Can I use google analytics in China [closed]

Question

I'm working on an iOS app which has a majority of chinese users, and I'm planning to use google analytics in my app, but I'm not sure whether I can get accurate data, since I'm not sure whether it is blocked.

So can I use GA in China? If not, what can be my alternatives?

Ruffle

It seems to work. It may or may not slow the page down. The local alternative is Baidu Analytics. – Pylorus

Asking whether GA is blocked in China is not asking for a recommendation for a software library. Closing this question for that reason seems unjustified to me. – Heterogamy

Answer 1

Google analytics is one of the only services from google that is not blocked. It will work most of the times but it can sometimes be slow to transfer data to google analytics. Lot of big chinese sites still use GA.

A better alternative could be to use Baidu Tongji(baidu analytics). It has less functions than google analytics but it still works great.

Outright

On my chinese site GA has status "tracking not instaled" while the code is installed correctly. It has been already for a month or more. May it be the issue with Chinese firewall? – Destine

For anyone else finding this on Google, Nanjing Marketing Group has a relatively useful Guide to Baidu Tongji. It looks like the interface is Chinese-only, but machine translation is our friend, right? – Bipetalous

Assertions and suggestions, but no references? For all I know you could be pulling this out of thin air. (I'm not saying you are, but your answer would be improved with authoritative references.) – Sibie

This was based on my own experience with hosting a site in China and contacts in China. The situation has changed a bit and google analytics has become less reliable it's better to use Baidu if you are dedicated to tracking your chinese customers. During some political events this can be blocked. The tracking just stops like clockwork during those events. There is no official communication on what and when something will be actively blocked. – Outright

Valderann is correct although I would add it depends on how you setup GA for China. While GA is not blocked in China there are certain aspects that will cause your site to load slowly such as Remarketing and Audience Insight options. grizzlypandamarketing.com/use-google-analytics-china This article goes in depth on how you can actually make GA work for your Chinese website. – Joanajoane