Google Analytics Event Tracking Made Easy - Ironistic

What types of events can I track with Google Analytics? This could be a long list. I'll cut to the chase and let you know how I personally use ... GoogleAnalyticsEventTrackingMadeEasyforYourSmallBusiness Posted:February16,2022 AndreaMacino DISCLAIMER:ThisarticleassumesyoualreadyhaveGoogleAnalyticssetupforyourwebsite.Itisalsointendedforbasicusesofeventtrackingfortheeverydayperson.IfyouneedadditionalhelpwithadvancedGoogleAnalyticstrackingimplementation,sendusamessageandwecanworkwithyoudirectly. Thepurposeofthiseventtracking“how-to”istosimplifytheprocessandmakeeventtrackingeasyandpainlessforanyone.Yes,anyone…evenifyouthinktheword“code”hassomethingtodowithasuper-secretencryptionmessageusedinthemovieNationalTreasurer.Anyways,thisguidewillexplainGoogleAnalyticseventtrackingingoodole’fashionedplainEnglish. Theverybasics,forthetruebeginners: Ifyoualreadyhavethebasicsdown,skiptothenextsection. Forthosestartingfromsquareone,herearesomesimpleexplanationsofeventtrackingandwhyyoushouldbeusingit.  Whatisaneventforawebsite? Aneventisauserinteraction–interactionswithelementsofawebsitesuchasmenus,buttons,downloads,searchboxes,videos,orexternallinks.  Whatiseventtracking? Eventtrackingallowsyoutomonitorandtrackaspecificuser’sinteraction/activity.  Whyiseventtrackingimportantformyonlinesuccess? Chancesare,youarealreadyspendingatonoftime,money,orbothonyourwebsite.Eventtrackingistheonlywaytoidentifywhichelementsarehelpingyoutoreachyouronlinegoals.Itisimportantthatyou(oryouronlinepartnerlikeIronistic)measurethisdatatodeterminewhere,andhow,improvementscanbemadetoincreaseyourreturnoninvestment. WhattypesofeventscanItrackwithGoogleAnalytics? Thiscouldbealonglist.I’llcuttothechaseandletyouknowhowIpersonallyuseeventtrackingthemostforourclients: Emaillinkclicks Bannerclicks Adclicks Formsubmissions Externallinkclicks Documentdownloads Videoprogress(start,stop,pause,buffer)  andthelistgoeson… Okay,solet’sgettoit. IcouldwriteafewparagraphsexplainingalltheinformationintheGoogleDeveloper’sGuide,butthisiseventtrackingmadesimple…soIwillskipallthetechnicaljargon.YoucanreviewGoogle’sguidehereifyouwanttolearnmore. HereisaquickreferenceguidefortheelementsofHTMLcodethatwewillbedefininginthenextstep(bearwithme,it’sactuallynotasbadasitseems). UniversalAnalytics(analytics.js) ga(‘send’,‘event’,‘category’,‘action’,‘label’,value); Anatomyofeventtrackingdefined: category(required) “Thenameyousupplyforthegroupofobjectsyouwanttotrack.” ThisisimportantbecauseitdetermineshowyourdatawillbeorganizedinGoogleAnalytics.Itcanbeanythingyouwantreally…let’ssayyouhave5contactformsthroughoutyoursiteyouwanttotrack.Youcouldmakethecategoryforeachone“contact”. action(required) “Astringthatisuniquelypairedwitheachcategory,andcommonlyusedtodefinethetypeofuserinteractionforthewebobject.” Usingthecontactformexampleabove,theactionherewouldsimplybe“submit.”Someothersituationsmaybeappropriateforusing“click,”“download,”“play,”etc. label(optional) “Anoptionalstringtoprovideadditionaldimensionstotheeventdata.” ItypicallymakethistheURLor{{PagePath}}.Thatwayitiseasytoidentifywheretheeventtookplace.Usingourcontactformexample,ifauserfillsoutaformonourcontactpageIwillbeabletoseeinGoogleAnalyticswhensomeone“submits”(action)a“contact”form(category)fromthe“/contact/”page(label). value(optional) Anintegerthatyoucanusetoprovidenumericaldataabouttheuserevent. Honestly,inmostcasesthisisunnecessary…but,ifyouwanttogotheextramile,youcandefinethevalueyouplaceontheparticularevent.Learnmoreaboutcalculatingthevalueofyourvisitorshere. non-interaction(optional) Abooleanthatwhensettotrue,indicatesthattheeventhitwillnotbeusedinbounce-ratecalculation. Thiscanbeusefulifyouaretrackinganeventthattakesauseroffofyourwebsite(which,honestly,ifyouarelinkingoffyourwebsiteyoushouldalwaysopeninanewwindow!).Thiswillexcludeyourclickfrombeingcountedasabounce. Nowthatyouunderstandthebasicsofwhateventtrackingisandwhyyoushouldbeusingit…hereiswhereIwanttomakethiseasyforyou. GoogleTagManagervs.Hardcoding