Google got a lot of attention last week when it introduced some really cool new features in Google Analytics. One of these features, Event Tracking, is enabled by a new version of the Google Analytics Tracking Code (GATC).
This is a big change. Updating the GATC on our site can be a big project if you have a complicated implementation. If the GATC is not correct then tracking will cease and you’ll loose data. Migrating can be complicated because there are now two versions of the tracking code (urchin.js and ga.js) AND they’re incompatible.
Please note that the new tracking code has not officially been launched. It is currently in beta and should be out soon.
To help everyone transition from the old tracking code to the new tracking code some of the guys at EpikOne completely rebuilt SiteScan to support the new GATC.
For those of you that don’t know about SiteScan, it is a tool that scans the pages on your site for the GATC and insures that your installation is correct. The new version of SiteScan will parse your pages for the old tracking code (urchin.js) OR the new tracking code (ga.js). But here’s the best part…
SiteScan is Now Free!
That’s right, SiteScan is free… for everyone. So go on, give it a try. There is no reason not to.
Features
Besides being free, SiteScan has some other cool features.
The new SiteScan is smart enough to know what functions should, and should not, be used with each version of the tracking code. So, if you’re using ga.js SiteScan will know that you should NOT be using urchinTracker(). (If you have no idea what ga.js is check out this post).
Once SiteScan scans your site it spits out a CSV file listing all the pages scaned and any issues on each page. For those of you who used SiteScan in the past you know how hard it was to interpret the results. The new CSV file makes it extremely easy to find problems with your installation. Check out these sample results (right click and choose Save As).
The Brains and Brawn
A big congratulations to Alex and Casey who put a ton of work into SiteScan. Great job guys!
I was JUST looking for something like this. I have a possible new client that I’m convinced some of their pages are missing the urchin code. Thank you for the tip.
Very smart tool, guys! Thanks a lot.
This is a great tool that scanned our site very quickly. It even found a couple pages with incomplete scripts.
Thanks for sharing.
Adam Oakley