question about referring URLs, and the alternatives

[thwart]

I'm an seo who is traveling outside my normal scope. I have a noob question on tracking referral URLs.

Other than appending parameters onto a URL and creating dupe URL issues, are these the other ways of recording referrals?

1) to install code on the landing page that captures referral info into a cookie (allowing to 301 the referral URL). This makes sense provided the user has cookies turned on. is this how Google Analytics conversion tracking was done?


2) to install code on a landing page that captures referral info into a database (allowing to 301 the referral URL). This seems to be better than a cookie.

Thanks, any thoughts in non-tech speak would be greatly appreciated!!!

[beu]

Redirects can obstruct analytics code from launching which results in not properly identifying referrers. In those cases the referrer may be listed as "direct URL", "Typed URL", "bookmarked" or similar.

GA uses up to 5 first party cookies to track visitors and store information. The data is stored in a logfile.

Analytics is one of the best ways to track user data including referrals in my opinion.

[AussieWebmaster]

The referral capture info method does not allow for subsequent visit information being tied in to the mix... you can lose the marketing info if they come back via a bookmark or type in....