Single or multi top-level tracking

[roligan]

My client has a .com domain which is already tracked in Google analytics.

Now I want to add .ru to the same Google account but I am not sure whether to choose 'A single domain' (default) or 'multi top-level domains'.

Both websites have the exact same domain name except for the extension .com and .ru.

Can anybody please explain the difference between chosing one over the other?

In the default option

pageTracker._setDomainName("none");
pageTracker._setAllowLinker(true);

is added to the tracking code compared to the multi top-level option.

Any input is appreciated.

[rodhull]

Will these two sites have identical content, or completely different, or is one a Russian translation of the other?

[roligan]

The sites are the same. One in English and one in Russian.

[rodhull]

As the sites are in different languages and you are unlikely to find people flitting between the two, I would advise tracking them in Analytics as different domains (so use the default single domain setting). I expect the people who use the two sites will be very different, and it doesn't make sense to track them as one site.

[roligan]

I wonder in what scenario one would want two or more websites being tracked as one.