Is google analytics really necessary for Confluence?

[Alex Escalante]

This is a question extended past a previous question: https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/138365/not-clear-what-atlassian-urls-ports-are-being-accessed

We've come to notice that Google Analytics is accessed on most pages where one would wonder why it's needed (i.e - creating a new page, accessing a blog, etc). Is it really necessary to have google analytics to be used for Confluence to work? Is there any way we can have it disabled in the plugins list? We are not using the direct Google Analytics plugin, by the way.

Thanks for your time!

[fsim · Accepted solution]

Hey Alex,

Some of our customers that have Google Analytics loaded on page creation, etc. have the Google Analytics script loaded via Confluence Admin >> Custom HTML or in one of the layouts in Confluence Admin >> Layouts (but Custom HTML is more common). To disable it, simply remove the GA script from the layout/customHTML.

I'm not sure what GA is used for, but for regular Confluence usage: Not Required

Foogie

[Alex Escalante]

Yup ... it was exactly in the Custom HTML. Thank you!

[Mick Davidson]

Alex,

No GA isn't necessary to run Confluence, it's completley seperate from it. So someone has had to add this to your system for it to be there.

It's a very useful tool though as you can track a whole variety of behaviours, including what people are searching for and what terms they use to find info.

If you want to get the most out of it, get some proper training on it. It can provide almost limitless amounts of info, all of which can be presented in a variety of different but similar ways. It does have help and a forum, but I wouldn't rely on either of these; forum answers are few and far between, and the help is often out of date.

My advice is to get some training from an expert and you'll be fine.

Cheers.

[Ellen Feaheny [AppFusions]]

Google Analytics tracking in terms of page usage is not bundled with Confluence last I knew.. so if you are seeing this on pages, etc, someone set it up on your instance. Perhaps your admin set this up? Maybe you have the Google Analytics for Confluence plugin installed.

==

WRT the reference on the other thread, that is abt GA tracking on plugins for Marketplace I believe. That would be different.

You pose a good question for Atlassian on that one - in terms of Marketplace tracking with that access?