onto their checkout pages. So that might be the reason it is not working.
You can try to talk to Shopify support, and explain to them, and also have you tried this app in Shopify platform?
www.getelevar.com/shopify/meet-our-new-shopifiy-app-google-tag-manager-suite/
Check if they are still working with Shopify checkout?
@measureschool hi julian i have question, we have 3 domains and our cross domain linking works perfectly but when we move to 3rd domain with events tracking it changed the medium of that flow move it to direct , for example when a customer coming from paid and comes on 2nd domain and clicks on event which is created on target domain move to 3rd domain its loses it medium and events starts coming in direct medium. How can i resolve this matter with event tracking through cross domains. I think something is missing can you help its urgent. we are using GTM for all that and we have same GTM codes on all 3 domains.
same, do you solved it?
Hi Julian, I love your videos but didn't find anywhere anything saying how to install GTM for a development site that is located on a subdomain. I would love to know that. Can we install the GTM on the subdomain and once we move our site to the root, everything will automatically follow?
I would love to get a tutorial on this or an answer from you. Thanks!!!!
I'm using Google Analytics through GTM on my main domain, i have a subdomain. Should i
apply this method to track?
no. this is covered explicitly in the video around the 3min mark
Hi Julian, are you saying that I need the same GTM tag on both sites? I have no control of the other site.
yes, if you don't have control, then are out of luck
How can I track conversion with Google tag manager by setting up Cross Domain Tracking?
Conversion and cross-domain tracking are different thing.
However If you set up the cross domain tracking correctly, the conversion will be more accurately be attribute to the correct traffic source. Hope it helps.
@@MatthewMiao thank you. Let give you an example. I have online food order website. And a third party website linked with my website. I don't have any access to the third party website. In general user comes to my website and goes to the third party sites by clicking the food menu to order their foods online. And there user converted to leads. I can measure only outbound traffic event. But How can I track conversion in that third party website?
@@soumadipghosh838 Here is what I think:
1. Do you have access 3rd party website? If you don't, then you can't track conversion of ordering food on their site. This is just out of your control. The best is to track outbound link like you already did.
2. If you have access to 3rd party site, then install and setup cross-domain tracking properly. You should be able to attribute conversion correctly to the original traffic source.
Hope it helps.
@@MatthewMiao Hey, I have the same issue. Does the outbound link show anything other than just the click (that sent the user from my page to the 3rd party site)?
Thanks for the video! Question - is the process the same if you do not own both domains. Example: a popular website partners with a purchasing provider, and while they partner they are separately owned. A user enters Domain 1 and chooses to make a purchase by clicking on embedded links that lead to Domain 2, where the user completes the purchase process. NOTE: The Google Analytics Key would be the same one on each domain. In this scenario, would everything you describe in your video still be true? If not, what would change? If yes, are there additional steps that you can recommend to me?
Hi Julian. Another question - I have all my Auto Link Domains set up in the Variable for Pageviews. Should these domains be set in the tag instead, as your video suggests?
To answer your questions:
1. You can choose to set up the cross domain tracking in all the Tags, which is a long tedious work. or
2. Set up the cross domain in the GA variables, which can automatically used by all the tags which are using this GA variable. This can save you tons of time.
So you can choose either one of the two options. I think the option 2 is the best practice to follow.
@@MeasureSchool Thanks. I understand calling them all at once in a variable is much simpler. Thanks for everything!
Is there a way set cross domain tracking cookies? I want to be able to set a 1st party cookie on example.com and then read the same cookie on example2.com. Thanks In Advance!
1st Party cookie can only be read by the domain which created that cookie.
So, example.com cookie can't read the cookie on example2.com(separate domain).
That's the limitation of 1st party cookie.
@@MeasureSchool I understand.
So then is the only way to track information across domains is through URLs parameters? Maybe if I have a script on domain1 that dynamically changes the URL then I can read the referring URL parameters to set a cookie on domain2. Thoughts on a better solution?
@@ehro I am not sure of your final goal.
If you just want to know where the user is coming from, you might need to think if the cross domain tracking is a viable solution to you.
If not, pass the UTM in the URL, and capture in domain2, store them in 1st party cookie might be a solution. I have videos in my channel about how to modify/add links, which might help you on this.
how to do cross domain tracking for Facebook pixel using GTM
What about tracking Adwords Conversions with multiple domains?
you would need to configure the conversion linker correctly
Thank you! So helpful!
Julian ...
Fantastic your video .. Congratulations ...
My question is actually linking two domains to activate the google ads purchase tag.
