Google Analytics Event Tracking

Written by Himanshu Sharma, Founder of Optimize Smart

© Copyright 2021 Optimize Smart. All rights reserved.

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About the author
● Founder, OptimizeSmart.com

● Over 15 years of experience in digital

analytics and marketing

● Author of four best-selling books on digital

analytics and conversion optimization

● Nominated for Digital Analytics Association Awards for Excellence

● Runs one of the most popular blogs in the world on digital analytics

● Consultant to countless small and big businesses over the decade

Website: www.optimizesmart.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/analyticsnerd

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/optimizesmart

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Table of Contents
1. What is event tracking in Google Analytics?
2. When to use event tracking in Google Analytics?
3. Structure of Google Analytics events
4. #1 Event Category
5. #2 Event Action
6. #3 Event Label
7. #4 Event Value
8. Google Analytics Event Tracking Best Practices
9. How to set up event tracking in Google Analytics
10. #1 Hard code the Google Analytics event tracking code
11. #2 Use Google Tag Manager
12. How to make sure that event tracking is working
13. Understanding Events reports in Google Analytics
14. Events Overview report
15. Top Events report
16. Event Pages report
17. Events Flow report
18. Event dimensions and metrics
19. Setting up events as goal conversions in Google Analytics
20. Types of events in Google Analytics
21. Setting up event tracking in Google Analytics (analytics.js)
22. Setting up event tracking in Google Analytics (gtag.js)
23. Default Google Analytics Events (gtag.js)
24. Tying events to web page elements via event handlers
25. Scale and automate event tracking via Google Tag Manager
26. Implement video tracking via Google Tag Manager
27. Implement scroll tracking via Google Tag Manager
28. Enhanced ecommerce tracking
29. Cross-device tracking

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What is event tracking in Google Analytics?
Event tracking is an advanced Google Analytics feature that allows you to track
a specific user’s interaction/activity with a web page element.

The user’s interaction/activity with a web page element that you track
in Google Analytics is called an 'event'.

Following are the examples of events that can be tracked in Google Analytics:

1. Downloading a file
2. Loading of Ajax, JavaScript or Flash content
3. Loading of a dynamically generated webpage
4. Loading of pop-ups, lightboxes
5. Loading of a video on a webpage
6. Scrolling down the page
7. Viewing of a video
8. Viewing video footage of certain length
9. Clicking on a video’s play/pause/stop button
10.Interaction with a gadget
11.Clicking on an image or an external link
12.Abandonment of a form field
13.Log-ins
14.Sharing/printing a blog post, article, video or image
15.Clicking on a button
16.Movement of mouse

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Following are examples of web page elements:

● video
● gadget
● podcast
● image
● button
● form
● scroll bar
● external link
● lightbox
● Ajax content etc.

When to use event tracking in Google

Analytics?
There are two broad categories of events:

#1 Events that generate pageviews when they occur. For example, clicking on
an internal link on a webpage generates a pageview.

#2 Events that do not generate pageviews when they occur. For example,
following users' interactions do not generate a pageview when they occur:

● Clicking on an external link

● Loading of Ajax/Flash content

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 ● Downloading a file
● Playing a video
● Pausing a video
● Reposition timing within a video.
● Buffering of a video
● Progress of a video
● Scrolling a web page
● Clicking on a form button
● Interaction with a gadget
● Clicking on an image
● Abandonment of a form field
● Sharing/printing a blog post, article
● Adding items to a shopping cart.
● Clicking on a button, etc.

By default Google Analytics (GA) can not track any event that does not
generate pageview when it occurs.

You can track such events only through event tracking or virtual pageviews.

The rule of thumb is, track those types of users' interactions, using
‘event tracking’ which either do not generate a pageview when they
occur or which are not equivalent to a page being viewed.

Structure of Google Analytics events

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An event in Google Analytics is made up of:

1. Event Category
2. Event Action
3. Event Label
4. Event Value

#1 Event Category
The 'event category' is the name assigned to the group of similar events you
want to track. You can use any value of type 'text' as an event category.

If you have already set up event tracking then you can see the values of the
'event category' in Google Analytics by navigating to Behavior > Events > Top
Events:

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Google Analytics report event category as a dimension in its reports:

#2 Event Action

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The 'Event Action' is the name assigned to the type of event you want to track
for a particular webpage element. You can use any value of type 'text' as an
event action.

