Top 3 Speed Tips for Sites using Google Analytics

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<script type="text/javascript">
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-2452345-5");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
</script>

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-732153-7");
pageTracker._setDomainName("www.askapache.com");
pageTracker._trackPageview();

<script type="text/javascript">
if (typeof(_gat) == "object") {
  var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-732153-7");
  pageTracker._setDomainName("www.askapache.com");
  pageTracker._initData();
  pageTracker._trackPageview();
}
</script>

Reader Comments

1. George Garchagudashvili ~

   this is very important tip for optimization, thanks

2. Simosito ~

   Isn’t using defer="defer" in the script tag the same as putting it on the bottom of the page?

3. Antonio ~

   Not a bad concept but considering 6 out of ten websites out ther uses GA and given that GA script already sets the appropriate caching wouldn’t a user’s browser uses the cached version of GA script by default and as a result that would already have reduced http request and DNS lookup anyways when someone goes to your site?

   And if you were to combine the GA script with your own script in one file (considering if you have do that manually), when Google updates the script, that means you have to update your own script as well. It might be a maintenance nightmare if you have to combine and minify GA script every now and then.

4. cherouvim ~

   @Marin:

   Setting _setDomainName("none") sets all cookies to www.example.com

5. Phaoloo ~

   Great thought about move the script locally. Some pages I visit just waiting for the response from Google site. Although it is just sometimes, but move it locally is great.

6. Marin ~

   Nice tips here. I got some questions remarks:

   #1 apparently it’s not strictly forbidden (but not recommanded) to host our own version of ga.js cf: http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55466

   #2 I tried to set the domainName to my domain (“www.domain.com”) but I received 2 sets of cookies:
   _umtz with domain:”.www.domain.com”
   AND _umtz with domain: “.domain.com”
   in that order (+ other _umt..)
   Can anyone confirm? is this a bug or something else? on FF3 latest

   #3 I would, on top of this, style the DOM container of the ad so that it will have the correct width+height and the whole DOM will not be rerendered when the ad is loaded

7. Steve ~

   Moving external javascript locally is a great idea – thanks for the tip. You only mention Analytics here, do you know if moving or modifying the JS for Adsense violates the terns and conditions?

8. LGR ~

   Interesting idea. Do you have any stats on how much faster the page loads are by doing this?

9. Rick Beckman ~

   Excellent tips, though what happens if Google updates the Analytics code? Is there an easy, low-overhead way of ensuring you’re always hosting the most up-to-date code?

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