Vanity URL Not Showing In Google Analytics :-(

Marketing
1

Buongiorno from 13 degrees C dull & overcast Wetherby UK :slight_smile:

This URL www.ramsdens.tv forwards to http://www.ramsdensforcash.co.uk The referral data in Google analytics is not showing ie you can see any referral paths, click here for evidence:
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/zymurgy_bucket/tv-url-no-data_zps3ffe54e6.jpg

I understand the forward URL was set up at DNS level which means there is physical page so my question is please:

"How can you track referral traffic from a URL that is sent to forward at DNS level such as:
www.ramsdens.tv forwards to http://www.ramsdensforcash.co.uk "

Methinks you have 2 options:

  1. See if the company you registered the url with has a tracking function
  2. Host an index page for ramsdens.tv and set up a meta forward instruction

Bottom line being I need to see the referral data appearing in the Google analytics for ramsdensforcash.co.uk

Grazie tnato,
David

2

Zygoma,

Have you tried moving your redirect to a server configuration file like .htaccess and doing it there? Are you saying that your DNS settings are configured in a way to point at the other domain? If so, analytics will never see this. You have to redirect the page at the server level in order for it to show up as a referral.

Also, I would avoid doing a meta refresh. That does not promote a good user experience.

More on using .htaccess,

http://webmaster.iu.edu/tools-and-guides/maintenance/redirect-htaccess.phtml

Hope that helps,

Shawn