Hi, I found there is huge difference in google analytics pageviews number and pageviews number on admin panel of discourse. On discourse’s dashboard it is showing 10,000 pageviews however on Google Analytics its only 100. Can anyone please let me know what could be the reason for such a huge difference in tracking of two systems? I have configured Google Analytics script by putting up ga tracking code @ Admin → Settings → Basic Setup

Hmm - ok I’m not seeing that across the rest of our properties so it’s a bit strange.

[image] sam: To me it looks like you had some sort of bug going where zero traffic was reported to analytics. I know we recently reorganised how we do analytics so it is very possible you still have the bug going but our new design works around your bug. Not having checked my analytics for a while, it seems the issue is fixed since early August, so possibly fixed by the change you suggested above! nice one! :grinning: [image]

It looks like Discourse is reporting a pageview to GA on only the first load of the page, but is internally tracking a pageview every time a new page of content is loaded inline. It seems like it’d be more appropriate for Discourse to report a pageview to GA every time the URL updates. For example: load a discussion, URL is /t/topic/1000, scroll to the bottom and the next page of posts comes in, URL updates to /t/topic/1000/20, and a new GA pageview should be logged with that URL.

[image] aaronpk: It looks like Discourse is reporting a pageview to GA on only the first load of the page, but is internally tracking a pageview every time a new page of content is loaded inline. You mean the first page of a topic (the first 20 posts) ? Yes, that’s how it works.

Yes, it looks like Discourse is tracking pageviews internally differently from what it’s reporting to GA, which is why the GA numbers look consistently lower. It would be great to fix it to send a new pageview to GA every time the URL changed.

[image] aaronpk: Yes, it looks like Discourse is tracking pageviews internally differently from what it’s reporting to GA, which is why the GA numbers look consistently lower. No, that isn’t why the numbers are different. This is why: [image] Why there is huge difference in Pageviews tracking number on discourse admin dahboard and on google analytics Data & reporting Since my original message I have reconciled multiple sites multiple times. We simply count differently to what google does. Google uses JavaScript ajax calls to count page views. We work hard only to issue them on first load or when you transition routes (like move from topics to latest list) Our Page View counting is performed on the “raw requests” made (accounting for a header that informs us when to count) Bots, JavaScript disabled are counted by us but omitted from Google. Half of the people browse with Adblock blocking Analytics nowadays, and Discourse internal numbers can count those. [image] aaronpk: It would be great to fix it to send a new pageview to GA every time the URL changed. That be weird. We update the URL for every post, do you think reading this topic warrants 40 pageviews?

[image] Falco: That be weird. We update the URL for every post, do you think reading this topic warrants 40 pageviews? You’re right, updating on every post would be too much. However, loading in the next page of posts should count as a new pageview. (and using the URL that is in the address bar is a natural fit for this.) Otherwise we end up with pageview numbers in GA that are much lower than actually representative of forum activity.

Digging out this one… @sam I found the post below from you which exactly described what Discourse and what Google Analytics counts as a “page view”. [image]Traffic Dashboard Stats ###What do I think a page view should be? A non ajax HTTP GET request that is served successfully An ajax HTTP GET request that is “decorated” by the Ember router on route transition. a. When you move from topic list to topic, we count a page view b. When you move from the topic page to the user page we count a view c. When you switch filters on the user page we do not count a new page view Is that still how page views are counted? We are trying to reconcile if and which analytics tools to use in the future since so far GA, Plausible and Fathom all are undercounting the page views compared to Discourse’s own analytics.

[image] jrgong: Plausible and Fathom all are undercounting the page views compared to Discourse’s own analytics My wild and uninformed guess is that they have a piece of javascript that doesn’t get fired again when those ajax calls get made. Or it may even load only once per session.

@codinghorror @sam I’ve been looking through the forum and it seems that everyone is having the opposite problem I’m having. ie: every one is reporting discourse reporting more pageviews than GA. I’m experiencing the opposite. When I looked into it, it shows that it is indeed firing 2 events for each pageview Once for GA4 and then for a UA account. I think we used to use UA but we don’t anymore. Yet, if I have anything in the “ga universal tracking code” field when inspecting the page I see both the new GA4 code as well as the old UA code. If I remove the " ga universal tracking code" value, both of the above JS includes disappear from the page. How do I debug this? Should I look at the database for the UA code value and figure it out that way? I’ve looked in the SiteSettings table and I found only the GA4 code.

Why there is huge difference in Pageviews tracking number on discourse admin dahboard and on google analytics

Community Building Data & reporting

Falco (Falco) July 20, 2019, 11:22pm 40

No, that isn’t why the numbers are different. This is why:

Half of the people browse with Adblock blocking Analytics nowadays, and Discourse internal numbers can count those.

That be weird. We update the URL for every post, do you think reading this topic warrants 40 pageviews?

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Why there is huge difference in Pageviews tracking number on discourse admin dahboard and on google analytics

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