Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) - Google Support

The UTM Sensor enables client-side data collection, which is then funneled back through the web server augmenting the normal logfile. The client-side ... SkiptomaincontentUrchinTrackingModule(UTM)Overview Thepatent-pendingUrchinTrafficMonitor(UTM)availableinUrchin4 wasspecificallydesignedtoprovidethemostaccuratemeasurements ofuniquewebsitevisitors.Forbusinesseslookingtogetadeeper understandingoftheironlinevisitorbehavior,theUTMisan extremelyvaluabletechnologythatcombinesthebestofclientand serversideinformationwhilelettingyoucontrolthedata.Easyto install,thistechnologyallowsbusinessownerstoexactlyidentify uniquevisitors,clickpaths,andreturnloyaltymetricsincluding: firsttimevisitors,returningvisitors,andfrequencyofuse. TherearetwocomponentstotheUrchinTrafficMonitorSystem:the UTMSensor,whichisalightweightmoduleinstalledintothecontent ofthewebsite;andtheUTMEnginewhichispartofthelog processingUrchinEngine.TheUTMSensorenablesclient-sidedata collection,whichisthenfunneledbackthroughthewebserver augmentingthenormallogfile.Theclient-sideinformationis combinedwiththeexistingserver-sidedatabytheUTMEngineto provideamoreaccurateandcompletepictureofwebsiteactivity. TheUTMSensorisasmallamountofJavaScriptcodethataccomplishes twoimportantfunctions.First,theSensornegatestheeffectsof cachingbyforcingatleastonehittoprogresstotheoriginalweb serverforeachpageview.Theimpactontheserverisminimal,and thedetailsabouttheadditionalhitareloggedintothenormalweb logfilesresultinginamorecompletedataset.Secondly,theUTM Sensoruniquelyidentifieseachvisitorbyusingclient-sidecookies tokeeptrackoffirsttimeandreturningvisitors.Thiscookie identifierisacommunicationtagonlyviewabletoyourwebserverin thesamenatureassessionids.Itisnotathirdparty cookie,whichprovidesinformationoutsideyoursystem,violating manyprivacypolicies. TheabovediagramillustratestheoperationoftheUTMSystem.The webserverinthemiddleofthediagramprovidestwobasicfunctions: contentdeliveryandlogging.Thecontentofthewebsiteincludes theUTMSensorwhichisdeliveredtotheusersbrowser,shownonthe left.TheUTMSensorsetsuniqueidentifiersandsendsanadditional requestbacktothesamewebserver.Thisadditionalrequestis loggedintothenormallogfilealongwithallofthenormal traffic.TheUTMEngine,whichispartoftheUrchinlogprocessing engine,understandsthisadditionaldataandmergesthetwotypesof datatogetherprovidinganaccurateandmorecompletepictureof visitorbehavior. UTMSensor TheUTMSensorincreasestheaccuracyandcompletenessoflogfile databynegatingtheeffectsofcachingandproxying.Thefollowing exampleillustrateshowtheUTMSensorhandlescaching.Showninthe figurebelow,theuserreceivesthecontentofapageviewfromthe cachedmemoryofthebrowser.Thistypicallyoccurswhentheuser goesbacktoapreviouslyviewedpage.Thesamemodelappliesifthe cachingisprovidedbyaserviceprovider.Intheexample,the contentforpage"X"isnotdeliveredfromthewebserver,butfrom thecachedmemoryofthebrowser.Atthispoint,thereisno knowledgeofthepageviewasitisnotseenbythewebserver. However,theUTMSensoractivatesanadditionaluniquehitthat forcesatleastonesmallrecordbacktotheoriginalwebserver. Thisinformationisloggedinthenormallogfile,whichnowhas knowledgeoftheoriginating"X"pageview. ThesecondimportantfunctionoftheUTMSensoristouniquely identifybothsessionsanduniquevisitors.Throughapatent-pending combinationofbrowsercookies,theSensordetectsandinitializes theuniquevisitorandsessionidentifiersallowingexactmonitoring