diff --git a/controller/Session.class.php b/controller/Session.class.php
index 830affea..4cc09e54 100644
--- a/controller/Session.class.php
+++ b/controller/Session.class.php
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ class Session
         }
 
         Response::addPostRenderCallback(function () {
-            $site_visitor_id = key_exists(static::USER_ID, $_SESSION) ? $_SESSION[static::USER_ID] : '';
+            $ga_cid = filter_input(INPUT_COOKIE, 'ga_cid');
+            $site_visitor_id = key_exists(static::USER_ID, $_SESSION) ? $_SESSION[static::USER_ID] : $ga_cid;
             $response = LBRY::logWebVisitor(static::SITE_ID, $site_visitor_id, static::getClientIP());
             if (!is_null($response)
                 && key_exists('data', $response)
diff --git a/view/template/layout/_analytics_footer.php b/view/template/layout/_analytics_footer.php
index d6e6df6b..5a6c4039 100644
--- a/view/template/layout/_analytics_footer.php
+++ b/view/template/layout/_analytics_footer.php
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@
     ga('require', 'GTM-NT8579P');
     ga('set', 'userId', '<?php echo $_SESSION[Session::USER_ID] ?>');
     ga('send', 'pageview');
+    // put the Google Analytics Client ID into a cookie, so that it will be available to PHP
+    ga(function(tracker) {
+        let date = new Date();
+        date.setTime(date.getTime() + (30 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000));
+        document.cookie = 'ga_cid=' + tracker.get('clientId') + '; expires=' + date.toUTCString() + '; path=/';
+    });
 
    !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');