WhatifItoldyouthatthereisamoreflexiblewaytoimplementtrackingonyourwebsite,thatdoesn’tinvolvehardcodingeverypagebutfollowsthesameanatomystructureofeventtrackingthatyoujustreadabout?Tobeclear,GoogleTagManagerisnotareplacementforGoogleAnalytics.GoogleTagManagerissimply,asthenamesuggests,a“tagmanager”.IthasnoreportingcapabilitiesbecausethatisstillhandledbyGoogleAnalytics.Thinkoftagmanagementasthemiddleman.GoogleTagManagerisatagmanagementsystemthatincludesthesamefunctionalityasglobalsitetagsandletsyouconfigureandinstantlydeploytagsonyourwebsiteormobileappfromaneasy-to-useweb-baseduserinterface. SomekeybenefitsofusingGoogleTagManagerare: Removestheneedforeditingwebsitecodeoverandoveragain.ThroughtheGTMuserinterfaceyoucanadd,edit,enable,disableorremoveanytagwithjustafewbuttonclicks. Testanddeploytagsquickly.Adaptrapidlyandcost-efficientlyinresponsetochangesinmarketingconditions,searchengine,andsocialmedialandscapes.YouneedtomovefastandGTMempowersyouwithitsfunctionality.  Advancedanalyticstrackingmadepossible.GTMprovidesmanybuilt-intagsandvariablesthroughwhichyoucanimplementadvancedtrackinginashortamountoftime.  Efficienttagmanagement.Whenyouhavedozensoftagsformarketingandanalyticsonyourwebsite,havingitallinoneplacecanbealifesaver.  Improvewebsitespeed.GTMtagsaredeployedasynchronously,meaningaslowloadingtagwillnotblockothertagsfrombeingfiredorexecuted.  Let’sstartoffwithanexampleofhowtosetuptrackingfora“ContactUs”buttononyourhomepage.Youwanttotrackandseehowmanypeopleareclickingthisbutton.  SettingupaTrigger  Thetriggertellsthetagtofirewhenthespecifiedeventisdetected.Everytagmusthaveatleastonetriggerinordertofire.Let’snamethetrigger“Button–ContactUs”. TriggerType  Sincewearetrackingclicks,wewanttouseClick–AllElements. TriggerFireon  ThisindicateswhenthetriggerwillfireandsendsasignaltoGoogleAnalyticsthataneventisoccurring.Weareselecting“SomeClicks”becauseweonlywanttofocusonthecontactusbutton.Ifwedidallclicks,itwouldtrackeveryclickonthepage.  FiringConditions  Thisistellingthetriggerexactlywhentofireandsendthesignal.Let’ssetthisupas“ClickText–equals–ContactUs”.ThiswillfirethistriggerwhenthetextonthebuttonisequaltoContactUs.Thisensuresthatitwillnottriggeranyotherbuttononyourpage,becauseithastospecificallysay“ContactUs”.  Now,savethetrigger. SettingupaTag  Nowthatwehavethatsetup,wemustcreatethetagthatcorrespondstothetrigger.Thetag’sjobistosendtheinformationtoGoogleAnalyticsonwhateventwastriggered.Let’snamethetag“GAEvent–ContactUsButton”. TagandTrackType GoogleAnalytics:UniversalAnalytics.(Thiscorrespondstotheplatformit’ssendinginformationto.)TheTrackTypewillbeEvent. Thenextstepswillbesimilartotheanatomyofeventtrackingthatyoupreviouslyread.  Category–ContactUs Action–Button Label– {{PagePath}} IchosePagePathbecausetheremightbemultipleContactUsbuttonsthroughoutyoursiteandwiththisvariable,youcanunderstandwhichpagetheyareclickingthebuttonon. GoogleAnalyticsSettings–thiscorrespondstoyourtrackingIDwhichconnectsyourGoogleAnalyticstoyourGTMaccount.  Onceallofthatissetup,youwillconnectthecorrespondingtriggerwejustcreatedintheprevioussteptoyourtag.Ifyouforgettodoit,thetagmanagerwillremindyoubecauseeverytagneedstobeconnectedtoatrigger.Saveyourtag.  