Event tracking using Google Tag Manager · Log into Google Tag Manager · Select “Tags” from the left-hand side · Create a new tag and select ...
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GoogleAnalyticsEventtrackingisausefulfeaturethatallowsyoutorecordinteractionswithelementsofyourwebsitewhicharen'ttrackedasstandardwithinGoogleAnalytics.
GoogleAnalyticsEventtrackingisaninvaluablefeaturethatallowsyoutorecordinteractionswithelementsofyourwebsitewhicharen’ttrackedbydefaultwithinGoogleAnalytics.
Simplybyaddingsnippetsofcodetoyoursite,itispossibletotrackeventinteractionstounderstandhowlongusersspendwatchingyourvideosorevenwhichfieldsonyourformsusersdropoffat.
Inthispost,IexplainhowtotrackeventsmanuallybyeditingthecodeonyoursiteorbyusingGoogleTagManagerifyouarelessconfidentwitheditingcode.
YoucansetupeventtrackingmanuallyoneachlinkoruseGoogleTagManagerto automateyoureventtracking.
WhatcanGoogleAnalyticseventtrackingbeusedfor?
Beforewegointodetailabouthowtoseteverythingup.Let’slookatsomeofthedifferentwaysthatEventtrackingcanbeusedtomeasurevisitorengagementonyoursite.Someofthetypicalusesforeventtrackingarelistedbelow:
Trackingoutboundlinkclickstootherwebsites.
Understandinghowmanyusersclickedonmailtoemailaddressesorclick-to-callphonenumbers.Thiscanhelpyoutobetterunderstandthenumberofenquiriesyouaregettingfromyoursite.
TrackingPDFandothermediadownloads.
Measuringinteractionswithvideocontent,suchastimespentwatchingavideo.
Trackingexactlywhereusersdropoffwhenfillinginfieldsonyourformsorcheckout
Monitoringtheclicksonuniqueelementsofapage,suchasthe“contactus”calltoactiononyouraboutpage.
Collectingdataabouthowmanyusersfilledinandsubmittedaform,althoughIwouldalwaysrecommendsendinguserstothankyoupageswheneverpossible.
Eventtrackingallowsyoutocountinteractionsthatdon’tnecessarilyinvolveloadinganotherpageonyourwebsite.GoogleAnalyticsgoalscanalsobesetupbasedonyourevents.
GoogleAnalyticsEventTrackinginGoogleAnalytics–Examplesoftrackedeventcategories
Whattoconsiderbeforeyoustart
TouseeventtrackingyouwillneedtohaveGoogleAnalyticsinstalledonyourwebsite.ThiscanbeachievedbyaddingthecodetoallofthepagesonyoursiteorbyaddingGoogleTagManagercodetoyoursiteandthenconfiguringGoogleAnalyticstagsandtriggersandvariables.
Beforeyoujumpintosettingupeventtracking,itisimportanttoconsiderthefollowingpoints:
TherearetwoversionsofGoogleAnalyticstrackingcode.CheckwhetheryouareusertheolderUniversalGoogleAnalytics(Analytics.js)codeorthenewerGoogleAnalyticsgtagcode(gtag.js)beforeapplyinganycodereferencedinthispost.IrecommendmigratingtothenewerversionofGoogleAnalyticsandGooglehaswrittenaguideonhowtomigratetousinggtag.js.asthisdesignedtocombatintelligenttrackingprevention(ITP)thatblockscookiedatainbrowsers.
Decideon whichelementsofyoursiteyouwanttotrack,whetheritisPDFdownloadsorclicksonoutboundlinks.
Adoptaconsistentandclearnamingconventionforthedifferentaction,labelandcategoryoptionsavailabletoyouwhenyouaresettingupeventtracking.Everynameyougivetoeachcategory,actions,andlabelsappearsintheeventtrackingreports.Ifyournamingisn’tsensiblethenyourreportwon’tmakealotofsenselateron.
Decidewhetheryouwanttosetupauto-eventtaggingormanuallytaglinksonyoursite. Ifyouhavealotofdocumentsandpageelementstotrackitmaybeworthsettingup AutoEventTaggingandusingGoogleTagManagerEvents.
HowdoesGoogleAnalyticseventtrackingwork?
Asnippetofcustomcodeisaddedtothelinkcodeontheitemsyouwanttotrackonyourwebsiteandwhentheitemisclicked,theelementistrackedanddisplayedasaneventinGoogleAnalytics.
Theeventtrackingcodeconsistsoffourelementsthatyoucandefinetodescribeauser’sinteractionon yourwebsite:
Category(Required)isthenameyougivetoagroupofobjectsyouwanttotrack.
