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Preserve Integration

If you are switching domains, migrating, changing your content management system (CMS), or redesigning your site, then this page is for you. As you’re preparing for this big change, you’ll want to preserve your integration so you don’t have a significant gap in analytics data.

Integration Preservation Checklist

  1. Review our integration guide to refresh your memory on how to set up Parse.ly
  2. If you’re using any of our Add-on features, consider the potential impact there as well:
    • Audience segments: if you had custom audience segments set up, copy over your logic so that we’re still capturing your segments.
    • Conversions: Parse.ly-managed conversions are prone to break with site changes. This is because we rely on CSS selectors that may look different following your redesign. Contact us before deploying your redesign to avoid gaps in data.
  3. Minimize time in either of these extremes:
    • No tracking — this could happen if our tracking code isn’t installed on your new site when you make the switch
    • Multiple tracking — this could happen you accidentally install our tracking code multiple times. This often happens when you’re iterating on how to embed our tracking code.
  4. If you’re changing domains, we can proceed in a couple of different ways:
    • Capture new data on the old dashboard. We recommend this practice so you can identify trends against your historical performance and use features like Comparison Mode and Evergreen Overview Report. The trick here is that you’ll need to use the same Site ID for the new site. Provide us the name of the new domain so we can allowlist it for the old Site ID.
    • Create a new dashboard and leave the old dashboard behind. Please contact your Relationship Manager if you’d like to pursue this option.
  5. If you’re changing links, we recommend you set up 301 Moved Permanently redirects that map to the same content in the new site or CMS. Search engines (Google and Bing) recommend this practice as well. If you’re on WordPress, you can use the Redirection plugin.
  6. Involve our Support Team. Inform us of your plans so we can provide backup to your team. We can spot check your new site before you go live, help you with testing, and provide our experience to you.

Uncommon Scenarios

Neither of the following practices are common for newer customers of Parse.ly.

Parsely-page meta tag

If you are using the parsely-page meta tag, you should ensure that the link and post_id fields are appropriately set.  It’s alright if these two fields change as a result of your redesign/migration but if they are changing we ask that you e-mail support@parsely.com so that we can perform a recrawl and rebuild of your historical data (note: Parse.ly rebuilds may require an extra fee to cover machine costs).

Custom crawlers

Also, if you are changing your metadata implementation by, for example, moving from a custom crawler to the parsely-page meta tag, please e-mail support@parsely.com so that we can make the appropriate updates and schedule a recrawl and rebuild of your historical data. More information about recrawls can be found in our help documentation.

Conclusion

If you ever have any questions about how to preserve your integration, please contact our Customer Success team at support@parsely.com.

Last updated: September 30, 2024