How do you setup tracking for Mobile websites?

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How do you setup tracking for Mobile websites?

Eljaybe

9:38 pm on Feb 23, 2007 (gmt 0)

Hi. I am using Google Analytics and wondered if there was a way to track a Mobile web page we are creating? Since it is a different URL than the site you access from a computer, how would you track it? Is it just a matter of plugging in a source code to each page?
Is there anything special I would need to do in Google Analytics?

phranque

11:17 pm on Feb 23, 2007 (gmt 0)

all you need to do is plug the tracking code into your page source.
of course if the mobile web browser doesn't support javascript, you won't get anything tracked...

Eljaybe

8:38 pm on Feb 28, 2007 (gmt 0)

Thanks Phranque!
So, then can I track a mobile site with Google Analytics?

phranque

1:14 am on Mar 1, 2007 (gmt 0)

the google analytics code will get served to the mobile browser if you put it in your mobile page source.
if the mobile browser does not support javascript or javascript is disabled, "the google analytics server" will never know that happened, because that code will look like comments and be ignored during page rendering.

so i guess the answer is: yes, you can track a mobile site if it can and wants to be be tracked.

Eljaybe

2:52 pm on Mar 1, 2007 (gmt 0)

[if the mobile browser does not support javascript or javascript is disabled, "the google analytics server" will never know that happened...]

ok, one more question...

From what I understand about Mobile Web access, there are several browsers out there. I'm not sure which phones would be trackable due to the type of browser they have. Do you know if Mobile companies such as Cingular, Alltel, etc. each have their own browsers? And how would I know if a certain browser supports Javascript?

dibbern2

11:42 pm on Mar 12, 2007 (gmt 0)

<quote>And how would I know if a certain browser supports Javascript?</quote>

Given the hundreds of browser versions in the current user base, I don't think you can get an answer to that question. Well, you would -no doubt- track some users using the G Analytics code, but the data would be meaningless: you would have no idea what percent of the real audience the log numbers represented.

Give it a couple more years (maybe less) before expecting too much from log tracking.

Eljaybe

9:34 pm on Mar 19, 2007 (gmt 0)

That appears to be the case. Oh well. We can only hope for some standard in Mobile Web browsers to go into effect, so there aren't so many to track.
Thanks for your comments.