ofnewandreturningvisitorsregardlessofserviceproviderproxy behavior.Mostserviceproviderstakeadvantageofproxyingby recyclingIPaddressesandclusteringusersbehindfirewalls.This cancauseproblemswithnormallogfiletracking,whichtypically utilizestheIPaddressasanidentifieroftheuser. Intheexampleshowninthefigurebelow,theUTMSensorisableto piercetheveiloftheproxybyutilizingthecookieidentifiers insteadoftheIPaddresses.Inthefigure,afirsttimeunique visitoraccessesthewebsitethroughafirewallwithIPaddress#1. ThedeliveredPageviewcontainstheUTMSensor,whichsetsthe identifieronthevisitorsbrowser. Onthereturnvisitbythesamevisitorshowninthebottomofthe figure,theuniqueidispassedtothewebserveralongwitheach request.SoeveniftheuserisnowassignedasecondIPaddress, theUTMtechnologyproperlyidentifiesthevisitorwiththeoriginal id.Inadditiontonegatingtheeffectsofcomplexproxying techniques,thisalsotracksvisitorswhotravelandmayusetheir laptopsfromseverallocationsandthroughseveralproviders. OncetheadditionalUTMdataisrecordedinthenormalwebserver log,theUTMEnginewillrecognizeandprocesstheseadditionalhits inordertocreateanexactanalysisofeachclickoftheuser. Duringinstallation,itisimportantthattheloggingformatis checkedforbothreferralandcookieloggingtobepresentsothat alloftheappropriatedataisstored. Installation TherearethreestepstoinstallingtheUTMsystem,whichcanbe accomplishedinaveryshortamountoftime.Complexsitesmaybe abletotakeadvantageofexistingincludesorcentralizeddelivery methodstoshortentheinstallation.Duringinstallation,youwill needaccessandpermissionstomodifythecontentofthewebsite. Youmayalsoneedtomodifytheloggingofthewebserver,whichmay requireadifferentsetofpermissions.Thefollowingthreestepsdo notnecessarilyneedtobeperformedinorder. 1.InstallUTMSensorintoHTMLcontent:Thefirststepin installingtheUTMistoincludetheJavaScriptandGIFcomponentsof theUTMSensorintheHTMLcontentofthesite.Thetwopieces necessaryforcompletingthisstepareincludedintheutil/utm/ folderwithintheUrchindistribution.Itisimportantthatthe namesofthesetwofilesarenotchangedandthattheyarecopiedto thedocumentrootdirectoryofthewebsite.Eitherdraganddrop, upload,orcopythe__utm.jsandthe__utm.giffilesintothemain directoryofyourwebsite. Oncethesefilesareinplace,youwillneedtoincludethe__utm.js fileatthebeginningofeachwebpageinthewebsite.Ifyoursite utilizesserversideincludesandyouuseaheaderincludeforeach file,itispossibletoincludetheUTMinthebeginningofthis includefileonly.Itwillthenautomaticallybeapartofeach webpage.ForstaticHTMLsitesthatdonotuseincludes,youwill needtomodifyandaddtheUTMentrytoeachpageindividually.For dynamicsitesthatuseacontentgenerationengine,theUTMcanbe includedatthebeginningofthetemplatethatisdeliveredtothe customer. Inanycase,thefollowinglineofcodeshouldbeincludedinthe beginningofeachHTMLpagethatisdeliveredtotheenduser.For staticsites,editeachwebpageandaddtheboldedlinebelowbefore therestoftheHTMLcontent. Forsitesthatundergoregularmaintenanceorhavemultipleauthors, besuretobuildtheadditionofthislineintotheyourinternal websiteauthoringprocedures,guidelines,andQAprocesses. 