If you have already set up event tracking then you can see the values of the
'event action' in Google Analytics by navigating to Behavior > Events > Top
Events and then click on the 'Event Action' primary dimension:

Note: Google Analytics report event action as a dimension in its reports.

#3 Event Label
The 'event label' is the name assigned to the web page element, whose users'
interaction you want to track. You can use any value of type 'text' as an event
label.

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An Event label can be a title of a video, title tag of a web page, name of a
gadget, name of the downloadable file, etc.

If you have already set up event tracking then you can see the values of the
'event label' in Google Analytics by navigating to Behavior > Events > Top
Events and then click on the 'Event Label' primary dimension:

Note: Google Analytics report event label as a dimension in its reports.

#4 Event Value
The 'event value' is the numerical value assigned to the event you want to
track. You can use any value of type 'number' as an event value. However, you
can not use any value of type 'text' as an event value.

For example, an event value can be any number that represents a download
time, length of the video footage played, or some monetary value.

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If you have already set up event tracking then you can see the values of the
'event label' in Google Analytics by navigating to Behavior > Events > Top
Events:

Note(1): If you want to assign a monetary value to a tracked event then use the
'event value'.

Note(2): Google Analytics report event value as a metric in its reports.

Google Analytics Event Tracking Best

Practices
Following are the best practices for Event Tracking in Google Analytics

#1 Track those types of users’ interactions as events which

either do not generate a pageview when they occur or
which are not equivalent to a page being viewed.

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#2 Do not omit ‘Event Action’ while setting up event
tracking in Google Analytics.

If you are using analytics.js library to set up event tracking then specifying
‘event category’ and ‘event action’ is mandatory. Whereas, specifying
‘event label’ and ‘event value’ is optional.

Example:

ga('send','event','videos','','chappy',100); // incorrect because 'event

action' is missing.

ga('send','event','','Play','chappy',100); // incorrect because 'event

category' is missing.

ga('send','event','videos','Play','chappy',100); // correct

Note: If you are using the analytics.js library then default values of
eventCategory, eventAction, eventLabel and eventValue fields is '(not set)'.

If you are using the global site tag (gtag.js) then specifying the 'event
category', 'event label', and 'event value' is optional. However,
specifying 'event action' is mandatory.

Example:

gtag('event','' , {

'event_category' : 'videos',

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 'event_label' : 'Chappy'

}); // Incorrect because 'event action' is missing.

gtag('event', 'Play', {

'event_category' : 'videos',

'event_label' : 'Chappy'

}); //correct

Note: If you are using the gtag.js library then the default value of the 'event
category' is 'engagement' and the default value of the 'event label' is (not set).

#3 Specifying field values in the correct order is important

when hardcoding the event tracking code

Consider the following event tracking code:

ga('send', {

'hitType': 'event',

'eventCategory': 'videos',

'eventAction': 'Play',

'eventLabel': 'chappy',

'eventValue': 100

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 });

You can also write this line of code without using any field names:

ga('send','event','videos','Play','chappy',100);

Here, Google Analytics will automatically assume that:

● event category is ‘videos’,

● event action is ‘Play’
● event label is ‘Chappy’
● event value is 100

When you do not specify field names, you then need to supply field values in
the following order:

Event Category > Event Action > Event Label > Event Value

Since field values are executed in the order in which they are supplied, if I
changed the order, my event tracking will work differently or worse won’t work
at all.

For example:

ga('send','event','Play','videos','chappy',100);

Here ‘Play’ will be treated as an event category and ‘videos’ will be treated as
an event action.

Another example:

ga('send','event','Play','videos',100);

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here 100 will be treated as event label instead of event value.

To avoid this issue, you can leave the ‘event label’ field empty:

ga('send','event','Play','videos','',100);

#4 Use the correct data type for your field values while
setting up event tracking

The eventCategory, eventAction and eventLabel fields accept a value of type

text. Whereas, the eventValue field accepts a value of type integer.

So following event tracking codes are going to create tracking issues:

ga('send','event',videos,'Play','chappy',100); // incorrect because 'event

category' accepts value of type text.

ga('send','event','videos','Play','chappy','100'); // incorrect because

'event action' accepts value of type integer.

Note: There is no hard and fast rule regarding what data you put into 'event
category', 'event action', 'event label' and 'event value' as long as you are
assigning values of type text to 'event category', 'event action' and 'event label'
and values of type integer to 'event value'.

