---
title: "History of example-petstore.com, 2009 to today"
description: "When Google used example-petstore.com and example-commerce-host.com: Classic Analytics in 2009, the sitelinks search box in 2014 and Search Console."
url: https://example-petstore.com/history
language: en
---

# The history of example-petstore.com

example-petstore.com first appeared in March 2009, in Google’s Classic Analytics documentation. Over the next fifteen years it moved through three generations of Google documentation and into countless copies. Every date below comes from an archived source.

## Before 2009

Google’s early Analytics documentation used other names. The help article on third-party shopping carts used `www.mystore.com` and `www.securecart.com` from at least 2007 to 2010, and every archived version of the earlier Classic Analytics guide “Domains & Directories”, up to 1 March 2009, contains no pet store.

## Classic Analytics, 2009–2024

1. **March 2009** — Google reorganises its Classic Analytics (`ga.js`) documentation into a new `tracking/` section. The rewritten guide “Tracking Multiple Domains”, first archived on 27 March 2009, introduces www.example-petstore.com with the subdomains dogs. and cats., a cart at `www.example-commerce-host.com/petStoreCart`, and code such as `_setDomainName(".example-petstore.com")` and `_linkByPost('www.example-commerce-host.com/petStoreCart/begin.php')`. It mentions the pet store 18 times.
2. **2011** — the help article on third-party shopping carts switches to the same pair: `www.example-petstore.com` and `www.example-commerce-host.com/petStoreCart`.
3. **2013–2014** — the asynchronous version of the guide on developers.google.com shows `_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'example-petstore.com'])` and the link “See my pet store” to `http://dogs.example-petstore.com/intro.html`.
4. **1 July 2024** — the Classic and Universal Analytics documentation is retired together with Universal Analytics.

## SEO documentation, 2014–2019

1. **September 2014** — the first documentation for the sitelinks search box uses `"url": "https://www.example-petstore.com/"` with the target `host.example-petstore.com/search?q={search_term}`, until late September 2014.
2. **October 2014 to mid-2015** — the best-known version uses `query.example-petstore.com/search?q={search_term_string}`, along with the text examples `www.example-petstore.com/search?q=collars` and `…?q=leashes`.
3. **October 2014 to March 2015** — the Search Console help on the Change of Address tool uses a move from `www.example-petstore.com` to `www.example.com`.
4. **April 2015 to at least September 2019** — the same help uses a move from `http://fish.example-petstore.com` to `http://example.com` or `http://example-petstore.com`. Its successor uses `example.com` only.
5. **By September 2015** — Google’s structured data documentation switches to `example.com`.

## Current documentation

Google’s current guide “Measure activity across multiple domains” for the Google tag still opens with a website at example-petstore.com whose shop runs on example-commerce-host.com/example-petstore. The sentence was already on its predecessor page in March 2021. The code samples use `example.com`, and the domain names are left unchanged in every translation of the page.

## Copies and translations

- **July 2009** — a Google Groups thread quotes the `petStoreCart/legalTerms.php` snippet, the earliest third-party copy found.
- **2009–2010** — Chinese and French analytics blogs reuse dogs./cats.example-petstore.com and example-commerce-host.com/petStoreCart without translating them.
- **April 2013** — a WooCommerce feature request contains `_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'example-petstore.com']);`, pasted unchanged.
- **2014–2019** — SEO blogs (among them Semrush and LCN, 2015), forums and at least five Stack Overflow questions copy the search box markup with `query.example-petstore.com`.
- **2019** — German exam preparation material translates the store into `www.example-zoohandlung.de` but keeps `www.example-commerce-host.com/example-zoohandlung/`.

No software product was found that ships these domains as a default setting. Copies come from pasted snippets.

## Endings

1. **1 July 2023** — standard Universal Analytics properties stop processing data (360 properties on 1 July 2024); Classic Analytics code has no effect either.
2. **1 July 2024** — Universal Analytics is switched off and its documentation retired.
3. **21 November 2024** — Google stops showing the sitelinks search box.

## Related guides

### [Example domains](https://example-petstore.com/example-domains)

Which names are reserved for documentation, why look-alikes like this one get real traffic, and what to use instead.

### [Glossary](https://example-petstore.com/glossary)

Short explanations of `_setDomainName`, linker, `_gl`, unwanted referrals, SearchAction and 410 Gone.

### [From Classic Analytics to Google Analytics 4](https://example-petstore.com/guides/google-analytics-cross-domain)

Remove `_setDomainName`, `_link` and `_linkByPost` code, install the Google tag, and set up cross-domain measurement and unwanted referrals the current way.

## Sources

- [3rd-party shopping carts (2007 snapshot)](https://web.archive.org/web/20070517041222/http://www.google.com:80/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=55532) Google Analytics Help via the Wayback Machine
- [Domains & Directories, the earlier guide (1 March 2009 snapshot)](https://web.archive.org/web/20090301024808/http://code.google.com:80/apis/analytics/docs/gaTrackingSite.html) Google Code via the Wayback Machine
- [Tracking Multiple Domains, new version (27 March 2009 snapshot)](https://web.archive.org/web/20090327154737/http://code.google.com:80/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/gaTrackingSite.html) Google Code via the Wayback Machine
- [3rd-party shopping carts (2011 snapshot)](https://web.archive.org/web/20110828104129/http://www.google.com:80/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?answer=55532) Google Analytics Help via the Wayback Machine
- [Tracking Multiple Domains (2013 snapshot)](https://web.archive.org/web/20130115024413/https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/gaTrackingSite) Google Developers via the Wayback Machine
- [Sitelinks search box (September 2014 snapshot)](https://web.archive.org/web/20140906020658/https://developers.google.com/webmasters/richsnippets/sitelinkssearch) Google Developers via the Wayback Machine
- [Sitelinks search box (2015 snapshot)](https://web.archive.org/web/20150316142805/https://developers.google.com/structured-data/slsb-overview) Google Developers via the Wayback Machine
- [Use the change of address tool (2015 snapshot)](https://web.archive.org/web/20150425234635/https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/83106?hl=en) Search Console Help via the Wayback Machine
- [Measure activity across multiple domains](https://developers.google.com/tag-platform/devguides/cross-domain) Google Tag Platform
- [Google Groups thread (July 2009)](https://groups.google.com/g/google-analytics-data-export-api/c/vAlssWHVbmM) Google Groups
- [WooCommerce issue #2923 (April 2013)](https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce/issues/2923) GitHub
- [Google Analytics Prüfung, Frage 85 (2019)](https://www.seo-woman.de/google-analytics-pruefung-frage-85/) seo-woman.de
- [Universal Analytics has been replaced by Google Analytics 4](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11583528) Google Analytics Help
- [Farewell, Sitelinks Search Box](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/10/sitelinks-search-box) Google Search Central Blog