How can I recognize a visitor across domains?

Needed permissions: owner

When collecting data from multiple websites using the same tracking code, you can use cross-domain tracking to recognize visitors across different domains. This means that when a visitor moves from one website to another, they will be identified as the same visitor. Sessions that would otherwise be considered separate for each website will now be treated as a single session.

To turn on cross-domain visitor recognition, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Menu > Administration.
  2. Navigate to Sites & apps.
  3. Click Add a site or app.
  4. Name the site or app.
  5. In Site or app address, type addresses. Example: https://clearbank.com/ and https://blog.com/.
    Site or app address (two sites added)
  6. Install the container (with the tracking code) on both websites by following this guide.
  7. Go to Menu > Tag Manager.
  8. On the left, click Piwik PRO. This is the tag with the tracking code.
  9. In Data collection, turn on Recognize a visitor across domains.
    Recognize a visitor across domains in Piwik PRO

    Note: We add the pk_vid parameter to the page URL to pass the visitor ID between domains.

  10. When you’re done, click Save.
  11. Click Publish.
  12. Done!

Check if visitor recognition works

To see if your setup works properly, follow these steps:

  1. Open your first domain.
    Clear Bank demo site for Piwik PRO
  2. Move to the second domain.
  3. Check the URL of the second domain. It should have the parameter ?pk_vid= added. If so, it means that Piwik PRO is passing the visitor ID from the first domain to the second domain.
    Visitor ID transfered in the URL in Piwik PRO
  4. All done!

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