I started testing Matomo, and to do that, my colleaque added the tracking code on Wordpress site.
Then I read guidelines that you need to add tracking code after you have imported Google Analytics data to be able to see the data behind same site.
Can I somehow go back one step, so that Matomo would forgot the tracking code that has been on our site? Or do I have only one option, and that is to keep old data and new data separate? It does not sound very convenient…
Following this as well. All forum & git conversations along with help documentation do not seem to definitively answer this. From all I’ve read it sounds like you can only delete and start completely from scratch with an import creating a new siteID/measurable. Then deploy that tracking script to begin tracking from today on. It would be beneficial to know what the recommended path would be for this since the Google Analytics Importer “notification” within matomo continues to pop-up on existing site measurables if you haven’t used it yet for that measurable. By doing this, it makes it appear that one could import historical data into an existing website/measurable at any time; however, everything I’ve read says that isn’t possible and the importer will just create new siteID’s.
That being said, the only way I’ve thought of resolving this to be able to “merge” historical data with recent/new data if you’ve already been tracking a website/measurable before importing historical data is to import the historical data into separate measurables/websites/siteID’s then use “Roll-Up” reporting to create a roll-up for the historical data siteID and the new/current tracking data siteID. Essentially, that way you can see all of this at once. Not sure if that’s the best option/recommened but it’s the only path I’ve come up with that would likely work as desired.
I wrote this question also to Matomo support. Hopefully we get some answer what is the best way to continue forward.
That is correct, each time you start a GA import, this will create a new website within your Matomo Instance.
Once the import has started, you can then start tracking into this website, keeping your imported data and live tracking within the one website.
The other option is to have two websites, one for the imported data and another for the live tracking.
There is no way to merge two SiteIDs currently.
Unfortunately the roll-ups idea won’t work when it comes to GA imported data.
The importer only imports aggregated report data, not the raw visit and action data. Because roll-ups use the raw data, this option wouldn’t work for this.
I will pass on the idea of making this clearer within the GA import screen, that imported data cannot be imported into an existing website/measurable.
If I understood correctly, after you have placed tracking code to your website, there is no way to go one step back (?).
Not even by taking away the tracking code, deleting your Matomo account, and then starting from the beginning?
I really would not like to have two separate websites (one with the old data, and another one with the new one). The main reason for choosing Matomo was the ability to have old data from GA with me.
I would not only recommend to put info clearer to GA import screen, but clearly visible for all the ones that open Matomo account for the first time, that please read this before you start.
Hi Katja,
You can replace the tracking code in your website at anytime.
If you start an import, this will create a new website in your Matomo instance.
You can then replace the tracking code in your website with this one if you wish too.
Your site will then start tracking to the same website you are importing into.
If you have already added the tracking code for Matomo to your WordPress site and it has been collecting data, it is not possible to “go back” and have Matomo forget the tracking code or remove the data that has already been collected.
However, you can still work with the data collected by both Matomo and Google Analytics. While it’s generally recommended to set up your tracking code before importing data from other sources, it doesn’t mean you cannot analyze the data together.