Persistent URL query string throughout the entire site?

Question

This is one of those situations where I feel like there is a simple answer right in front of me...hopefully you guys/gals can show me the light.

PROBLEM :

I have a client that wants to maintain a query string across all pages on their site, only if they arrived at the site via a link that contains the query string.

This query string would also need to be passed with any external link from the site.

INFORMATION :

An example of the query string :

?utm_medium=<ad_placement>&utm_source=<ad_source>

(Obviously this is for tracking conversions from ads)

We're currently tracking all this stuff via Google Analytics (so, yes, I know that's an alternative), this is for an extra layer of reporting.

I did not code their site, which brings it's own set of issues (example: I'm not even sure they use a common header among all pages) - so I'm hoping there is a KISS answer out there for this.

Any suggestions?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 14 '13 at 13:12

2

So - the answer here was this :

Use JS to grab the query string
Validate the query string
Add to a cookie
Append the cookie'd query string to every href in the DOM

Like I said...I knew there was a simple example staring me in the face haha!

answered Aug 14 '13 at 13:12

aepearson

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 13 '13 at 16:37

1

If you just want to persist this exact query string on each page, why not set the linked pages to insert the string into a session variable. Then on each page link check to see if the session variable exists and add it to the query string when redirecting.

answered Aug 13 '13 at 16:37

Seano666

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Great suggestion @Seano666 - this is probably what I'll end up doing. I was hoping for a higher level solution that would not involve modifying (potentially) dozens or even hundreds of files/links (...part of the baggage that comes along with working on another programmer's site sometimes I guess...). I wonder if there is an .htaccess solution...hmmmmmm – aepearson Aug 13 '13 at 17:44
If every link on every page is made the same, say an tag or a
with a certain class, you could include a master .js file that on page load seeks them out with a jquery selector and adds on to the href. Something like that, just an idea.
– Seano666 Aug 13 '13 at 23:02
That's pretty much the route I decided on. Basically use JS to grab the query string, check it for a match against the required persistent vars, store in a cookie, then append to all hrefs in the DOM. Thanks for your suggestions! – aepearson Aug 14 '13 at 13:11

Amit Kumar Singh · Answer 3 · 2017-10-03T17:12:00.257

This question is old and obviously must have been solved by now by @aepearson. Adding another answer from current day perspective.

Now, one can also easily use sessionStorage also to save navigation data into a key. Pick it up whenever required, and add to url.

Example from Mozilla

// Save data to sessionStorage
sessionStorage.setItem('key', 'value');

// Get saved data from sessionStorage
var data = sessionStorage.getItem('key');

// Remove saved data from sessionStorage
sessionStorage.removeItem('key');

// Remove all saved data from sessionStorage
sessionStorage.clear();

Persistent URL query string throughout the entire site?

3 Answers3

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