Google Analytics Audit Test #

121

Informational: Any HTTP Links?

Why It Matters:

Informational in understanding where your traffic is coming from and assigning appropriate credit.

Industries:

All

Checks For:

Accuracy

How accurate is your recent data?

Insight Category:

Attribution

Can you tell which marketing efforts are working?

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Background

A GA4 audit is essential for uncovering missing insights—key data points that organizations don't yet know and can act upon. A well-done audit evaluates both behavioral tracking and traffic attribution, ensuring each is accurate and useful. It also assesses whether the data collected truly supports business decisions and reporting.

Test Detail

This test flags any instances of non-secure (HTTP) links being used on your site. While Google Analytics does not require HTTPS to function, using HTTP instead of HTTPS introduces:

  • Potential data integrity risks, as unencrypted requests may be intercepted
  • Loss of referrer information, especially when navigating from HTTPS to HTTP
  • Negative SEO impact and browser security warnings
  • Incompatibility with modern tracking setups, particularly around cookies and cross-domain tracking

This test is informational—not all sites with HTTP links are broken, but it's important to be aware of any that may degrade tracking or user trust.

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Google Analytics audit test results.

How to Conduct This Test

Basic Tests

  • Use a crawler tool (e.g. Screaming Frog, Sitebulb) to scan your site for:
    • Internal or external links beginning with http:// instead of https://
  • In GA4 > Explore, create a Free-form report:
    • Dimension: Page location
    • Filter for pages containing http:// in the URL
    • Check whether these URLs are receiving live traffic

Advanced QA

  • In BigQuery, check for HTTP pages being tracked using this query:
    SELECT page_location, COUNT(*) AS views
    FROM `your_dataset.events_*`
    WHERE page_location LIKE 'http://%'
    GROUP BY page_location
    ORDER BY views DESC;
  • Even one HTTP URL in regular use can be a tracking liability—especially if it handles sensitive data or redirects users away from a secure session.

Automated, Free Audit

Want to scan for these instantly? Run our Instant Audit

Or hire a pro to ensure all tracking-relevant URLs are secure.

How To Fix

  • Update all internal links to use HTTPS:
    • This includes menus, footers, sitemaps, canonical tags, and redirect rules
  • Check CMS settings to enforce HTTPS on URLs and canonical links
  • Ensure tracking scripts, product feeds, or ad links don’t use insecure URLs
  • Work with your development team to redirect all HTTP requests to HTTPS using server rules (e.g., 301 redirects)
  • Update any third-party partner or affiliate URLs to secure versions, if available
  • Hire a pro to perform a full link audit and patch any gaps that could weaken security, user trust, or attribution.

Tips from a Google Analytics Consultant

Focus on Insights

Every Google Analytics audit should result in a plan for more insights.

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An insight is:

  • something you don't know
  • and can act on to improve performance

The Goal

Identify and remove insight blockers. Don't get tempted to track things you can't act on!

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