A tagging error can sometimes have serious repercussions because of the fact that nothing has been measured. As a result you cannot rely on the data that has been gathered. To avoid these problems, you need to test the tag before publishing it. If we take the example of a campaign which has been tagged using the redirection method and the xtor variable, the URLs might look like this:

http:\\logxxx.xiti.com/go.url?xts=nnnnnn&xtor=A-B-C-D-E-F&url=http:\\www.mywebsite.com.

The process below will allow you to check if your tag works correctly:

Step 1: Create a new website which is dedicated to tests only
Websites can be added to your account at no additional cost. Log in to your account, go to the Support centre and click on Add a site. This website can then be used for all tagging tests.

Step 2: Declare campaigns on the new website
Please make sure to declare the campaigns as you would declare them on the actual site that is online, in other words with the same campaign IDs. Declare the sites one hour before your tests.

Step 3: Test the URLs in your browser
Carry out the test using the test site ID, by entering the tagged URL into the address bar of your browser.

Step 4: Use real time analysis to check if the tag works correctly.
Check that the values of the parameters within the xtor variable have been retrieved. Real time provides data 5 minutes later.

Step 5: Correct your tag
Keep testing the tag until only the correct data is produced in the report.

Step 6: Publish the tag on the website
Once you have completed the tests and are sure that the tag works correctly, you can then publish it online or transfer it to your IT team or to the agency which is in charge of implementation.

Please make sure to change the ID of the website.

This process of testing tags before online publication will ensure that high quality data is produced, and will allow you to make the right decisions at all times.

This process can be used for all types of tagging:

 Avoiding tagging errors

Author

Head of Client Success – Generaleads Benoit has a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Bordeaux and 10 years of web analytics experience developed while at AT Internet. In early 2015, Benoit joined the Google AdWords specialist agency GENERALEADS as Head of Client Success. In parallel, he’s working on the start-up GetLandy, the first landing page creation tool designed for traffic managers.

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