#5 Follow naming conventions for event tracking

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Use descriptive names for event categories, event actions, and event labels. So
that just by looking at the name, a user can understand what type of data is
being collected.

Likewise, use consistent names for event categories, event actions, and event
labels.

So if you are using 'videos' as an event category, then do not use 'video',
'Videos', 'VIDEOS' as an event category. Otherwise, you will end up creating
several different event categories in Google Analytics that all hold the same
type of event data.

One of the best ways to use consistent names is by using only lowercase letters
for event categories, event actions, and event labels.

#6 Use Google Tag Manager to track events.

There are two methods to set up event tracking in Google Analytics:

#1 Hard code the Google Analytics event tracking code on your website that
tracks a specific user’s interaction (aka event) with a web page element.

#2 Use Google Tag Manager to track users' interaction with the web page
elements.

The advantage of using GTM to track events is that it is easier to use and is
scalable.

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So if you want to track clicks on the buttons across your website in one go
without manually adding the event tracking code to each and every button,
you can easily do that via Google Tag Manager.

#7 Avoid event tracking from negatively impacting your

website bounce rate through non-interaction event

The 'nonInteraction' event is used to designate an event as interactive or

non-interactive. This field object can have a value of true or false.

The default value is false, which means by default an event is considered as

interactive and it impacts the bounce rate calculations. If you want to make an
event non-interactive so that it doesn't impact the bounce rate calculations
then set the nonInteraction value to true.

The {'nonInteraction': true} is used to designate an event as non-interactive.

You can also use {'nonInteraction': 1} to designate an event as non-interactive.

Example

If you are using the analytics.js library:

ga('send','event','videos','Play','chappy',100, {'nonInteraction': 1});

ga('send','event','videos','Play','chappy',100, {'nonInteraction': true});

If you are using the gtag.js library:

gtag('event', 'Play', {

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 'event_label': 'chappy',

'event_category': 'videos',

'value': 100,

'non_interaction': 1

});

gtag('event', 'Play', {

'event_label': 'chappy',

'event_category': 'videos',

'value': 100,

'non_interaction': true

});

For Google Tag Manager:

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#8 Avoid using duplicate ‘event action’ names across
categories

There is a disadvantage of using duplicate ‘event action’ names across

categories:

ga('send', 'event',’videos’, ‘play’,’Spiderman-2’,10);

ga('send', 'event',’videos’, ‘play’,’Who lets the dog out’,10);

ga('send', 'event',’videos’, 'play’,’Alien vs predator’,10);

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The disadvantage is that the unique events are incremented by unique action
names.

So if a user clicks on two different videos say ‘spiderman-2’ and ‘Aliens vs

predator’ which have the same action name ‘play’, then, in that case, Google
Analytics will report only one unique event, even when the user clicked on two
different videos.

So action names needs to be unique:

ga('send', 'event',’videos’, ‘play-spiderman’,’Spiderman-2’,10);

ga('send', 'event',’videos’, ‘play-dog-out’,’Who lets the dog out’,10);

ga('send', 'event',’videos’, 'play-aliens-predator’,’Alien vs predator’,10);

If you are using the gtag.js libabry then the above code can be written as:

gtag('event', 'play-spiderman', {

'event_category' : 'videos',

'event_label' : 'Spiderman-2'

});

gtag('event', 'play-dog-out', {

'event_category' : 'videos',

'event_label' : 'Who lets the dog out'

});

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 gtag('event', 'play-aliens-predator', {

'event_category' : 'videos',

'event_label' : 'Alien vs predator'

});

#9 Plan out your even tracking structure in advance before

you set up event tracking

Before you implement event tracking:

#1 Determine in advance, all of the web page elements (like videos, gadgets,
image, external link, etc) you want to track and the type of users' interactions
(aka events) you want to track for each web page of your website.

#2 Create a hierarchy of event categories, event actions, and event labels that
is scalable. So that you don't need to frequently change the names of event
categories, event actions, and event labels to hold different types of event
data.

#3 Use an Excel Spreadsheet to decide the names of all your event categories,
event actions, and event labels in advance. Then work with your report users,
to make sure that your hierarchy is understandable:

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How to set up event tracking in Google
Analytics?
In order to set up event tracking in Google Analytics, follow the steps below:

Step-1: Determine in advance, all of the web page elements (like videos,
gadgets, image, external link, etc) and the type of users' interactions you want
to track for each web page of your website.

