Should Google Analytics go in the head or bottom o

Question

Google advises putting the google analytics script right before closing the </head>.

However, I would prefer to combine it with the rest my javascript that are now all together in a cached, external file, which is loaded at the bottom of my HTML file. Can I do it my way? If so, what am I risking then/what's the cost of putting the below code not in the head but at the bottom of the HTML?

<script type="text/javascript">
 var _gaq = _gaq || [];
  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-22180365-1']);
  _gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'none']);
  _gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]);
  _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);
  })();
</script>

Answer 1

Implementing the code Once you find the code snippet, copy and paste it into the bottom of your content, immediately before the </body> tag of each page you are planning to track. If you use a common include or template, you can enter it there. To implement tracking code for secure pages (e.g. https://), please read How do I obtain tracking code for secure pages?