example-petstore.com

Google Analytics · 2009–2024

Cross-domain tracking with Classic Analytics

Google’s guide to tracking multiple domains with Classic Analytics (ga.js) used a pet store at example-petstore.com, subdomains such as dogs.example-petstore.com, and a shopping cart at example-commerce-host.com.

Outdated example

_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-12345-1']);
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'example-petstore.com']);
_gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]);

<a href="http://dogs.example-petstore.com/intro.html"
   onclick="_gaq.push(['_link', 'http://dogs.example-petstore.com/intro.html']); return false;">See my pet store</a>

Classic and Universal Analytics no longer collect data. Remove this code, including the example links, and install the Google tag for Google Analytics 4. Cross-domain measurement is then set in the admin.

Use instead

<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) for Google Analytics 4 -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXXXXX"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());
  gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXXXXX');
</script>

Full guide: from Classic Analytics to Google Analytics 4

Structured data · 2014–2015

Sitelinks search box markup

Google’s first examples for the sitelinks search box were copied into themes, forum software and SEO guides. query.example-petstore.com was the made-up address of the pet store’s search results page.

Outdated example

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "WebSite",
  "url": "https://www.example-petstore.com/",
  "potentialAction": {
    "@type": "SearchAction",
    "target": "https://query.example-petstore.com/search?q={search_term_string}",
    "query-input": "required name=search_term_string"
  }
}

The first version (September 2014) used https://host.example-petstore.com/search?q={search_term}. Google stopped showing the sitelinks search box on 21 November 2024; leftover markup causes no errors, but the url should be your own. A plain WebSite block still helps with your site name in search results.

Use instead

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "WebSite",
  "name": "Your site name",
  "url": "https://www.example.com/"
}
</script>

Full guide: the sitelinks search box and site names

Search Console · 2015–2019

Moving a site

Search Console’s help on the Change of Address tool used a move from http://fish.example-petstore.com to http://example.com or http://example-petstore.com. The tool only works between domain-level properties (a Domain property or a root URL-prefix property such as https://example.com/) owned by the same Google account, so the example addresses must be replaced with your own, including in canonicals, sitemaps and hreflang.

Full guide: moving a site in Search Console

APIs · scripts

API clients and scripts

Requests to addresses such as api.example-petstore.com/v2/pet come from code that uses this domain as a base URL. They receive 410 Gone with a JSON explanation. This domain is not related to the Swagger Petstore sample API at petstore.swagger.io.

Use instead: read the address from configuration

# Python: read the address from configuration, not from the code
import os
BASE_URL = os.environ["API_BASE_URL"]

// JavaScript / Node.js
const baseURL = process.env.API_BASE_URL;

// PHP 8
$baseUrl = getenv('API_BASE_URL') ?: throw new RuntimeException('API_BASE_URL is not set');

Full guide: configuring API clients and SDKs