Will Google Analytics track traffic if cookies are disabled in my browser?

Question

I want to know whether Google Analytics will track traffic on my website, if my browser has cookies disabled?

I tried to search on Google but couldn't find much information about this question.

I would appreciate if you can also provide me with a source link.

Thanks

Answer 1

No, if you disable cookies, Google Analytics will not track you.

Google Analytics tracks you by creating cookies (or using existing cookies it finds). Then it uses that cookie information in the request it sends to http://google-analytics.com/__utm.gif. That "request" to get the __utm.gif is how the data is transmitted to Google Analytics.

Googling this is a bit difficult, since it mostly just turned up information on the cookies themselves, not what happens when they're disabled.

So, I did an experiment to prove it. I loaded StackOverflow in a fresh FireFox install with cookies disabled.

Below is the list of HTTP requests. Note that it loads ga.js, the Google Analytics script that attempts to track you. But, no request for __utm.gif is made. ga.js merely runs, realizes its unable to create cookies, and as a result has no way to create "state" from pageview to pageview.

Without cookies, Google Analytics would view every single "hit" as its own visit, and each of those visits would be a bounce. This data would be useless. As a result, GA makes the logical choice to just not track those people.

Answer 2

The answer appears to be YES, below is what google has to say.

The "measurement protocol" can even work withOUT cookies or js, it seems to be in beta so you have to request access.

Universal Analytics supports data collection without browser cookies. The Universal Analytics collection methods (analytics.js and the Measurement Protocol) can be implemented and used to collect visitor usage data without cookies. These methods also work if cookies are cleared or disabled. Website visitors that don’t want their visit data reported by Google Analytics can install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on to opt-out.

Source: http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2838718