Google Analytics Tracking Code Placed Incorrectly #9129

joendotcom · 2018-03-22T20:45:11Z

Summary

User reports that this issue causes trouble with Google Analytics tracking.

Referenced in 1036031-zen.

Steps to reproduce the issue

Starting from a test site with Google Analytics tracking: https://joentest1.mystagingwebsite.com/
View page source
Search for

What I expected

Google Analytics tracking code is shown as outlined in this article:

right after the <head> tag on each page of your site.

What happened instead

Google Analytics code is not inside <head> and instead appears on line 328 (on the test site).

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

georgestephanis · 2018-03-22T21:15:42Z

The code on or about line 328 (bottom of the <body> tag) is:

<!-- Jetpack Google Analytics -->
			<script type='text/javascript'>
				var _gaq = _gaq || [];
				_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-123456789-1']);
_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>

which doesn't line up with the output of the Jetpack_Google_Analytics_Universal::wp_head() method --

jetpack/modules/google-analytics/classes/wp-google-analytics-universal.php

Lines 40 to 84 in d34545c

    
           	public function wp_head() { 
        
           		$tracking_code = Jetpack_Google_Analytics_Options::get_tracking_code(); 
        
           		if ( empty( $tracking_code ) ) { 
        
           			echo "<!-- No tracking ID configured for Jetpack Google Analytics -->\r\n"; 
        
           			return; 
        
           		} 
        
           		// If we're in the admin_area, return without inserting code. 
        
           		if ( is_admin() ) { 
        
           			return; 
        
           		} 
        
           		// At this time, we only leverage universal analytics for enhanced ecommerce. If WooCommerce is not 
        
           		// present, don't bother emitting the tracking ID or fetching analytics.js 
        
           		if ( ! class_exists( 'WooCommerce' ) ) { 
        
           			return; 
        
           		} 
        
           		/** 
        
           		 * Allow for additional elements to be added to the universal Google Analytics queue (ga) array 
        
           		 * 
        
           		 * @since 5.6.0 
        
           		 * 
        
           		 * @param array $custom_vars Array of universal Google Analytics queue elements 
        
           		 */ 
        
           		$universal_commands = apply_filters( 'jetpack_wga_universal_commands', array() ); 
        
           		$async_code = " 
        
           			<!-- Jetpack Google Analytics --> 
        
           			<script> 
        
           				window.ga = window.ga || function(){ ( ga.q = ga.q || [] ).push( arguments ) }; ga.l=+new Date; 
        
           				ga( 'create', '%tracking_id%', 'auto' ); 
        
           				ga( 'require', 'ec' ); 
        
           				%universal_commands% 
        
           			</script> 
        
           			<script async src='https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js'></script> 
        
           			<!-- End Jetpack Google Analytics --> 
        
           		"; 
        
           		$async_code = str_replace( '%tracking_id%', $tracking_code, $async_code ); 
        
           		$universal_commands_string = implode( "\r\n", $universal_commands ); 
        
           		$async_code = str_replace( '%universal_commands%', $universal_commands_string, $async_code ); 
        
           		echo "$async_code\r\n"; 
        
           	}

but does match the Jetpack_Google_Analytics_Legacy::insert_code() method:

jetpack/modules/google-analytics/classes/wp-google-analytics-legacy.php

Lines 56 to 118 in 74e6013

    
           	/** 
        
           	 * This injects the Google Analytics code into the footer of the page. 
        
           	 * Called exclusively by wp_footer action 
        
           	 */ 
        
           	public function insert_code() { 
        
           		$tracking_id = Jetpack_Google_Analytics_Options::get_tracking_code(); 
        
           		if ( empty( $tracking_id ) ) { 
        
           			echo "<!-- Your Google Analytics Plugin is missing the tracking ID -->\r\n"; 
        
           			return; 
        
           		} 
        
           		// If we're in the admin_area, return without inserting code. 
        
           		if ( is_admin() ) { 
        
           			return; 
        
           		} 
        
           		$custom_vars = array( 
        
           			"_gaq.push(['_setAccount', '{$tracking_id}']);", 
        
           		); 
        
           		$track = array(); 
        
           		if ( is_404() ) { 
        
           			// This is a 404 and we are supposed to track them. 
        
           			$custom_vars[] = "_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', '404', document.location.href, document.referrer]);"; 
        
           		} elseif ( is_search() ) { 
        
           			// Set track for searches, if it's a search, and we are supposed to. 
        
           			$track['data'] = sanitize_text_field( wp_unslash( $_REQUEST['s'] ) ); // Input var okay. 
        
           			$track['code'] = 'search'; 
        
           		} 
        
           		if ( ! empty( $track ) ) { 
        
           			$track['url'] = $this->_get_url( $track ); 
        
           			// adjust the code that we output, account for both types of tracking. 
        
