We are experiencing an issue with our WordPress multi-site, which uses the Newspaper theme. The problem involves incorrect tracking of analytics events in Google Analytics, with the wrong Google property receiving a sub-site’s events. We have seen the Analytics/JS Code settings change to use the wrong measurement ID. This affects our ability to accurately track traffic and user engagement.
The timing seems to correlate with theme / plugin updates. Could updates to the theme or any plugins be altering the Analytics/JS Code settings? Are there recommended steps to diagnose and prevent this from happening?
Hello,
Please let me know if you added the code for each subsite in the theme panel.
You need to add the code for each subsite, not only on the main website.
Thank you!
Hi Anamaria, yes – the code is added separately for each subsite in the theme panel.
Hi,
Please provide the links to your websites.
Thank you!
Certainly, below are the main site:
and two sub-sites that are misfiring:
https://santabarbara.bluedotliving.com/
https://brooklyn.bluedotliving.com/
Hi,
I checked, and Google Analytics is not presented on the source page on those websites https://santabarbara.bluedotliving.com/ -> https://brooklyn.bluedotliving.com/
Thank you!
Hello, sorry I’m not entirely sure what you mean. I do see the Analytics tags present on the pages of those sites.
Hello,
You need to add the analytics code for each subsite in the theme panel -> analytics, you need to have a different tag for each website
Thank you!
We do have a different tag on each sub-site. The issue is that it seems to change on its own periodically, we suspect after theme and plugin updates have been applied.
Hi,
Please try to use this plugin on each website/subsite https://wordpress.org/plugins/insert-headers-and-footers-script/ to set the code to do a test and delete the code from all website/subsites from Theme Panel -> Analytics and see if there appear changes.
Thank you!
Hi Anamaria, I’d like to add a few details to this, with some odd behavior we’ve seen recently. As I mentioned, we’ve seen the analytics code change, after having been in place on each sub-site for awhile. Recently, we also noticed the following:
– An ActiveCampaign tracking script (also deployed via the JS/Code injection in the theme panel) disappeared.
– The default post template for the main site turned off.
All of these changes seem to be occurring in the theme panel. Is there an audit log for changes in the theme panel that would help identify any humans, plugins, or processes that might be changing these settings?
Hi,
You can use a plugin for history, but it will register the settings after installing it.
Please try to use the plugin to add the code and check if it works well.
Thank you!
Is there a plugin you would recommend for seeing where changes in the theme panel originate?
Hi,
Unfortunately, I don’t know a plugin for what you want.
Thank you!
Hello, following up on this with some more information and a request.
We’ve identified sub-sites where the GA4 tag in the Theme Panel is incorrect, and have since corrected them.
On our main site, there is still a remnant of the incorrect tag. Inspecting the WordPress database (wp_options table), the main site shows the correct tag in the td_011 option and the incorrect tag in the td_011_settings option. Everything in the Theme Panel appears to be using the correct tag as of right now. How do we correct the mismatch in tags seen in the database?
Hello,
td_011_settings is used for backup from Theme Panel; there is a limit that you can set to revert back the settings, which is why there are the wrong tags. You can use this plugin https://analytify.io/doc/do-you-support-multisite/#:~:text=Analytify%20is%20a%20powerful%20Google,the%20performance%20of%20their%20websites.
Thank you!
Hello again, one of our subsites recently reverted its td_011_settings to use the wrong GA4 tag again. Is there a way to ensure all subsites have the correct tags to prevent this from happening?
Hi,
What I can suggest is to use the plugin code snippets, but not install it on the Network, on each site individually and add the code there.
Thank you!