Step-2: Create a hierarchy of event categories, event actions, and event labels
that is scalable. So that you don't need to frequently change the names of
event categories, event actions, and event labels to hold different types of
event data.

Step-3: Use an Excel Spreadsheet to decide the names of all your event
categories, event actions, and event labels in advance. Then work with your
report users, to make sure that your hierarchy is understandable:

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Step-4: Chose a method you want to use for setting up event tracking in Google
Analytics.

There are two methods to set up event tracking in Google Analytics:

#1 Hard code the Google Analytics event tracking code on your website
that tracks a specific user’s interaction with a web page element.

#2 Use Google Tag Manager to track users' interaction with the web page
elements.

#1 Hard code the Google Analytics event tracking code on

your website

Let us suppose you want to track clicks on a download button (embedded on a

web page on your website) in Google Analytics via event tracking.

Follow the steps below:

Step-1: Navigate to the web page (via Google Chrome web browser) which
contains the button you want to track via event tracking.

Step-2: Right-click on the button and then click on 'Inspect' from the
drop-down menu:

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Step-3: Find your button code. It is going to look something like the one below:

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 <button id="checklist3" type=”button”
onClick=’location.href=”http://www.mywebsite.com/Worksheets/works
heets.pdf”‘>Download</button>

Step-4: Copy the button code into your notepad.

Step-5: Create your Google Analytics Tracking Code using the following syntax:

ga('send','event','<INSERT YOUR EVENT CATEGORY>','<INSERT YOUR

EVENT ACTION>','<INSERT YOUR EVENT LABEL'>,<INSERT YOUR EVENT
VALUE>);

For example,

ga('send', 'event', 'guides', 'download-cro', 'cro-beginners-guide.pdf',

10)

Here, Google Analytics will automatically assume that:

event category is ‘guides’,

event action is ‘download-cro’

event label is ‘cro-beginners-guide.pdf’

event value is 10

Step-6: Add your Google Analytics Event tracking code to your button code:

<button id="checklist3" type=”button” onClick="ga('send', 'event',

'guides', 'download-cro', 'cro-beginners-guide.pdf',

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 10);location.href=”http://www.mywebsite.com/Worksheets/worksheets.
pdf">Download</button>

Here, onClick is a mouse event handler. It executes a method/function

(called 'ga') in response to click on the button. This event handler is used
to tie the event tracking code to the button.

Note: You can also use the event tracking code builder tool to generate event
tracking code.

Step-7: Open your FTP tool and then navigate to the web page/file which
contains the button you want to track via event tracking.

Step-8: Download the file, open it, and then replace the button code with your
new button code (the button code with event tracking code).

Step-9: Upload the file to your web server. This will replace the old file with the
new version.

Step-10: Navigate to the web page (via Google Chrome web browser) which
contains the button you want to track.

Step-11: Click on the button.

Step-12: Navigate to your Google Analytics view and then click on 'Events'
under 'Realtime':

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You should now be able to see your event category and event action values
being reported.

If you don't see your event category and/or event action then it means your
event tracking is not set up correctly.

#2 Use Google Tag Manager to track users' interactions (aka

events) with the web page elements.

This is the recommended method to track users' interactions with web page
elements as it is easier to use and is scalable.

So if you want to track clicks on the buttons across your website in one go
without manually adding the event tracking code to each and every button,
you can easily do that via Google Tag Manager.

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Let us suppose you want to track clicks on download buttons embedded on
dozens of web pages on your website via event tracking.

Follow the steps below:

Step-1: Navigate to the web page (via Google Chrome web browser) which
contains the button you want to track via event tracking.

Step-2: Right-click on the button and then click on 'Inspect' from the
drop-down menu:

Step-3: Find your button code. It is going to look something like the one below:

<button id="checklist3" type="button"

onClick=’location.href=”http://www.mywebsite.com/Worksheets/worksheets.p
df”‘>Download</button>

Step-4: Note down the 'id' attribute of the button. In our case, it is 'checklist3'.

Note: The 'id' value that you use should be unique. If the ‘id’ attribute is
missing, then ask your developer to add it.

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Step-5: Install Google Tag Manager on your website (if you have not already).

Step-6: Login to your Google Tag Manager account.

