Google Analytics Urchin Tracking Code Upgraded

December 23rd, 2007

GoogleWith little fanfare, the Google Analytics team replaced the venerable Urchin code with a fancy new tracking engine called ga.js. Google recommend upgrading from Urchin to the new, faster ga.js. To do so, go to your Analytics page and get the snippet where you previously got your Urchin snippet.

Why upgrade? What’s in the new version? Not much yet, but development on Urchin has halted apparently in favor of the new tracking engine (that I wish had a name!). As new features are added to Analytics, ga.js will be able to take advantage of them. In their own words…

We are also rolling out the new ga.js page tag which we recommend you use for all new accounts and new profiles for new domains. Although your existing urchin.js page tags will continue to work, you may wish to update them to ga.js anyway. This will allow you to take advantage of the most up-to-date tracking functionality as it is added to Google Analytics. An immediate benefit you’ll notice is that the ga.js tags allow you to track ecommerce transactions in a more readable way. And, we’ve created a special resource on the ga.js javascript for power users who want more control over Google Analytics tracking. If you do choose to update your site to ga.js, please note that the old tracking code (which uses urchin.js) and the new tracking code (which uses ga.js) will not work if placed on the same page together.

Check out your Analytics home page or the Analytics Blog for more details.

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