Are Parameterized URLS Available in Data Feeds ?

[Alandy_Iceboats]

In Data Warehouse requests the pageURL dimension contains the truncated, non-parameterized version

• In Data Feeds is the original pageURL available in its parameterized form?
• The same question applies to referrers. Is the parameterized version of the referrer available?

[Jennifer_Dungan]

That really depends on how you tracked your site and if the PageURL (g) param was overwritten to a "clean" url instead of passing the full URL....

The PageURL (g) value in Adobe is supposed to be unaltered, while not available in Workspaces, this value is available in Raw Data Feeds and in Data Warehouse extractions using "Page URL" dimension.. but if the tracking implementation overwrote that value with URLs without params, then there is no way to get those back historically... you will have to update your tracking, fix the pageURL parameter and move forward from there.

Referrers, again could be overwritten, but there are additional challenges with referrer, sometimes the security settings of the originator will prevent the parameters from being included in the headers, leaving you with just the main URL... Google did this years ago, this is why we can no longer get search keywords into our tracking, and there is nothing we can do about it. Some referrers will pass all, others won't...  You can check your implementation to make sure that your implementation isn't cleaning the params from referrers, but it may not solve 100% of params being missing.

[Alandy_Iceboats]

The (g) dimension is not altered and I can see that it includes params

When extracting from Data Warehouse (Page URL) I do find that they are all without params, as expected. I do recall, but can't find DW documentation that says they are stripped of params for DW

Now, at some point parameters are needed in the URL to fuel Processing Rules, Marketing Channels, etc

My question is, is that original parameterized (g) dimension at-rest in a parameterized state for Data Feeds?

Further, I do understand the limitations that some originators will strip params

Thanks Jen!

[Jennifer_Dungan]

When extracting from Data Warehouse (Page URL) I do find that they are all without params, as expected.

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That's not expected at all... if you are exporting the Page URL param, it should be as collected...  that's how it always used to work, though I haven't created a new export since getting the new UI, but I really can't see them adding any logic like that... it doesn't make sense.... The whole point of the export is to get the full data....

Unfortunately, I think the "Show post processed data" in the Platform Debugger is broken again... I was going to ask that you confirm if there is a processing rule or Vista rule stripping values out.

You are absolutely right about needing those params for processing rules (though some people aren't always using those, and they implement "clean urls" without understanding the consequences)

This is a silly question, I know.. but can you confirm that you aren't using a custom dimension called "Page URL" (one that is designed to remove the params), instead of the system level dimension?

The standard "Page URL" should be the unaltered g dimension.... 

[Alandy_Iceboats]

I double checked appMeasurement extension and we do not set pageURL in Custom Code or under the "Additional Settings" area of "Global Variables"

I did find this snippet from a related thread with support last year, which is why I assumed that the stripping of params for use in DW was normal

"Query string parameters are actually removed from the reports after processing. So, even if g parameter shows you query strings captured, they are removed from pageURL(in data warehouse or data feed) report after processing"

I'm going to fire up a new thread with them to ask if this is a per-RSID setting

[Alandy_Iceboats]

Jen. I just confirmed with support that they use default setting per-RSID which strips params

I asked about referrer (r) and it too is stripped

It can be changed to keep parameters at-rest if you request

The context in their response that it was a storage size issue

This is an optimal outcome for me, as I don't want any parameters stored after they are used for processing

Support quote "The setting in our tools is to the Clean URL setting. It should apply to any URL based metric"

[Jennifer_Dungan · Accepted solution]

That's interesting.. I swear I have exported full urls with params before... and I don't think we have any fancy settings to keep params.. but it was also years ago, so I might be mis-remembering, or maybe that changed?

Well that is too bad...

I guess if it's being cleaned, your best option is to track the Full URL in a custom HIT based eVar, or to track just the params in a custom HIT based eVar, and export that field instead of the standard Page URL.....

Both of those should be easy to get with a little JS in Launch... 

[Alandy_Iceboats]

Marking the above as the correct reply for those that DO want to preserve params

Either send the entire URL into a var on every HIT, or only the querystring

In my case I want to make sure that no params are preserved at-rest so we do not do the above, though it is the right solution