Step-7: Click on the 'Triggers' link and then click on the 'New' button to create a
new trigger:

Step-8: Name the new trigger 'Check for clicks on the download button'

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Step-9: Click on 'Choose a trigger type to begin setup':

Step-10: Click on 'All Elements':

Step-11: Click on 'Some Clicks':

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Step-12: Click on 'choose built-in variable' from the drop-down menu:

Step-13: Select 'Click ID':

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Step-14: Enter the id of your button element in the text box next to 'equals'
and then click on the 'Save' button:

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Step-15: Click on the 'Tags' link and then click on the 'New' button to create a
new tag:

Step-16: Name your new tag 'Send click on the button download to GA as
event':

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Step-17: Click on 'Choose a tag type to begin with':

Step-18: Select 'Google Analytics: Universal Analytics' as a tag type:

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Step-19: Select 'Event' from the 'Track Type' drop-down menu:

Step-20: Set 'Category' to ‘guides’, 'Action' to ‘download-cro’, 'Label to

‘cro-beginners-guide.pdf’, 'Value' to 10 and 'Non-Interaction Hit' to 'True':

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Step-21: Click on the checkbox 'Enable overriding settings in this tag' and then
enter your GA tracking ID:

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Step-22: Click on the 'Choose a trigger to make this tag fire...':

Step-23: Find and click on the trigger 'Check for clicks on the download button':

Step-24: Click on the 'Save' button to save your new tag.

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Step-25: Click on the 'Preview' button on the top right-hand side:

You should now see a message like the one below:

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Step-26: Refresh the web page that contains the button you want to track. You
should now be able to see the GTM debug console window at the bottom of
the page:

Step-27: Click on the button. Now if you see your tag listed under the 'Tag
Fired' section then it means you tag is firing:

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If you don't see your tag listed under the 'Tag Fired' section then it means you
tag is not firing and you did something wrong while setting up your tag or
trigger.

Step-28: If the tag is firing then click on the 'Leave Preview Mode' link in your
GTM account and then click on the 'ok' button:

Step-29: Click on the 'Submit' button on the top right-hand side:

Step-30: Enter 'Added a new tag to track clicks on 'download' buttons as

version name and then click on the 'Publish' button:

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How to make sure that event tracking is
working
There are two ways in which you can make sure that event tracking is
working as intended:

#1 By looking at the real-time events' report.

Trigger the event you are tracking (via GA event tracking code) and then look at
the real-time events report to check whether the event data (category, action,
label) is being passed to Google Analytics.

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#2 Through Google Developer Console

The second way to see the real-time firing of events is through ‘Google
developer console’.

Trigger the event you are tracking (via GA event tracking code) and then look at
the Google developer console to check whether the event data (category,
action, label, value) is being passed to Google Analytics:

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I prefer to use this method, as the developer console provides much more
detailed information about fired events than the real-time event's report. The
Google developer console also provides error messages in case the event does
not fire.

The real-time events report in GA does not provide any such information. So if
your event is not firing and you just rely on real-time events report, then you
will have a hard time diagnosing event tracking issues.

If you do not supply event category value while setting up event tracking (in
case of analytics.js), then the tracked event will not be counted in the 'Total
events' metric and will not be reported in GA event reports.

The Google developer console will also show you the error message "Missing
required field 'eventCategory' for hit of type 'event':

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Just like the event category, the event action is also a required field.

But unlike event category, if you do not supply the even action value while
setting up event tracking (in case of analytics.js), then the tracked event
(without event action) will still be counted in the 'Total events' metric.

Google developer console will show you the error message "Missing required
field 'eventAction' for hit of type 'event':

Understanding Events reports in Google

Analytics
The events reports are available under the ‘Behavior’ menu in Google
Analytics:

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There are 4 event tracking reports available in Google Analytics:

1. Overview report
2. Top Events report
3. Pages report
4. Events Flow report

Events Overview report

This report provides an overview of tracked events on your website:

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Total events - It is the total number of users’ interactions with tracked webpage
elements. For example, if a visitor clicks on the ‘play’ button of the same video
5 times, then GA reports total events as 5

Unique events - It is the total number of unique users' interactions with

tracked webpage elements in a web session. For example, if a user clicks on the
‘play’ button of the same video 5 times, then GA reports total events as 5 but
unique events (number of unique interactions that occurred in a web session)
as 1.

Event Value - It is the total value of an event or set of events.