           			$track['url'] = esc_js( str_replace( '&', '&amp;', $track['url'] ) ); 
        
           			$custom_vars[] = "_gaq.push(['_trackPageview','{$track['url']}']);"; 
        
           		} else { 
        
           			$custom_vars[] = "_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);"; 
        
           		} 
        
           		/** 
        
           		 * Allow for additional elements to be added to the classic Google Analytics queue (_gaq) array 
        
           		 * 
        
           		 * @since 5.4.0 
        
           		 * 
        
           		 * @param array $custom_vars Array of classic Google Analytics queue elements 
        
           		 */ 
        
           		$custom_vars = apply_filters( 'jetpack_wga_classic_custom_vars', $custom_vars ); 
        
           		// Ref: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/gaTrackingEcommerce#Example 
        
           		printf( 
        
           			"<!-- Jetpack Google Analytics --> 
        
           			<script type='text/javascript'> 
        
           				var _gaq = _gaq || []; 
        
           				%s 
        
           				(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>\r\n", 
        
           			implode( "\r\n", $custom_vars ) 
        
           		); 
        
           	}

which is run in the footer --

jetpack/modules/google-analytics/classes/wp-google-analytics-legacy.php

Line 22 in 74e6013

add_action( 'wp_footer', array( $this, 'insert_code' ) );

The legacy is run instead of the universal code, as evaluates to false:

jetpack/modules/google-analytics/wp-google-analytics.php

Lines 53 to 57 in 2bcd0a0

    
           if ( Jetpack_Google_Analytics_Options::enhanced_ecommerce_tracking_is_enabled() ) { 
        
           	$analytics = new Jetpack_Google_Analytics_Universal(); 
        
           } else { 
        
           	$analytics = new Jetpack_Google_Analytics_Legacy(); 
        
           }

jetpack/modules/google-analytics/classes/wp-google-analytics-options.php

Lines 45 to 48 in 8a61841

    
           // Enhanced eCommerce options 
        
           public static function enhanced_ecommerce_tracking_is_enabled() { 
        
           	return self::get_option( 'enh_ec_tracking' ); 
        
           }

which came from #8182 by @allendav to add support for the newer universal analytics js.

The linked article in the original issue is for gtag.js tracking, which I think is yet another form of google analytics that we may not be explicitly supporting? I'm unsure, but would defer to @allendav on that.

rtrevellyan · 2018-03-22T21:42:40Z

As far as I know, gtag.js is simply the 'latest and greatest' version of the tracking code.

georgestephanis · 2018-03-23T14:06:49Z

Looks like gtag is inclusive of a number of other google stuff as well, such as Google Tag Manager --

https://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2017/12/12/what-is-gtag-google-analytics/

As such, it may be a "do not ever ever ever run on WordPress.com sites" tag as it can allow the inclusion of arbitrary Javascript and lead to XSS attacks on user accounts from malicious wp.com subdomains running nasty custom js that we ordinarily would block.

rtrevellyan · 2018-03-23T14:51:30Z

My desire is to have the GA code inserted in the head, not necessarily to have the use of gtag. When the GA code is not in the head, Search Console will not validate the domain. While there are other ways to validate a domain, when one is already using GA, it makes sense to also validate with GA. I only recently discovered that this was an issue when Search Console tried to automatically revalidate a couple of dozen of domains that we manage and they all failed because I had switched them to Jetpack's GA module (away from the GA Google Analytics plugin).

I believe there may be other issues with GA code not being in the head. I encountered an error message (which I failed to save - doh!) that seemed to be telling me that, because the GA code ran after another code, it failed to recognize the page view and thus could not record its results properly.

georgestephanis · 2018-03-23T16:12:59Z

@allendav Would it be bad to have non-eCommerce ways to switch a site to using the universal tag?

https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/blob/48e65376175054f54659ce50b2316b3e60b37a37/client/my-sites/site-settings/form-analytics-stores.jsx#L97-L105

I suppose we could also just do something like

add_filter( 'option_jetpack_wga', 'force_jetpack_ga_to_universal' );
function force_jetpack_ga_to_universal( $value ) {
    if ( is_array( $value ) ) {
        $value['enh_ec_tracking'] = true;
    }
    return $value;
} );

rtrevellyan · 2018-03-23T21:49:14Z

I see @jeherve marked this low priority. Of course, I don't know how you determine bug priority, but I just want to reiterate that this issue makes Jetpack's GA module useless to me.

allendav · 2018-04-17T18:00:38Z

@georgestephanis wrote

Would it be bad to have non-eCommerce ways to switch a site to using the universal tag?

