February 22, 2006

Back in November, Amit Agarwal wrote about preventing Google Analytics from tracking visits via an edit to the Windows Host file. This is an effective work-around for excluding traffic from internal PCs with dynamic IP addresses, but tweaking the Hosts file is a bit tricky for the average user. Plus, if you've got dozens or hundreds of employees, it's really not practical.

Using Google Analytics' Visitor Segmentation, you can achieve the same result, much more efficiently and with a lot less work on your internal users' end.

Create a hidden page on your website, using the following tag:

<body onLoad="javascript:__utmSetVar('internal');">

In the best case scenario, this page is hosted behind a password-protected Employees Only area. You can also use a link, calling the __utmSetVar function via an onClick event, if you so choose.

Now broadcast the URL for this page only to the employees you wish to exclude from Google Analytics' data.

Lastly, create an Exclude Filter with the following criteria:

Filter Type: Exclude
Filter Field: User Defined
Filter Pattern: internal
Case Sensitive: Off

Don't forget to apply the filter to your profile.

Once your employees visit the page, their browsers will be tagged "internal" and their transactions, page views, and clickpaths will be excluded from your data.

Interested in learning more about Google Analytics?
Attend our LIVE Google Analytics Seminars for Success training in Chicago, IL Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 and Thursday, September 17th, 2009 or get the latest tips and tricks sent to you via our free, twice-monthly Google Analytics newsletter.

Posted by Michael Harrison, Analytics and Optimization Specialist at 5:29 PM

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Comments

what if I am tapped as internal and I visit someone else's page that has the same code, would I not show up on their results either

Posted by: fred at May 1, 2006 3:56 PM

Fred,

Your "internal" cookie will not, by default, transfer from domain to domain, as Google Analytics uses only first-party cookies. You will only be excluded from the reports of the profile with the filter on it... not by any others.

Hope that answers your question.

Posted by: Michael Harrison at May 1, 2006 4:54 PM

What happens if our internal users use an alternative browser? Do they need to connect to the broadcast URL again in that browser? What happens if the same internal users are off-site in a conference facility? Or if they reset their cookies?

Posted by: Jonathan at September 29, 2006 1:38 PM

Jonathan,

If your internal users are on an alternative browser or if they reset their cookies, they will need to re-connect to the broadcast URL again before they will be filtered out.

Posted by: Michael Harrison at September 29, 2006 3:10 PM

As I understand this:
1. A cookie is created by the function.
2. For all sites in my Google profile, (I have a main site and subdomains in my profile) GA won't count me UNLESS I delete my cookies.
3. If my site re-prompts me for login info I have likely deleted my cookies and should re-enable this cookie.
4. this will work thru DHCP IP address changes.

This sure sounds better than figureing out whe Verizon changed my address and tweaking the filter.

Posted by: David W Snow at October 23, 2008 9:51 PM

@David: You're correct. It's pretty much foolproof.

Posted by: Michael Harrison, Google Analytics Support Tech at November 3, 2008 2:50 PM