Action(Required)isthetypeofinteraction,suchasdownloadingadocument.
Label(Optional)isusefulforsummarisingwhattheeventisabout,suchasclicksonnavigationmenuoptions.
Value(Optional)canbeusedifyou’dliketoassignanumericvaluetoyourfiledownload.
Whentheeventfiresonyoursite,the‘Category’,‘Action’,‘Label’and‘Value’attributescanbeusedtohelpyouunderstandexactlywhattheuserengagedwithonyourpage.Asmentionedabove,itisimportanttogivesomethoughttothenamingconventionsusedfortheseattributesasthesevaluesarewhatwillshowwithinGoogleAnalytics.
TheeventtrackingcodeforaneventtrackedlinkinUniversalAnalyticslookslikethis:
onclick=”ga(‘send’,‘event’,‘Category’,‘Action’,‘Label’,‘Value’);”
Thecodeisplaced afterthehreflinktextasillustratedintheexamplebelow:
Thecategory,action,labelandvaluelabelsarereplacedbythevaluesthatyoudecidetoenter.Anexampleofaneventtrackedlinkwithenteredvaluesisfurtherdownthepage.
HowtosetupGoogleAnalyticseventTracking
Dependingonthenumberofeventsyouwouldliketotrack,or thelevelofcontrolyouwouldliketohaveonthetrackingparametersforyourevents,youcansetupupautoeventtracking,ormanuallytaglinksonyourwebsite.
Ifyouhavelotsofdocumentsandpageelementstotrack itisworthusingautoeventtagging.ThiscanbedoneusingGoogleTagManager.Autoeventtaggingwillfireonthefollowing:
Whenusersclickonlinks.
Clicksonanytypeofpageelement.
Afteracertainvisitdurationorattimedintervals.
Onsubmissionofaform.
IfthereareotheractionsthatyouwouldliketotrackyoucanuseGoogleTagmanagertosetthisup.
Manuallytagginglinkstotrackevents
Youcanmanuallycustomiselinksonyoursitetoaddthe ‘Category’,‘Action’,‘Label’,‘Value’attributestoalinkasalreadydiscussedearlier. Togiveyouapracticalexampleofthis,theexamplebelowshowsalinkthatincludeseventcodefortrackingaPDFdownload.
TheitalicisedtextbelowshowsanexampleofeventtrackingparametersconfiguredtorecordthedownloadofacompanybrochurePDFdocument.
DownloadOurBrochure
Auto-eventtrackingoptions
EventtrackingusingGoogleTagManager
Youcanmeasureinteractionsonyoursitebysettingup GoogleTagManager’sAuto-EventTracking.
Thismightsoundcomplicatedbutonceyouunderstandthebasicprinciplesoftags,triggersandvariablesitbecomesquitestraightforward.
EventtrackingusingGoogleTagManagerisinitiatedviaclicksoneventtriggersthatcanbesetuponspecificvariablesonyourwebpage.GoogleTagManagerEventsareuseractionswithwebpageelements(“DOMelements”)thataretriggeredbyyourbrowserandsentintotheTagManagerdatalayersothattheycanbeusedtosetuptriggers.
AsummaryofthestepsrequiredtosetupaneventwithinGoogleTagManagerarelistedbelow:
LogintoGoogleTagManager
Select“Tags”fromtheleft-handside
Createanewtag andselect UniversalAnalyticsastheTagType
SetyourGoogleAnalyticsTrackingID
Choose“Event”forthetracktype
SetyourEventCategory,Action,LabelandValues.YoucanuseGoogleTagManagervariablenamessuchas {{clickurl}}
Setyourtriggersasrequired
AnexampleofhowtosetupaneventwithinGoogleTagManagerisoutlinedbelow:
Step1–checkyouhavetherightenabledvariablesselectedforyourevent
HeadovertotheVariablessectioninGoogleTagManagerandmakesurethatyouhavetickedthevariablesthatyouwouldliketotrackonyoursite.
Youhavetheoptiontosetupyourtriggersbasedonclickclasses,clickelements,clicktextandothervariables.
Step2–createanewtaginGoogleTagManager
CreateanewtaginGoogleTagManagerandchangetheTrackTypeto‘Event’.TheconfigurationoptionswillnowincludetrackingparameterfieldsforCategory,Action,LabelandValueasshowninthescreenshotbelow.
Aswediscussedearlierinthispost,theCategory,Action,LabelandValueattributesformthebasisoftheeventvariableswithinGoogleAnalytics.ThereareGoogleTagManagerspecificcodevariablesthatyoucanusetoautomaticallypopulatefieldswithvalues.Forexample,the{{Click}}codewillautomaticallypullinthewebURLintothefielditisenteredinto.
