where to put google analytics code [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
google analytics at head? or end of body?

The google analytics code has to be put before the HEAD tag. Can anyone tell where do i put the ga code if there is no HEAD tag present in my jsp file?

Answer 1

The correct answer here would be to add head tags to your file. You should be using valid html markup for all your pages, and including head tags (even if empty - though certain other tags within head tag are required, depending on what type of document you are serving. Like..title tag and some meta tags...) is part of a validly marked up document. Not to mention that it hurts your SEO efforts not to have it (with relevant info, like aforementioned title and meta tags..).

However if you insist on not having a head tag in your document, you can place the GA code anywhere; in the head tag is just the optimal place - according to some people.

The logic behind putting it higher up is to give it a chance to track, even if a person tries to leave the page before it is done loading (closing the browser, clicking the redirect button, maybe js on the page redirects, etc...).. However, in my experience, I do not really think these are valid reasons for putting the tracking code high up on the page.

In fact, I would argue against tracking hits such as those. My main question/thought about that is...how can you rightfully say a user viewed the page if they immediately left it, even before it was fully loaded? But that's just IMO.