Avg. Value - It is the average value of an event or set of events.

Sessions with an event - These are those Google Analytics sessions in which at
least one tracked event occurred.

Events/Session with an event - It is the average number of tracked events that

occurred in a Google Analytics session.

Top Events report

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Through this report, you can determine the most popular event categories,
event actions and even labels:

The popularity is measured in terms of total events.

Event Pages report

Through this report, you can determine the pages of your website on which the
maximum number of events were recorded by GA:

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These are the pages that provide maximum user engagement.

Events Flow report

Through this report, you can visualize the order in which visitors triggered
events on your website.

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In order to interpret the events flow report accurately, it is critical that you use
clear and consistent naming conventions for event categories, actions, and
labels.

Configuring the Events Flow report includes:

#1 Examining Nodes and Connections

#2 Applying Default or custom Segments

#3 Comparing data of different time range

#4 Selecting dimensions

#5 Exporting the events funnel report etc.

You can learn more about this configuration here.

Event dimensions and metrics

You also need to remember, that 'event category', 'event action' and 'event
label' are reported as dimensions in GA reports. Whereas 'event value' is
reported as a metric in GA reports:

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Note: 'event category', 'event action' and 'event label' are 'hit' level
dimensions. In other words, you can't use 'event category', 'event action' and
'event label' as metrics in GA reports.

To understand the difference between dimensions and metrics, read the article:
Complete Guide to Dimensions and Metrics in Google Analytics

Setting up events as goal conversions in

Google Analytics
You can also set events as Goals in Google Analytics and assign a monetary
value to it. Follow the steps below:

Step-1: Login to your Google Analytics account and then navigate to the main
reporting view.

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Step-2: Navigate to the admin section and then click on 'Goals' under the 'View'
column:

Step-3: Click on '+New Goal' button:

Step-4: Scroll down and then select the 'custom' option (under 'Goal Setup):

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Step-5: Click on the 'continue' button and then give your goal a name (like 'Add
to Cart'):

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Step-6: Select goal type to 'Event' and then click on the 'Continue' button:

Step-7: Enter the values for 'event category', 'event action', 'event label'
(optional) and 'event value' (optional):

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Step-8: Click on the 'Save' button.

Types of events in Google Analytics

A user can interact with a web page element via a mouse, keyboard, frame or
form. Consequently, we can have:

● Mouse events - These are users' interactions with a mouse.

● Keyboard events - These are users' interactions with a keyboard.
● Frame events - These are users' interactions with a frame/iframe.
● Form events - These are users' interactions with a form embedded on a
web page.

All of these events can or can not generate pageviews when they occur.

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Setting up event tracking in Google Analytics
(analytics.js)
In order to set up event tracking in GA, you need to send an event hit
whenever the users' interaction/activity you want to track, occurs.

Following is the syntax for sending an event hit in Universal Analytics

(analytics.js)

ga('send', {

'hitType': 'event',

'eventCategory': [category],

'eventAction': [Action],

'eventLabel': [Label],

'eventValue': [Value],

'nonInteraction': true

});

Here, eventCategory, eventAction, eventLabel and eventValue are the fields

used for sending event hit and 'nonInteraction' is a field object.

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 If you are not sure of the difference between a field and field object
in ga() command queue function, then read this article: Introduction
to Google Analytics Commands

Note: Specifying ‘event category’ and ‘event action’ is mandatory. Whereas,

specifying ‘event label’, ‘event value’ and 'nonInteraction' is optional.

Following is an example of an event hit in universal analytics (analytics.js):

ga('send', {

'hitType': 'event',

'eventCategory': 'videos',

'eventAction': 'Play',

'eventLabel': 'chappy',

'eventValue': 100,

'nonInteraction': true

});

You can also write this line of code without using any field names.

For example:

ga('send','event','videos','Play','chappy',100,{'nonInteraction': true});

Here, Google Analytics will automatically assume that:

● event category is ‘videos’,

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 ● event action is ‘Play’
● event label is ‘Chappy’
● event value is 100

When you do not specify field names, you then need to supply field values in a
particular order.

In case of event tracking, you need to specify field values in the following
order:

Event Category > Event Action > Event Label > Event Value

Since field values are executed in the order in which they are supplied, if I
changed the order, my event tracking will work differently or worse won’t work
at all.

For example:

ga('send','event','Play','videos','chappy',100);

Here ‘Play’ will be treated as an event category and ‘videos’ will be treated as
an event action.

