merb referrals no longer showing in Google Analytics

[tiannas]

Since the server change, I no longer see any referrals from merb in my Google Analytics data. The overall traffic is still there but the majority of my site traffic is now showing as direct hits to the site instead of referrals from merb.

Any other providers noticing the same thing?

Fred, any idea why this might be?

 

[BaronVonKinkazoid]

I have some experience with GA...

What are you tracking exactly? Is it an ad that is directing users from merb to your site or something else? Is this ad correctly linked to your website?

And have you made adjustments in GA since the top level domain has changed?

As well, have you created a Campaign in GA to follow your traffic from ads (blogs, newsletter, whatever)? I think having a campaign might make it a bit easier to track/follow and find out if they are bringing you a good ROI.
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1247851?hl=en&ref_topic=1032998
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en

Or maybe everyone has your website bookmarked and goes straight to it now?

 

[tiannas]

Thanks for the reply Baron.

I have been using the default referral tracking - if I click on a link in my ad or signature on the merb site, it should register as a referral. Merb has always shown as the #1 entry in my referral traffic report, now it`s not even on the list some days, other times I see only a few entries. Interestingly enough I have seen entries from both https://merb.cc and merb.cc over the past week, I don`t know why it would still show as https://merb.cc? At the same time as I appear to have lost all my traffic from merb, suddenly my direct traffic to the site has increased by 1000%! I don`t know how GA knows that a hit is a referral, but something seems to be missing.

Thanks for the information about custom campaigns, this is most interesting. I will try this out and see what kind of results I get.

 

[BookerL]

Thanks for the information about custom campaigns, this is most interesting. I will try this out and see what kind of results I get.

Hi Tiannas
For additional infos on how to do it safely read this https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ecic-ceac.nsf/eng/gv00521.html#q1!
It just came to effect
Regards
BookerL

 

[BaronVonKinkazoid]

Thanks for the reply Baron.

I have been using the default referral tracking - if I click on a link in my ad or signature on the merb site, it should register as a referral. Merb has always shown as the #1 entry in my referral traffic report, now it`s not even on the list some days, other times I see only a few entries. Interestingly enough I have seen entries from both https://merb.cc and merb.cc over the past week, I don`t know why it would still show as https://merb.cc? At the same time as I appear to have lost all my traffic from merb, suddenly my direct traffic to the site has increased by 1000%! I don`t know how GA knows that a hit is a referral, but something seems to be missing.

Thanks for the information about custom campaigns, this is most interesting. I will try this out and see what kind of results I get.

No problem. My pleasure and I hope it helps.

You know, I`m still in the learning phase (I`ve been teaching myself since last summer) and any GA problem like this is a test/learning opportunity for me. So please let me know if you need any more help.

 

[tiannas]

I did setup a campaign and now am seeing my merb referrals again. Also, I can now tell what link the user clicked on, which is kind of neat. Thanks again for the information.
I really do need to spend some time learning GA myself, there seems to be a lot in there and I use so little of it.