Tracking Search Term click-through

Using PHP

[kapow]

Tracking Search Term click-through.

One of my client's web-hosts doesn't provide stats with 'arguments' in the tracking url e.g. www.domain.com/?source=term1

How can I create a tracking and forwarding page on another host that will capture this info?

- Using PHP

- Captures: referer and requested url with argument.

- Forwards to my clients site.

- Overture insist that the back button must work - so when somone clicks 'back' on my clients site then my tracking page must send them back to the search engine they came from.

[PPCBT]

Kapow:

You are asking a couple of different questions here:

First do you know PHP? Or any other scripting languages?

What platform are you running on now?

These are the first questions that need answers.

Implementing scripting calls from within your HTML that are going to pass "Server" processes to another HOST, is not necessarily an easy task.

An easier solution would be to use the URL's with the arguments in the various PPC engines, such as:

[mydomain.com...]

Your URL should resolve normally, but this information would be captured in your log files. Log Analysis software such as Webtrends could then be configured to do some reporting that would isolate these URL strings.

Overture,Findwhat Ah-ha, Kanoodle (clumsy interface for this) allow you to use unique URL's for every keyword bid you have listed.

Some of the other PPC's, it is a special request situation.

[amoore]

1. Make your overture ads point to a host that has the logging capabilities you need
   
2. make that host return a HTTP redirect (like with a Location: header), not a HTML redirect using a refresh tag, pointing the the correct location
   

You can back-button through those with almost every browser I've ever seen, they're nearly unnoticable to the user, and you can have your stats where you want them in the form you want.

It's not a perfect solution, but I can't think of a reason that it won't work. I've used it.

[kapow]

Thanks Amoore - that sounds like what I'm looking for.

Are you saying that a 'HTTP redirect' will allow me to pick up the main stats on my host before a visitor is re-directed? AND if the visitor hits 'back' they will end up back at the search engine? (I only need the 'argument' info from the url, I normally find this in the 'request report' on my 'Analog' stats.

How do I create a 'HTTP redirect'?
Is it something in the .htaccess?

- The host I use that provides good stats use: Unix, Apache and PHP.
- I know basic php (I can get help for the advanced stuff).

PPCBT: I only want to re-direct people to the 2nd host after I have collected the arguments from the urls in the stats. I don't need to do anything else on the 2nd host/server.

[sudden]

You could use the following JavaScript. It redirects the user without having the redirect page itself in the history.

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
window.location.replace("http://www.domain.com");
</SCRIPT>

Of course, this doesn´t work when JavaScript has been disabled. However, looking at our logfiles, 99% seem to have JavaScript enabled. :)

A Meta-Refresh BEHIND the JavaScript might be a good idea anyway:

<NOSCRIPT>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT='0; URL=http://yoursite.html'>
</NOSCRIPT>

This should do the trick.

(edited by: tigger at 5:24 pm (utc) on Mar. 14, 2002)