UPDATE: Hopefully this is a better explanation of the problem:
I'm trying to pass on the product SKU on my product details page to Google Analytics using _setCustomVar
.
I'm running on Magento 1.4.0.1 and my Analytics async code is inserted by the default GA module in the <head>
section and it looks like this:
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-xxxxxxxx-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>
The custom variable I'm trying to add has this syntax:
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar',1,'View Product','<?php echo $_helper->productAttribute($_product, $_product->getSku(), 'sku') ?>',3]);
According to the Analytic documentation, in order for the custom variable to be recorded, the _setCustomVar
must be called BEFORE the _trackPageView
,
but there's no support for this in the default GoogleAnalytics module. There are 2 issues to this problem:
- How can I add my
_setCustomVar
function BEFORE the default tracking code? - How can I add my
_setCustomVar
function ONLY on product pages?
Original post:
I'm trying to store the SKU of the product being viewed by a visitor in a Analytics Custom Variable. The syntax for this is _gaq.push(['_setCustomVar',3,'View Product','SKU12345',2]);
.
Obviously this snippet of code should be added only to the product detail pages, and not to the list, cart, or checkout pages. So I've tried editing the view.phtml
file in app/design/frontend/default/my_package/template/catalog/product
by adding the following piece of code:
<script>
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar',
1,
'View Product',
'<?php echo $_helper->productAttribute($_product, $_product->getSku(), 'sku') ?>',
3]);
</script>
The problem is that the I'm adding this custom variable AFTER the basic tracking code, which is added by default in the <head>
section, so it doesn't get recorded in Analytics.
I tried to avoid altering the core files with the Analytics module in app/code/core/Mage/GoogleAnalytics/Block/Ga.php
, but I think the solution may lay there.
How can I add the piece of code that sets the custom variable so that it appears within the basic tracking code BEFORE _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
?
This is my async code provided by Analytics:
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-xxxxxxxx-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>
Idea from here
Note: I'm using Magento 1.4.0.1 and the Analytics Asynchronous Syntax