Onceyou’vetestedyourtagsandtriggersinpreviewmodeandpublisheditinyourGoogleTagManageraccount,you’reallsettosetupconversiontrackinginGoogleAnalytics!KeepyourgoalsorganizedbygroupingsimilareventsinGoogleTagManagerintothesamecategory.SinceGoogleAnalytics(UA)limitsyouto20goalsperview,insteadofcreatingaseparategoalforeverycontactformeventyouhaveonyoursite,putthemallintothesamecategoryof“contact”.TheeventswillcomethroughindividuallyinyourGoogleAnalyticsdatabecauseofhowyousetupeacheventinGTM,butyourgoalswillbestructuredinamuchmoreorganizedway.  Andthereyouhaveit!That’showyoucaneasilysetupeventtrackingusingGoogleTagManager.DidIforgettomentionthatGTMisfreetouse?Therearenomonthlyoryearlyfees!Hopefully,you’velearnedsomethingtodaythatyoucangoforth,improveyourwebsite,andincreaseyourgoalconversions.Happytracking! WouldYouLiketoJoinOurMailingList? Protipssenttoyourinbox! Name* First Last Email* Bysubmittingthisformyouagreetothetermsofuseandprivacypolicyofthewebsite.Yes,makemesmarter!* You'llreceivemonthlyIronisticupdates,marketing,webdesignanddevelopmentarticles. ThissiteisprotectedbyreCAPTCHAandtheGooglePrivacyPolicyandTermsofServiceapply.EmailThisfieldisforvalidationpurposesandshouldbeleftunchanged. Let'sMakeanImpact Share PreviousArticle WebsitesofFuturePast NextArticle DigitalDistractions-Top3SitestoStayFocused RelatedInsights WebsiteDesignTipsforAssociations HowToTestWebsitePerformance 2020DigitalMarketingTrends LessonsLearnedfromOurMostChallengingProjects Comments Therearecurrently6responses. sarah June14,2018 Hi!IhaveaverypeskysitecurrentlyinSharePoint2010. I’dliketotrackuserengagementwithsomeofourdownloadableforms,andthenumberofplaysofourvideos. I’venoideawheretostart!Wecan’tuseGoogleTagManagerasitisincompatiblewithSharePoint2010. Anyideas? Thanks! Reply↓ HannahTaylor June14,2018 HiSarah, Youcametotherightplace!Youcantrackformdownloadsandvideoplaybacksusingeventtracking,asdescribedinthispost.YouwouldnotberequiredtohaveGoogletagmanagerifyouusethemethodabove,youwilljustneedtomakesureyouaddtheeventtrackingcodeintheproperplaceandbasedonwhichversionofGoogleAnalyticsyouareusing.Ifyougetstuckandneedsomeadditionalassistance,feelfreetoreachout. Reply↓ SP November20,2014 IhavegivenanexampleofTestSafewebsite.Ourwebsitealsohasseveralpageslikethiswithlotofpdfsandworddocuments(whichcanbedownloaded),soitisnotfeasibletodotheoneshowninexampleforeachandeveryURLineverypage.Sohowtotrackwordandpdfdownloadsforallthepagesinonego?IsitpossibletodothiswithonescriptinMasterpageofSharepoint?Thanks Reply↓ HannahWatkins November24,2014 AsfarasIknow,itneedstobedonemanuallyforeachURLbecausethevariablescouldbedifferentforeach.Iamnotadeveloperthough,sotherecouldbeawaytowriteascriptthatwillhelpwithsomeoftheheavylifting. Reply↓ SP November20,2014 HowdoyoutrackseveralworddocumentsandpdfdownloadsforGoogleanalyticsinajavascriptcodeinamasterpageofSharepointsite.Theonethatismentionedisforoneortwopdfsbutoursitehasplentyofworddocumentsandpdfs.Socouldyoupleasesendthecoderequiredtoaddinmasterpage Reply↓ HannahWatkins November20,2014 HiSP,canyousendmealinkofanexamplepagecontainingthedownloadlinksthatyouaretryingtotrack?Iwouldbehappytotakealookandsendyouspecificfeedback.Youcanalsofeelfreetoemailmeat[email protected]withmoreinformationifneeded. ThecodefortrackingaWordfiledownloadeventwouldbethesameastrackingaPDFfileasintheexamplesabove.Youwillneedtoidentifythecategory,action,label,value(optional)andnon-interactionastrueorfalse.ThenstructuretheeventtrackingcodeasrequiredbyyourversionofAnalyticsandinsertthecodeintothethelinkorimageelementthatwillbeclickedontostartthedownloadofthedocument. Ihopethishelps! 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