Step3–configurethetag
Entervaluesfor Category,Action,LabelandValue.
Thelabelshouldreallybe namedtogiveyouasmuchinformationaspossibleonwhatwasclicked.Ifyouwereplanningtotrackclicksonthenavigationbuttonsinyoursiteheader,youmaywanttorecordtheclickURLoftheitemthatwasclickedon.
TheValueboxforyoureventcanbepopulatedifyouwanttoattributeanominalvaluetotypesofenquiriesonyoursite.Youmaywanttogiveacontactformsubmissionahighervaluethananemailnewslettersignupforexample.
TheTrue/Falsefieldisusedforanon-interactionevent.Ifyouwantyoureventactionnottocreateanewpageviewandnottoimpactonthebounce-rate,thensetthisvaluetoTrue.
Settingthetagforatrackedeventisthesameeverytime.Themaindifferenceinsettingupdifferenttypesoftagsiswillbeinconfiguringwhatthetagfireson.
Step4–selectwhattheeventtagwillfireon
Thenextstepistoselectorcreateatriggerforthetagtofireon.Youwillneedtosetthefireonconditionsforyourtag.Ihaveincludedafewexamplesofthedifferenttypesoftriggersfordifferenteventsonyoursite.
Triggerformeasuringclicksonanemailaddresslink
Anexampleofacompletedtriggerforanemailaddressclickedlinkisbelow.
OnthechooseTriggerTypescreenundertheClickheadingchooseJustLinks
SelecttheSomeLinkClicksunderthistriggerfireson
SetthevariabletoClickURLwithinthefirstdrop-downbox
SpecifythattheURL‘Contains’intheseconddrop-downoption
Entermailto:withinthethirdfield
Triggerformeasuringclicksonaphonenumber
OnthechooseTriggerTypescreenundertheClickheadingchooseJustLinks
SelecttheSomeLinkClicksunderthistriggerfireson
SetthevariabletoClickURLwithinthefirstdrop-downbox
SpecifythattheURL‘Contains’intheseconddrop-downoption
Entertel:withinthethirdfield
TriggerformeasuringPDFdownloads
UsingGTMtosetupaPDFdownloadevent
OnthechooseTriggerTypescreenundertheClickheadingchooseJustLinks
SelecttheSomeLinkClicksunderthistriggerfireson
SetthevariabletoClickURLwithinthefirstdrop-downbox
SpecifythattheURL‘Contains’intheseconddrop-downoption
Enter.pdf withinthethirdfield
Testingthatyoureventsworkasplanned.
Itisagoodideatocheckthatyoureventsworkasyouintend.ToviewresultsimmediatelyyoucanpreviewyourGoogleTagManagereventsusingthepreviewfeatureandcarryoutyoureventactiontoseewhetherthetagfiressuccessfully.
WithinGoogleAnalyticsyoucanalsoseeeventsfiredwithinthelast30minutesbygoingtotheReal-TimesectionandthenEventssection.
Ifyou’renotinarushorwanttoviewhistoricdata,gototheBehaviour>EventssectionofGoogleAnalytics.
SettingUpEvent-BasedGoals
GoalscanalsobesetupinGoogleAnalyticsbasedonyourevents.TodothislogintoyourGoogleAnalyticsaccountandfollowtheseinstructions:
Gotothepropertywhereyouwanttosetupthegoal
ClickonAdminandthengotoGoalsandclickonAddNewGoal
Giveyourgoalanameandselecttheeventgoalradiobuttonoption
Fillinthefieldswiththeattributesforyourspecificgoal.RemembertoselectEqualto,BeginswithorRegularExpressionoptionsbasedonyoureventattributes.
Category
Action
Label
Value
SaveyourGoal
Remembertocompleteatestgoalsothatyouhavedataandthencomebackthenextdaytocheckyoureventgoalworks
Screenshotshowinghowtocreateanevent-basedgoalinGoogleAnalytics
Conclusion
GoogleAnalyticsEventTrackingisavaluableadditiontomeasuringuserinteractionsonyourwebsite.ItcanbeusedincombinationwithtraditionalGoogleAnalyticsgoalstomeasuremicroormacroconversionsonyoursite.UsingGoogleTagManagerandTagManagereventsmeansitisnoweasierforyoutosetupandcontroltheeventsyouwanttotrackoryoucanstillchangethecodeonyoursitemanuallytoaddeventsifyouprefer.
Usefullinks
Google’sEventTrackingGuideforUniversalGoogleAnalytics.js
OnlineUniversalAnalyticseventtrackingcodebuilder
Outboundlinkeventtracking
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