Show Menu
Cheatography

Google Universal Analytics URL Collect Parameters Cheat Sheet by

An explanation of every possible url parameter set when a tracking call (collect) is triggered by Google Universal Anlytics analytics.js

Google UA is closing. Are you GA4 Ready?

Did you know that as of July 2023, Universal Analytics will stop collecting and processing data. To continue using GA you'll need to migrate to GA4. This is a complete change in archit­ecture of implem­ent­ation and data analysis.
DMPG can help you migrate to GA4 and we offer a free audit of your existing GA implem­ent­ation along with migration recomm­end­ations.

Main Parameters

a
Random number used to link Google Analytics to Adsense (currently not working)
#
cid
Client ID number
*
de
Document Encoding type
dl
The Document Location
dt
Document Title
fl
FLash version
je
Java Enabled? (1=yes, 0=no)
ni
Non-In­ter­action hit type (set as true or '1' in code. Shows as 1 or 0 in parame­ters)
_s
hit Sequence - increments each time an event (inc pageview)
sd
Screen Depth
sr
Screen Resolution
t
the Type of tracking call this is (e.g. pageview, event)
*
tid
Tracking ID (your UA number)
*
_u
Verifi­cation code generated by GA analyt­ics.js
+
ul
User Language code
_v
SDK Version number
v
protocol Version
*
vp
View Port size (browser window visible area)
z
cache buster
# equivalent of the classic analytics utmhid parameter
* must be present on EVERY call to be accepted by GA servers.
+ see http:/­/st­ack­ove­rfl­ow.c­om­/qu­est­ion­s/2­684­904­2/u­-pa­ram­ete­r-i­n-u­niv­ers­al-­goo­gle­-an­aly­tic­s-c­oll­ect­-hits for full explan­ation

Override Parameters

dh
Document Host name override
dp
Document Path - used when overriding the standard page name
ua
User Agent override
uip
User IP override
cd
sCreen name - mainly used in app tracking
linkid
Link ID of a clicked DOM element

Events Parameters

ea
Event Action
ec
Event Category
el
Event Label
ev
Event Value
You will only see any of these when t (type) = event
 

Custom Parameters

cd1...cdN
Custom Dimension value with index number (free=1 to 20, premium=1 to 200)
cm1...cmN
Custom Metric value with index number (free=1 to 20, premium=1 to 200)
cg1...cgN
Content Grouping value with index number (1 to 5)

Campaign Variable Parameters

cn
Campaign Name
cs
Campaign Source
cm
Campaign Medium
ck
Campaign Keyword
cc
Campaign Content
ci
Campaign Id
glcid
Google adwords ID
dclid
google Display ads ID
To register any campaign variables (c*) you MUST populate Campaign Source AND Campaign Medium as a minimum.

Timing Parameters

utc
User Timing Catergory (not universal coordi­nated time)
utv
User Timing Variable name
utt
User Timing Time
utl
User Timing Label
plt
Page Load Time
dns
DNS time
pdt
Page Download Time
rrt
Redirect Response Time
tcp
TCP connect time
srt
Server Response Time
exd
EXception Descri­ption
exf
is EXception Fatal?
 

eCommerce Parameters

cu
CUrrency that the transa­ction takes place in
in
Item Name
ic
Item Code (sku)
ip
Item Price (per unit)
iq
Item Quantity
iv
Item Variation (normally category)
ta
Transa­ction Affili­ation
ti
Transa­ction Identi­fic­ation number
tr
Transa­ction Revenue value
ts
Transa­ction Shipping value
tt
Transa­ction Tax value
You will only see these when t (Type) = transa­ction or item.

App Tracking Parameters

aid
Applic­ation ID
aiid
Applic­ation Installer ID
an
Applic­ation Name
av
Applic­ation Version
ht
HiT sequence number

Other Parameters

aip
Anonymize IP (see note below)
jid
JoinID (binding your GA cookie to Double­Click cookie)
qt
Queue Time (for collecting offline data)
sc
Session Control
uid
User ID (known uid as opposed to cid)
aip: The value of this parameter can be absolutely anything to cause the IP to be anonym­ized. This includes a blank value. $aip=, $aip=0, &aip=1 will all cause anonymity.

Google Experi­ments Parameters

xid
Experiment ID
xvar
Experiment VARiant

Social Tracking Parameters

sn
Social Network
sa
Social Action
st
Social action Targt (normally a url)
                       
 

Comments

dmpg_tom dmpg_tom, 19:16 7 May 14

No worries, glad its helping so many people.

great stuff, thanx though the irony is that _u parameter is causing me headache - any pageview sends duplicate collect requests which only differ on '_u' parameter...

dmpg_tom dmpg_tom, 18:12 10 Aug 15

Sorry for long time to reply. I've updated the _u parameter explanation with notes. If you're still struggling with this issue, let me know a URL where I can see the issue happening or ping me an email on tm (at) dmpg.co.uk and i'll see if i can identify the problem. It's unlikely to be anything other than your code firing off multiple pageview requests as opposed to a config error.

Thank. you. so. much.

dmpg_tom dmpg_tom, 18:13 10 Aug 15

No problem!

Can you set the date and time in the request string ? I'm thinking about offline processing, where the data might be sent a few days after the process took place.

dmpg_tom dmpg_tom, 18:31 10 Aug 15

Hi Phil, sorry for late reply. Depending on what type of data set you want to place in GA, you need either the Measurement Protocol or Data Import using the GA management API.
- Measurement Protocol allows standard GA hits to be sent (pageviews, events, ecommerce data etc) where you specify all the parameters. You can tell GA what time the hit occurred using the Queue Time (qt) parameter (https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/protocol/v1/parameters#qt) however you should note the max recommended offset is just 4 hours!
- Data Import is more for uploading meta data to enrich your hit data, so it's not for sending pageviews, events etc. The exception to that is refunds which are very much a hit data type. Start here https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/config/mgmt/v3/mgmtDataImport
In conclusion, if you were thinking about sending hits within a 4 hour window of them occurring then it's easy but otherwise you may well be out of luck with this one.
NB If you or your client are using GA Premium then there are probably other options open to you.
We are a GA Certified Partner so can help either way. Ping me an email at tm (at) dmpg.co.uk if you would like us to help further.

Bravo!!

Do you know what jid parameter is?

dmpg_tom dmpg_tom, 13:08 3 May 16

Aviv, jid is the JoinID for the DoubleClick beacon. When a site has display advertising enabled each GA hit will be redirected to DoubleClick aswell. The jid (JoinID) is used to bind your existing DoubleClick cookie value with your GA cookie value thus permanently linking the pair together.

Add a Comment

Your Comment

Please enter your name.

    Please enter your email address

      Please enter your Comment.

          Related Cheat Sheets

          Google Analytics Limits and Quotas Cheat Sheet

          More Cheat Sheets by dmpg_tom

          Adobe Analytics (Omniture SiteCatalyst) Parameters Cheat Sheet