I have an e-commerce ... after the customer adds to the cart he goes to another domain to finalize the purchase. In this domain exchange, the google ads conversion tag is not activated ... How can I configure the tag to be activated? do you have a video that teaches? or can you describe?
Thanks...
Hey Julian, I am following most of your videos on youtube about google anaytics and tag manager. I would like to take up your course on udemy. But i want to know if there is a demo account where I could set and check the tags if I take the course on udemy.
That Udemy course is slightly outdated now. Here is the updated version with the demo account for you to use: measureschool.com/products/gtm-beyond-the-basics/
How to track conversions for Cross domains?
normally. It's all in one session. So there is no difference between cross-domain or not (for conversions)
@@MeasureSchool suppose domain A and domain B are tracked as cross Domains, I want to track form submission on domain B as a goal in Google analytics, Will i track it as a goal in the Same Google analytics account?
Dude, I've been following you for years. You still look like a boy... and it's only that grey hair you start getting that shows me it's been years. Thanks for your work!
Thanks for the great video
Great stuff every time sir :-)
Hi Julian. I currently have cross domain tracking set up, and I have it set up on sub-domains. Someone a long time ago, told me to set it up that way because my sub-domains careers.mywebsite.com and ecommerce.mywebsite.com are hosted on different servers than our root domain mywebsite.com.
My question is... If I remove those sub-domains from my Cross Domain Tracking, but I leave the GTM tracking code on the pages, will these still track? Or because they're hosted separately, and DNS is set up differently, should I leave it the way it is?
The cross domain tracking don't have anything to do where your domain is hosting or DNS set up. So it's doesn't matter.
Another thing is that, careers.mywebsite.com + ecommerce.mywebsite.com + mywebsite.com, are all belong to one domain, they are just different subdomains.
Technically you don't need cross-domain tracking, just make sure your auto cookie setting is true in GA variable setting(which will create cookie in the root domain, so all your subdomain will have access to), you should be all set.
Can You create a video for Mobile App tracking with GTM FIREBASE AND GOOGLE ANALYTICS?
Thanks for your suggestion, Nandan.
@@MatthewMiao welcome
Thanks
Thank you for an awesome video Julian!
1. I did the exact steps like you presented in the video.
2. Also, I created Conversion Tracking tag in GTM and inserted Conversion Action details from Google Ads. Tag is set fire when visitor goes to /thankyou (after form submission). Thank you page is on cross domain.
Question: Should I modify Conversion Tracking Tag in order to work properly on cross domain thank-you page or just do what you did in the video and then I could see conversions in Google Ads?
Thank you so much for doing excellent work on your channel!
Did you end up figuring this out Jovan?
Trying to setup conversion tracking for checkout on another domain and something's not quite right
Hello, I like your video. Can you explain it more clearly? I want to see the reports in Google Analytics, how demoblog.com and demoshop.com will display traffic when the same GA account. Assuming I have 100 domains, see the report ???
Thanks again Julian. Having a couple of issues in my implementation and I've got a couple of questions:
1. Would this setup still work if demoblog.com in your example was redirected from demoshop.com/blog in the main navigation or would you need to do something different with the linking domains in Tag Manager?
2. Does the same Tag Manager container need to be installed on both sites or would it still work if demoshop.com had Tag Manager with GA installed and demoblog.com just had GA installed (without Tag Manager)?
This problem is interested in me as well. Which one is the correct solution?
Same question
Can you create a demo how to track hubspot chat events using gtm? Thanks
Hi, Ynah, Thank you for commenting, so in most cases, the live chat on the website lives on the , which make it a pain to track inteaction with GTM.
Here is an article I find that talking about tracking Hubspot chat with GTM, you can have a look:
integrate.hubspot.com/t/tracking-on-hubspot-chat-with-google-tag-manager/7157/8
Hello Julian, do you do consulting or you can recommend someone? I am one man show running small talent agency company and I am looking for tech to help me to set up correctly and if there anything else missing with Adwords Remarketing -Analytics- tag manager- Crate audience to help me to for my company to have a better results 🙂. I hope to hear from you have a nice day Tatyana
Hi Aerial, Yes, we do have services that may help you.
You can find more information here:measureschool.com/services/
Hi Julian,
I have added the cross-domain traffic as explained in the video, but I do not see the changes in real-time Top Active Pages when I go through one page of sub-domain to another.
I see them only when I refresh the subdomain page, which is not right. (To mention, I don't have the same problem when I see the same domain on separate Google Analytics account which had been made only for the subdomain).
Do you have a separate GA account for each individual page? How is that setup? It might interfere with the cross-domain tracking
Thanks a lot for the content you put out. It's very helpful.
