title: Is the utmt parameter needed when sending a custom variable gif request in google analytics?
body: <p>I am trying to use google analytics on the server side using custom variables.</p>
  
  <p>Google says the following about the utmt parameter: </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Indicates the type of request, which is one of: event, transaction, item, or custom variable. If this value is not present in the GIF request, the request is typed as page.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>However when I use http headers, I do not see the utmt parameter being sent even when I am defining custom variables. 
  Is it necessary? If so, could you provide a query string example?</p>
  
  <p>EDIT: This is the javascript code that I'm using:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt;
  var _gaq = _gaq || [];
  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-123456789-1']);
  _gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'Test', 'Test', 2]);
  _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
  
  (function() {
  var ga = document.createElement('script'); 
  ga.type = 'text/javascript'; 
  ga.async = true;
  ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
  var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; 
  s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
  })();
  
  &lt;/script&gt;
  </code></pre>