http-referrer stripped away

[the_nerd]

Maybe I'm totally in the dark, but it looks to me that more and more programs (like norton internet security) cut away the referer info.

I did set up keyword tracking so every order shows the keywords and SE sending the customer - but there's about 50% empty referers, and I just don't believe all those people just open their browser, guess the URL and type it into their browser ...

If that is so (and not just a local problem) we probably only see part of the big picture in our log files. Is there any other way to track keywords apart from analysing http-referer?

I already told my client to ask his customers how they found him and if was through a SE, which keywords they used, but .....

[cgrantski]

You could append a parameter containing the keywords to the end of the URL used in the link.

[cgrantski]

Nerd, could you also explain a little more of what you mean by Norton stripping away the referrer? Do you mean that people using certain Norton products on their computers do not tell a site what the referrer site was, when and if they click on links?

[topr8]

the_nerd

yes we must have a similiar system to you, i think some office firewalls prevent the http_referer info being passed, as we have a similiar experience with 'no referers' which just isn't going to happen when they have hit deep pages in our site.

don't think there is a way around it.

[cfx211]

If you are using conversion tracking urls then the redirects could be stripping your referrer out. This happens a lot in newsletters sent out by mailing houses and with PPC.

[the_nerd]

Nerd, could you also explain a little more of what you mean by Norton stripping away the referrer? Do you mean that people using certain Norton products on their computers do not tell a site what the referrer site was, when and if they click on links?

Yes, exactly. I first realized this when I wanted to track referals to my site using http-referer.

The idea was to store the refering URL of the dealer in a database, compare the http-referer to the database string and then give the dealer some credit. This way I could have gained a couple hundred clean links to my homepage without any parameters or rewriting.

Worked nice on my dev machine - then I went home and it cost me 3 hours to find out why it wouldn't work there: Internet Security filtered out the referer.

[GeorgeGG]

Internet Security filtered out the referer

If they don't have JavaScript disable you might log
the JavaScript 'document.referrer'.

GeorgeGG

[volatilegx]

I believe the property document.referer may be populated by the HTTP_REFERER header.

[GeorgeGG]

I believe the property document.referer may be populated by the HTTP_REFERER header.

Not always, I would take the document.referer over the HTTP_REFERER any day,
at least the last 6 years that I have been logging them :)

If the user has JavaScript enabled and the document.referer is set, you can usally get it
even behind a firewall, proxy, e-mail, news group post and even sticky mail.

Also can add JS code to a FORM to pass it on as a hidden field:
<script TYPE="text/javascript">
document.write("<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"REF\" value=\""+document.referrer+"\">");
</script>

GeorgeGG

[volatilegx]

I'm definitely happy to be corrected.

Maybe I should go back and do some coding changes on my own sites now. :)

[the_nerd]

GeorgeGG,

If the user has JavaScript enabled and the document.referer is set, you can usally get it
even behind a firewall, proxy, e-mail, news group post and even sticky mail.

thanks for sharing!

But, how do you take home the info to the server if the user clicks a link instead of a form? Some kind of hidden http-request started when loading the page?

nerd

[GeorgeGG]

Well never tried to use it with a link, just have some JS on a page, about like:
[webmasterworld.com...]
Msg #8

Sticky if needed :)

GeorgeGG