2.Activatecookiesinthelogging:Thesecondstepto installingtheUTMSystemistoverifyandpotentiallymodifythe loggingformatofyourwebserver.FortheUTMtofunctionproperly, itisrequiredthatbothreferralandcookieinformationislogged. Youwillneedaccesstotheconfigurationofthewebserver.The followinggeneralguidelinesshouldworkformostIISandApache users,howeveryoushouldcheckwithyoursystemadministratorto ensureproperformats. ForApacheUsers: Apacheserverstypicallyuseaconfigurationfile called"httpd.conf."Withinthisfile,configurationdirectives determinetheformatandlocationoflogfiles.Bydefault,most ApacheconfigurationswilllogintheNCSAExtendedCombinedformat, whichincludesreferralsanduser-agents,butismissingthecookie information.Besurethatyourlogfilescontainthe"{Cookie}i" fieldspecification.Tomodifyyourloggingformatfromthedefault, a"special"LogFormatdirectivecanbeaddedandthenthelogfiles canreferencethisformatusingtheCustomLogdirective. Theaboveexampleisprovidedasareferenceanddoesnotapplyto allpossibleApachesettings.PleaserefertotheApache documentationandconsultwithyoursystemadministratoronthe actualdirectivesneededtoactivatecookielogging.TheLogFormat directivespecifiesthespecificformatofthelogfile.Theexample showstheadditionofthecookieinformationtotheendofthelog file.Thisformatisthennamed"special"sothatitcanbe identifiedinthevirtualhostconfigurations.TheCustomLog directiveinthevirtualhostspecificationidentifiesthelocation ofthelogfileandtheformattouse.Theexampleuses the"special"formatasdefinedpreviously. ForMicrosoftIISusers: TheInternetServicesManagerprovidesapoint-and-clickinterface foradjustingthewebserverconfiguration.Toaccessthismanager, youwillneedtologintothewebserverwiththeappropriate administratorprivileges. ToaccesstheInternetServicesManager,clickonthe"Start"menu-- > Settings-->ControlPanel,andthendoubleclickonthe Administrative ToolsFolderandthenontheInternetServicesManagericontoopen themanager. Modificationstoeachwebsitecaneitherbemadeindividuallyorthe entireservercanbemodified.Intheleftwindoweitherright-click ontheservernametomodifytheentireserver,orright-clickonthe websitenamesuchas"mysite1.com."Selectthe"Properties"option toopenthepropertiesdialogbox.Fortheentireserver,clickon the"Edit"buttonwith"WWWServices"selectedinthemenutobring upthePropertiesdialogboxshownontheleftbelow. Showninthebottomhalfintheabovefigureontheleft,besure thatloggingisenabledandsettothe"W3CExtendedLogFile Format."Thenselectthe"Properties"buttontoconfigurethelog fileformatspecifics.Thewindowshowntotherightwillappear. Clickonthe"ExtendedProperties"tab,scrolldownandmakesure boththe"Cookie"and"Referrer"boxesarechecked.Ifnot,check theseboxesand"Apply"thechangestothesite. WhetheryouuseIIS,Apacheoranotherwebserver,pleasereferto yourserverdocumentationformoreinformationonconfiguringlogfile formats.Allmajorwebserverssupporttheloggingofcookiesand areeasilymodifiedtoactivatethisfeature. 3.SetUrchinconfigurationtoUTM:Thefinalstepin configuringtheUTMforyoursiteistoenabletheUTMtrackingin theUrchinConfiguration.OpentheUrchinConfigurationeither directlyonthemachineorbylogginginremotelyasthe"admin" user.Yourinstallationinstructionswillprovidemoredetailson howtoaccesstheconfiguration. Onceopen,Clickonthe"Configuration"icontothelefttoprovidea listoftheexistingProfilesintheconfiguration.ToenableUTM trackingforaparticularprofile,clickthe"Edit"totherightof theprofilename.(Note:ifyouhavenotalreadyaddedtheprofile, dosonowusingthe"Add"button).Afterclickingonthe"Edit" button,clickonthe"Advanced"tabtobringuptheAdvancedSettings Window. Underthe"VisitorTrackingOptions"section,usethemenuto select"UrchinTrafficMonitor(UTM)."Clickthe"Update"buttonto saveyoursettings.Thatsit.Theinstallationiscomplete,and futuretrafficwillcontainandbenefitfromthetheUTMSystem.trueVisitorIdentificationMethodsSession-IDIdentificationUrchinTrackingModule(UTM)SearchClearsearchClosesearchGoogleappsMainmenuSearchHelpCenterfalsefalse