However, after doing what you teach in this video it's still not working for my scenario, let me explain...
I run a Shopify store and use the Shopify Buy Button. The frustrating thing (it's an understatment) with that Shopify Buy Button is that it brings the visitors to a mystore.myshopify.com pop up (instead of staying on mystore.com).
to me it's 2 problems:
- it doesn't look very trustworthy to the potential customer when they see the domain changes all of a sudden (and it reveals that you have a Shopify website)
- it shows as 2 different users on Google analytics (the exact issue you talk about on your video)
I did what you describe in your video, unfortunately, still 2 users on GA live view... Huh...
The question is: How can we link the same GTM to both mystore.com and mystore.myshopify.com?
I think that's where the problem is from for us.
Any help is appreciated!
But does this work with Safari?
(Thumbs up if you have the same question in mind)
I was briefly hoping, that you got rid of the annoying intro music :D Well if you need a new one, I can create one for you. And thank you for this video!
sure, I'm open to change it if you produce a good one
When doing this, your homepage url sessions will surely be inflated when you have different domains using the same GA tag, ie someone visits one website and then the other in your example, you’d have two homepage visits (displayed as “/“ in page behaviour). How do you separate these to prevent skewing homepage visit data?
with a Include Hostname filter in your view filters
MeasureSchool thanks!
Hey Julian I have a website that has a schedule button that goes to my scheduling software to complete the action (a scheduling software domain that I do not own). Unfortunately, the thank you page is also on that software domain (I am going to see if I can get the company to change that). Does cross domain tracking still work in this case or am I out of luck when I don't own the domain where the conversion is occurring?
I have Acuity Scheduling which has a native GA integration. If yours does too and you put the same GA on both domains it should work. Worked for me in GA4. Now I'm trying to figure out how to replace the native integrations with GTM GA4 but that's another story.
If the users path is sourcedomain.com to targetdomain.com then back to sourcedomain.com, how do you make sure the User ID is carried through all three steps?
Jesse, Good question. I used to have the same question too.
So what I understand now, is that both from domainA.com to domainB.com, and then go back, they are all using the same GA setting variable(If you are doing through GTM), and so it will all have the same settings of allowlinker domainA.com, domainB.com. So they will all linked together.
Anyway, this is how I think. Let me know what you think?
If the user path is A domain to B domain then back to A domain it will be 1 user 2 session, depends on the situation, if this happens a lot (like an expected behavior) and you do not wish the second entry be reported as referral:
1. You do not have access to modify B domain> set up GA referral exclusion
2. You have access to modify B domain> set up GA referral exclusion and cross domain tracking in GTM
starts at @6:54
This is UA though not GA4
Great instructional video as always! When implementing this, do you recommend changing the settings in GA to show the full page URL in reports (support.google.com/analytics/answer/1012243?hl=en) in order to differentiate between the home pages (or any other page with matching page paths) on the connected sites? This is what we've done in the past, but I wasn't sure if there is a better way of doing this now.
Personally, I think it's a must and best practice to set up filter as you mentioned to restructure the page URL.
We need to include the domain to differentiate pages across different domain.
kkk, you are funy. many thnks
why funy?
Hi Julian I endorse what Alena Kleder wrote. thanks too. Would you hav any tips on setting up multiple cross domain tracking?
what do you mean by multiple cross domain tracking?
@@MeasureSchool First of all Julian thanks for replying to this. Greetings from Cologne. I have breathing digital marketing for the past year and was asked to implement tracking for a chain of hotels in Cologne. However, the hotel website is one domain, where guests book is another domain and there is a third domain where people book gift vouchers. I was wondering if the procedure is exactly the same as on this video of yours. Or whether I should do anything additional. I really appreciate your reply and am a super fan. :)
@@MeasureSchool I guess what I am traing to ask is whether it does not matter how many extra domains there are. Would the procedure be the same for domain a, b, c together - for example.
Hey, thanks for the wonderful video. at 10:01 I see you mentioned GA will look though the website and if it finds the configured domain, it will attach the session information. Then you click on the 2nd link from your 1st website to redirect. I want the same thing except going from 1st domain to 2nd domain. My use case is if user comes on 1st domain, close tab and goes to 2nd website. What changes should I make in the process to follow this?
I have mentioned a complete use case in this question on stackexchange, please have a look if you got sometime. thanks
webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/129855/track-visitors-across-different-domains-using-google-analytics-even-when-they-do
the amount of ads in this video is ridiculous lol
Hahahahahahahahaaaa ngomong opo to mas