Another example:

ga('send','event','Play','videos',100);

here 100 will be treated as event label instead of event value. To avoid this
issue, you can leave the ‘event label’ field empty:

ga('send','event','Play','videos','',100);

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Another example,

ga('send','event','Play','videos','',100ex);

here event value is of type text. Since event value accepts a value of type
integer, the code above will create tracking issues.

You can bypass all of these order rules by using field names:

ga('send', {

'hitType': 'event',

'eventCategory': 'videos',

'eventAction': 'Play',

'eventValue': 100

});

I prefer using field names because it makes the code easy to understand.
Remember:

1. The eventCategory, eventAction and eventLabel fields accept a value of

type text.
2. The eventValue field accepts a value of type integer.
3. The default values of eventCategory, eventAction, eventLabel and
eventValue fields is '(not set)'.

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Setting up event tracking in Google Analytics
(gtag.js)
Following is an example of an event hit in Google analytics (gtag.js):

gtag('event', <action>, {

'event_category': <category>,

'event_label': <label>,

'value': <value>

});

Note: If you are using the global site tag (gtag.js) then specifying the 'event
category', 'event label' and 'event value' is optional. However, specifying 'event
action' is mandatory. The default value of the 'event category' is 'engagement'
and the default value of the 'event label' is (not set).

The following example code fires a Google Analytics Event with an action of
'Play", a category of 'videos', and a label of 'Chappy':

gtag('event', 'Play', {

'event_category' : 'videos',

'event_label' : 'Chappy'

});

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Default Google Analytics Events (gtag.js)
The default Google Analytics Events are the events which are pre-set with
default categories and labels. Google recommends using the default events in
order to maintain consistent reporting and interoperability with future
functionality.

The following table lists the default Google Analytics Events, their default
categories, and default label types (if available):

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For event names not listed in this table (e.g. arbitrary event names that you
create), the default category is 'engagement' and the default label is 'not set'.

For example, the following code fires a Google Analytics Event with an action of
'Play', a default category of 'engagement, and a default label of '(not set)':

gtag('event', 'Play');

Tying events to web page elements via event

handlers
In order to track users' interactions with web page elements, you need to tie
events to the page elements. You can do that by using, what is called 'event
handler' (or 'event listener). Since a user can interact with a web page element

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via mouse, keyboard, frame or form, we can have four categories of event
handlers:

1. Mouse event handlers

2. Keyboard event handlers
3. Frame event handlers
4. Form event handlers

Mouse event handlers

The most common mouse event handler is onClick. It executes a

method/function in response to click on a web page element like a button or
link. This event handler is often used to tie the event tracking code to a
button/link.

For example:

<button onClick="ga('send', 'event', 'guides', 'download-cro',

'cro-beginners-guide.pdf', 10);">Download CRO Beginners
Guide</button>

Here, we are tracking the number of downloads of 'CRO Beginners Guide' by

tracking clicks on a button.

Another example,

<a href="https://www.abc.com/gu/dw/social-media-guide.pdf"
onClick="ga('send', 'event', 'guides', 'download-social',
'social-media-guide.pdf', 10);">Download Social Media Guide</a>

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Here, we are tracking number of downloads of social media guide by tracking
clicks on a link.

Another example,

<a href="mailto:[email protected] " onClick="ga('send', 'event',

'Email', 'click to email',
‘[email protected]’);">[email protected] </a>

Here, we are tracking the number of people who sent emails by tracking clicks
on emails.

The other but less popular mouse event handlers are ondblclick,onmouseover
and onmouseout. All of these mouse event handlers can be used to execute
the event tracking code.

Note: You should avoid tracking highly repetitive events like mouse movements
because Google Analytics can't track more than 500 events per session.

If you want to track clicks on external links, clicks on file downloads and other
buttons in Google Tag Manager, then read the following articles:

#1 Tracking clicks on external links across a website

#2 Tracking File downloads and other button clicks

Keyboard event handlers

I have not found any good use of keyboards event handlers in event tracking.

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Frame event handlers

The most common frame event handler is onLoad.

It executes a method after a page, frame or image has completely loaded. For
example:

<img src="popup.gif" onload="ga('send', 'event', 'popups',

'popup-homePage');">

Form event handlers

The most common form event handler is onSubmit. This event handler
executes a method/function when a form is submitted and is often used to tie
event tracking code to a form embedded on a web page.

