How can I identify unknown query string fragments that are coming to my site?

Question

In the Google Analytics content overview for a site that I work on, the home page is getting many pageviews with some unfamiliar query string fragments, example:

/?jkId=1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef&jt=1&jadid=1234567890&js=1&jk=key words&jsid=12345&jmt=1

(potentially identifiable IDs have been changed)

It clearly looks like some kind of ad tracking info, but noone who works on the site knows where it comes from, and I haven't been able to find any useful information from searching.

Is there some listing of common query string keys available anywhere? Alternatively, does anyone happen to know where these keys (jkId, jt, jadid, js, jk, jsid and jmt) might come from?

Answer 1

It appears to be related to the Searchforce link tracking service. Three of the five sites I checked in Google search results for "jsid jadid" featured a link back to this piece of JavaScript in their source code, which references several of the query string keys you mention.

If no-one in your company is using Searchforce to run and optimise pay-per-click ad campaigns, it's possible that someone you've hired is doing so.

There's no directory of query strings, unfortunately, so finding sites that share common strings and looking for similarities in the JavaScript libraries they link to is often your best bet at determining the source.