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Why is referrer blank or false for a chat?  Why is the referrer truncated to just the top-level domain?

1704 views   |   Last updated on Nov 08, 2023   

 

Empty referrers

There may be some settings a patron could use in their browser, or browser extensions to prevent tracking, that would prevent our system from capturing that data.  And of course, if the guest is using text messaging ("twilio" protocol), then they will not have a referring URL.

Truncated referrer (just the top-level domain)

If you are seeing referrers for the top-level domain but you definitely do not have chat implemented there, the most likely cause is a recent Chrome change.  The change is related to cross-domain situations such as where you have implemented a libraryh3lp.com chat box on your page at www.myschool.edu in a subdirectory.  
 
Starting with Chrome 85, the default for transmitting the referring URL in cross-domain situations became "strict-origin-when-cross-domain" instead of "no-referrer-when-downgrade". The same thing happened with Firefox 87. What this means in practical terms is that the referring URL shows only the top-level domain (https://www.myschool.edu) and does not include the path to the particular web page where the chat actually started (e.g. https://www.myschool.edu/libraries/).
 
The good news is that the default only kicks in if the web server serving the web page does not specify a Referrer-Policy. So if the IT folks responsible for the web server can set an explicit Referrer-Policy of "no-referrer-when-downgrade" then all will be as desired in terms of capturing referring URLs.
 
Update: In December 2022, we made enhancements to chat snippets which ensure that the referring URL is captured for each chat. We do this by automatically setting the "referer" argument on the chat box's direct URL per web page. If your chats since December 2022 do not correctly reflect the full referring URL, you may not be using a chat snippet on your page. Contact support and we can help you transition to chat snippets.

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