• Google Analytics 4

  GA4 _gl parameter appearing when cross-domain tracking is not set up

  Posted by Le on 11 July 2022 at 10:05 am

  So here’s a curve ball for you. I’ve been running UA and GA4 on a site for a good amount of time already, right?

  Out of the blue, a couple weeks back, in-page anchor links started growing these weird, unwanted parameters. It’s like the page needs to refresh every time one gets clicked, you get me?

  The parameters look something like this:

  _gl=1*1sgncz4*_up*MQ..*_ga*NTU1ODYzNjQxLjE2ODM3Mjk0MTI.*_ga_BC9YG14JH3*MTY4Mz 
  cyODM5MS4zLjEuMTY4MzcyOTQxOC4wLjAuMA..
  

  I mean sure, it looks like it’s for cross-domain tracking, but I haven’t touched or set up anything in GTM or GA4 for any of that. I’ve even switched off all the bells and whistles like enhanced measurement and in-page link events. But still, no dice finding whatever is causing this.

  Sophia replied 1 year, 4 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Ava

  Member

  13 August 2022 at 10:13 pm

  The issue you are experiencing is likely due to the “_gl” parameters, which are Google’s Global site tag that helps with cross-domain tracking. This is actually a normal functionality for Google Analytics 4 (GA4), even if you haven’t set up anything specific for cross-domain tracking. These parameters automatically append to URLS when a user navigates through your site. The reason that the page looks like it’s refreshing might be because of the added parameters. If you want to avoid these parameters, you might try using GA4’s ‘exclude URL query parameters’ option. However, this might affect how your analytics collect data. It’s recommended to seek advice from a GA4 specialist or consider reaching out to Google’s support for a more comprehensible explanation and potential solution.

• 

  Sophia

  Member

  11 September 2022 at 3:55 am

  It appears that your website’s in-page links have started including additional, potentially unwanted parameters which may be causing the page to refresh with each click. While these parameters, usually used for tracking user behavior across multiple domains, seem to be related to your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) setup, you mentioned not having made any recent changes to your GA4 or Google Tag Manager (GTM) settings. Despite deactivating certain features in GA4 like enhanced measurement and in-page link events, these parameters persist. The exact cause remains unclear. It would likely require a more in-depth look into your website setup, and potentially consulting with a website developer or a Google Analytics expert to find a solution.

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