Track where users come from in PHP?

Question

Is it possible to find out where the users come from? For example, I give a client a banner, and the link. The client may put the banner/link to any website, lets say to a site called www.domain.com.

When the user click the banner, is it possible to know where he coming from(www.domain.com)?

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 05 '09 at 10:46

13

Have a look at the HTTP_REFERER variable. It will tell you what site the user was on before he came to your site.

answered Oct 05 '09 at 10:46

Marius

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Users can tell their browser not to send the referrer information. – gnud Oct 05 '09 at 10:47
1

Users can also tell the browser to not display images. Nothing you can do about that – Marius Oct 05 '09 at 10:49
So what should I do? Using HTTP_REFERER? Is there any other methods? – bbtang Oct 05 '09 at 11:13

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 05 '09 at 10:47

6

Yes. You give the client a unique URL, like www.yourdomain.com/in/e10c89ee4fec1a0983179c8231e30a45. Then, track these urls and accesses in a database.

The real problem is tracking unique visitors.

answered Oct 05 '09 at 10:47

gnud

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Unique users? By IP? Altho dynamic IP users will give me trouble. Well, I like your unique URL ideas. I will consider it. Thanks gnud :) – bbtang Oct 05 '09 at 11:17
It's hard to know if another user is a new user, or the same one who followed the link again. Or a click-bot. That's what I mean by unique users. – gnud Oct 05 '09 at 11:24

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 05 '09 at 10:49

1

See

 $_SERVER["HTTP_REFERER"]

Although that can't always be trusted as it's set by the client but you may not care in your case.

answered Oct 05 '09 at 10:49

smack0007

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 20 '12 at 04:58

In some scenarios, $_SERVER["HTTP_REFERER"] will only work when php (php.ini) is configured with register_globals bool configured to on.

Register globals can allow exploitation in loosely coded php applications. Commonly in apps that allow users to post data.

I have used the following method in the past to check referrers in applications where I controll the operator input.

session_start();
if(!isset($_SESSION['url_referer']))
{
$_SESSION['url_referer'] = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];
}

Without hashing strings in session variables, I do not know of a more efficient practice. Does anyone know the best practices?

Finest Regards,

Brad

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 05 '09 at 11:27

The only chance is that you use a unique ID (as pointed out by gnud). This ay you can track the incomming links. Referrer may be altered/removed from browsers or proxies (many companies do that).

Using the IP to track unique visitors is a bad idea. AOL still pools the IPs and you might use different IPs every few minutes and with proxys yiur counting will be not very accurate.

I'd say, go with the unique ID.

Track where users come from in PHP?

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