Detect if user is a first time visitor, if so, re-direct to page, if not, re-direct to another page

Question

Is there a way to detect if a user is visiting my website for the first time, and if so, redirect them to a page, for example, index-first-time-visitor.php - and if they are not a first time visitor, it sends them to index.php

If there is a way to do this, please demonstrate how.

Cookies, IP address storage, sessions, etc... You need to define your architecture a little more. This is overly broad to get a concrete answer. — George Johnston, Oct 10 '11 at 14:49
set a cookie to never expire when they visit (give it 9999999999999), if they have the cookie on the second visit, then redirect them to the not-first-time-index.php its not perfect, because people like to clear their cashes and cookies all the time, but its the best your going to get. — Waltzy, Oct 10 '11 at 14:54

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 10 '11 at 14:54

12

Put this at the top of your index.php

<?php
if ($_COOKIE['iwashere'] != "yes") { 
  setcookie("iwashere", "yes", time()+315360000);  
  header("Location: http://example.com/index-first-time-visitor.php"); 
}
?>

The cookie will live for 10 years, after that, a user will be a "new" visitor again.

answered Oct 10 '11 at 14:54

Christian Bock

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I assume 315360000=10 years. How do you calculate, let's say, 1 month? – Talha Jan 13 '13 at 13:39
2

@Talha - Simple math really. 315360000 / 10 = 31,536,000 (1 year). 31,536,000 / 12 = 2,628,000 (1 month). – Justin DoCanto Oct 11 '13 at 07:25
1

@Talha - Or you could use Google - just write: 1 month in seconds – Søren Dam Jul 31 '15 at 07:35

Detect if user is a first time visitor, if so, re-direct to page, if not, re-direct to another page

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