Systems and methods for tracking web activity
Systems and methods of tracking activity over networks and, in particular, tracking web activity over the Internet are described. Exemplary systems and methods may include a receiver for receiving a request from a visitor for a data object, a processor for providing a cookie to track the visitor's web activity, and a transmitter for transmitting the cookie to the visitor in response to the request. The cookie may comprise tracking information for a plurality of web sites visited by the visitor.
1. A method for encoding web page tracking information, the method comprising:
receiving a web page request from a visitor's web browser;
providing the requested web page;
receiving a data object request from the visitor's web browser;
retrieving a path from the data object request including a unique identifier for the requested web page;
retrieving any cookie included with the data object request;
if no cookies are included with the data object request, logging the request as a first time visit by the visitor's web browser to the web page and creating a new cookie;
if one or more cookies are included with the data object request, decompressing the one or more cookies to extract any tracking information for previous visits to the web page by the visitor's web browser.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after decompressing the one or more cookies, determining whether there is tracking information regarding previous visits to the web page by the visitor's web browser;
if there is no tracking information regarding previous visits, logging the request as a first time visit by the visitor's web browser to the web page; and
if there is tracking information regarding previous visits, logging the request as a return visit to the web page by the visitor's web browser.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising updating the tracking information in the cookie to reflect the return visit.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
compressing the tracking information in the updated cookie; and
returning the requested data object along with the updated cookie to the visitor's web browser.
5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising updating a web log for the web activity associated with the tracking information in the updated cookie.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the data object request includes receiving the data object request according to instructions embedded in the web page.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more cookies include at least one of a persistent cookie, a permanent cookie, and a stored cookie.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more cookies include an identifier for the visitor.
9. A system for encoding web page tracking information, comprising:
a web server configured to receive a web page request from a visitor's web browser and provide the requested web page to the visitor's web browser;
a tracking service configured to receive a data object request from the visitor's web browser,
wherein the tracking service is configured to retrieve a path from the data object request including a unique identifier for the requested web page, and retrieve any cookie included with the data object request;
wherein if no cookies are included with the data object request, the tracking service is configured to log the request as a first time visit by the visitor's web browser to the web page and to create a new cookie;
wherein if one or more cookies are included with the data object request, the tracking service is configured to decompress the one or more cookies to extract any tracking information for previous visits to the web page by the visitor's web browser.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the tracking service is configured to determine whether there is tracking information in the one or more cookies regarding previous visits to the web page by the visitor's web browser.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein if there is no tracking information regarding previous visits, the tracking service is configured to log the request as a first time visit by the visitor's web browser to the web page.
12. The system of claim 10 , wherein if there is tracking information regarding previous visits, the tracking service is configured to log the request as a return visit to the web page by the visitor's web browser.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the tracking service is configured to update the tracking information in the cookie to reflect the return visit.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the tracking service is configured to compress the tracking information in the updated cookie.
15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the tracking service is configured to return the requested data object along with the updated cookie to the visitor's web browser.
16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the tracking service is configured to update a web log for the web activity associated with the tracking information in the updated cookie.
17. The system of claim 9 , wherein the data object request is received by the tracking service according to instructions embedded in the web page.
18. The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more cookies include at least one of a persistent cookie, a permanent cookie, and a stored cookie.
19. The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more cookies include an identifier for the visitor.
20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions to configure a processor to perform the method of claim 1 .