[How To] Determine How Much Traffic is From Your vBulletin Archive Pages with Google Analytics

Gosh I got zero for both /archive/ and /sitemap/

Is it because my VB archive is on but on vBSEO I have the default 'Do not add Links to Archive Pages'?

On all my new sites i disabled vB archieve immediately after vBulletin installation and i get really impressive results on tough niches.

I just set up Google Analytics so my stats are Zero. How long should I let Analytics monitor the site before I can get a good idea of whether I should pull my archives?

I would run it for about 30 days. However, if you see no traffic coming in within a couple of weeks then it would be fine to proceed before the 30 days.

Hey joe...thanks. One more quick question. I did a view source and came up with this down at the bottom:

Code:

<script type="text/javascript"><!--
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-*******-1");
pageTracker._initData();

A good portion of the code appears to be commented out. I have it turned on in the control panel and I have the code entered (but not displayed here). Google says it still has not detected the code. Am I doing something wrong?

It should be commented out like that. What is the full code in your source?

Do you mean the entire code for my index page? Also, why is it commented out?

Just the full code of the analytics. It is commented out just like all of javascript. Check all around at javascript scripts.

Code:

<script type="text/javascript"><!--
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-5978535-1");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
//-->
</script>
</body>
</html>

These are the very last lines of code on my index. As far as I can tell, this includes the entire analyitics code. My forums are located at www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums

That looks normal to me. What is the error in your analytics?

Well, there may not be an error. I was concerned that parts of the code that google says are required is commented out. Google had said that it was not receiving data. But apparently while you and I were discussing it, the status has changed to "receiving data". As usual vBseo is smarter than me! .

You guys are great. Thanks Joe.

% of Site Total: 28.83% with /archive/
% of Site Total: 0.00% with /sitemap/

28% seems like a lot too me. What do you guys think?

Thanks, dreck

I did some more figuring and the archives were more than 50% of my income for November. :-(
I am going to have to think about it.

im the tie breaker

We still have the old archive option running (with complete links to the archive on every page) so I am thinking of removing it. I tried to lookup the Analytics Stats of the /archive/ but there is no tracking code on the archives.

I thought the following might work also: since visitors will first visit an archive page, and after that click on a thread that will bring them to the "normal" full thread page, the /archive/ could be considered as a "referrer link". So, if I don't see my own domain as a huge referrer, can I assume that no traffic exist from the /archive/ pages?

What do you think?