Internalize for Google Analytics

Tag your visit to a Universal Analytics enabled site as internal traffic.INTRODUCTION

Use Internalize for Google Analytics to send a custom dimension to the Universal Analytics account of the page you are browsing. This custom dimension can then be used as a profile filter in Google Analytics to block out unwanted internal traffic.

Internalize for Google Analytics can be used when blocking traffic with IP address won't work (e.g. when employee is on the road).

HOW-TO

For this to work, you need to create a new session-scoped custom dimension in Google Analytics property settings. Make note of the index number of this new dimension.

Add the index number to the relevant field in the extension pop-up, and click "Enable Internalize". This will send the custom dimension with the value "true" to the tracking ID. It uses the client ID to add this information to the currently active session.

The extension stores your setting in a cookie which expires in 30 minutes. This is just to prevent multiple pushes of the event in a short period of time.

HOW IT WORKS

The extension uses the XMLHttpRequest() object to send the payload to Google Analytics servers. This payload contains the client ID of the FIRST 'ga' object found on the page. It also contains the tracker ID of this object. What this means in practice is that if you have multiple instances of Universal Analytics running on the page, this current version only works with the one that is initialized first.

The hit is sent as a non-interaction event, with Event Category "Internalize" and Event Action "Enable".

TO-DO LIST

1. Add an Options panel
2. Choose domains for which the extension will only work (now it works for all)
3. Choose a tracker ID for which the extension will only work (it will look for this tracker ID from the 'ga' object)
4. Choose whether just a cookie is set or whether the Measurement Protocol is used as well
5. Add support for multiple tracker IDs

VERSION HISTORY

1.1
- Bug fix: Internalize screwed with YouTube comments, in that they wouldn't load if the extension was loaded.

1.0
- First release