It would not be bad. Besides a filter like yours, we also have to allow analytics.js to be added when WooCommerce isn't present. I am also trying to remember why I set the priority for wp_head for Jetpack_Google_Analytics_Universal so high (as @rtrevellyan noted it should be near the top, not near the bottom of the head ). Will have a patch shortly to allow for all this. Sorry for the delay.

cc @rtrevellyan

allendav · 2018-04-17T20:11:27Z

@georgestephanis @rtrevellyan @joendotcom - feedback welcome - #9333

rtrevellyan · 2018-04-17T20:23:33Z

I'm puzzled by the choice being between ga.js and analytics.js, instead of between analytics.js and gtag.js. If there's a need to support the legacy ga.js, perhaps that's the version that should be enabled by a filter.

ga.js is a legacy library. If you are starting a new implementation, we recommend you use the latest version of this library, analytics.js. For existing implementations, learn how to migrate from ga.js to analytics.js.

from https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/

allendav · 2018-04-17T21:51:13Z

Hi @rtrevellyan - the jetpack module used to be ga.js only, and then in Jetpack 5.6 I was asked to port the analytics.js code for eCommerce from another one of our plugins to Jetpack. At the time, I wasn't even aware of gtag.js's existence.

Perhaps a future version of this module will add gtag.js support and/or support enabling analytics.js without the filter - please feel free to create such issues if you'd like.

stale · 2018-10-14T22:46:46Z

This issue has been marked as stale. This happened because:

It has been inactive in the past 6 months.
It hasn’t been labeled `[Pri] Blocker`, `[Pri] High`.

No further action is needed. But it's worth checking if this ticket has clear reproduction steps and it is still reproducible. Feel free to close this issue if you think it's not valid anymore — if you do, please add a brief explanation.

simison · 2020-09-16T07:44:43Z

Still an issue.

With https://search.google.com/search-console:

joendotcom added the [Feature] Google Analytics label Mar 22, 2018

joendotcom assigned georgestephanis Mar 22, 2018

designsimply added the [Type] Bug When a feature is broken and / or not performing as intended label Mar 22, 2018

jeherve added the [Pri] Low label Mar 23, 2018

allendav mentioned this issue Apr 17, 2018

Allow universal analytics (analytics.js) to be used without WooCommerce #9333

Closed

rtrevellyan mentioned this issue Apr 17, 2018

GA module: default to 'Universal' analytics.js instead of legacy ga.js #9335

Closed

stale bot added the [Status] Stale label Oct 14, 2018

simison removed the [Status] Stale label Sep 16, 2020

matticbot added the Customer Report Issues or PRs that were reported via Happiness. aka "Happiness Request", or "User Report" label Sep 16, 2020

simison unassigned georgestephanis Sep 16, 2020

kraftbj mentioned this issue Sep 16, 2020

Google Analytics: Move legacy code to head #17184

Merged

github-actions bot assigned kraftbj Sep 16, 2020

github-actions bot added the [Status] In Progress label Sep 16, 2020

jeherve closed this as completed in #17184 Sep 17, 2020

kraftbj removed the [Status] In Progress label Jan 18, 2023

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Google Analytics Tracking Code Placed Incorrectly #9129

Google Analytics Tracking Code Placed Incorrectly #9129

joendotcom commented Mar 22, 2018 •

edited by georgestephanis

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georgestephanis commented Mar 22, 2018 •

edited

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rtrevellyan commented Mar 22, 2018

georgestephanis commented Mar 23, 2018

rtrevellyan commented Mar 23, 2018

georgestephanis commented Mar 23, 2018

rtrevellyan commented Mar 23, 2018

allendav commented Apr 17, 2018

allendav commented Apr 17, 2018

rtrevellyan commented Apr 17, 2018

allendav commented Apr 17, 2018 •

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stale bot commented Oct 14, 2018

simison commented Sep 16, 2020 •

edited

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Google Analytics Tracking Code Placed Incorrectly #9129

Google Analytics Tracking Code Placed Incorrectly #9129

Comments

joendotcom commented Mar 22, 2018 • edited by georgestephanis Loading

Summary

Steps to reproduce the issue

What I expected

What happened instead

georgestephanis commented Mar 22, 2018 • edited Loading

rtrevellyan commented Mar 22, 2018

georgestephanis commented Mar 23, 2018

rtrevellyan commented Mar 23, 2018

georgestephanis commented Mar 23, 2018

rtrevellyan commented Mar 23, 2018

allendav commented Apr 17, 2018

allendav commented Apr 17, 2018

rtrevellyan commented Apr 17, 2018

allendav commented Apr 17, 2018 • edited Loading

stale bot commented Oct 14, 2018

simison commented Sep 16, 2020 • edited Loading

joendotcom commented Mar 22, 2018 •

edited by georgestephanis

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georgestephanis commented Mar 22, 2018 •

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allendav commented Apr 17, 2018 •

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simison commented Sep 16, 2020 •

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