For example:

<form name="processOrders" action="process.php"

onsubmit="ga('send', 'event', 'Forms', 'Order Submitted');">

Other commonly used form event handlers are onBlur, onChange, onReset,
and onSelect. All of these event handlers are frequently used for advanced
form tracking.

If you want to track forms via Google Tag Manager then read the following
articles:

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 #1 Tracking Form Submissions via Google Tag Manager

#2 Tracking Form Fields via Google Tag Manager

Scale and automate event tracking via

Google Tag Manager
The purpose of this ebook is to teach you the fundamentals of event tracking
so that you can use this information to deploy the event tracking code via
Google Tag Manager.

I certainly don't want you, to manually add event tracking code on each and
every web page element, throughout your website. That would be insane, esp.
when now you have got the mighty Google Tag Manager at your disposal.

To learn more about event tracking in Google Tag Manager, read the following
article: Event Tracking in Google Tag Manager – Complete Guide

Implement video tracking via Google Tag

Manager
Video tracking is one of the advanced applications of event tracking, where you
track the player state (play, pause and the percentage of video played) of
single/multiple videos embedded on a web page or across a website of any

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size. However, if you want to scale and automate video tracking, then you must
deploy this tracking via GTM.

Here is an article which can help you do that: Video Tracking in Google Tag
Manager

Implement scroll tracking via Google Tag

Manager
Scroll tracking is one of the advanced applications of event tracking, where you
can track the length of a page scrolled by users.

Through scroll tracking, you can get an insight into, how people are consuming
your website contents. Again, GTM is the best tool to scale and automate scroll
tracking on a website.

To learn more about implementing scroll tracking via GTM, read the following
article: Scroll tracking in Google Tag Manager

Enhanced ecommerce tracking

Enhanced ecommerce tracking is a very advanced application of event tracking.
Though it is strictly, not an event tracking application, it heavily uses the logic
behind event tracking, to track various types of ecommerce events.

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These ecommerce events could be:

1. Viewing an internal promotion campaign.

2. Clicking on an internal promotion campaign.
3. Viewing a product in a product list.
4. Clicking one of the product links in the product list.
5. Viewing a product detail page.
6. Adding/removing products from the shopping cart.
7. Starting, completing and/or abandoning the checkout process.
8. Asking for a refund.

In the case of enhanced ecommerce, various ecommerce events are usually

tracked via enhanced ecommerce tracking code and not via the traditional
event tracking code. However, in some cases, traditional event tracking code
can also be used.

Cross-device tracking
Cross-device tracking is the most advanced application of event tracking, where
you send event hits from devices other than laptops, mobiles, desktops, and
tablets via measurement protocol.

So if you want to send event data from your cash register or washing machine
to the Google Analytics server, you can do that by writing a script that sends
the payload data to the GA server.

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To learn more about, how you can send event data via measurement protocol,
read this article: Understanding Google Analytics Measurement Protocol

You are doing Google Analytics all

wrong. Here is why...
I have dealt with hundreds of Google Analytics accounts in my career.

I have seen many issues, from incorrect tracking code, selecting the wrong KPIs,
to analyzing data without using custom reports or advanced segments.

But do you know the biggest issue of all in Google Analytics?....

It is the “misinterpretation of analytics data”.

Many marketers make the mistake of crediting conversions to the wrong

marketing channel.

And they seem to be making this mistake over and over again.

They give the credit for conversions to the last touchpoint (campaign, ad,
search term...).

They can’t help themselves because they believe that the Google Analytics
reports are ‘what you see is what you get’.

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But they are actually ‘what you interpret is what you get’.

This has resulted in marketers making wrong business decisions and losing
money.

All the data you see in Google Analytics reports today lies to you unless you
know exactly how to interpret it correctly.

For example, let's talk about direct traffic.

All untagged or incorrectly tagged marketing campaigns, from display ads to

emails, could be reported as direct traffic by Google.

Whenever a referrer is not passed, the traffic is reported as direct traffic by

Google.

Mobile applications don’t send a referrer. Word/PDF documents don’t send a

referrer.

‘302 redirects’ sometimes cause the referrer to be dropped. Sometimes

browsers don’t pass the referrer.

During an HTTP to HTTPS redirect (or vice versa), the referrer is not passed
because of security reasons.

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All such traffic is reported as direct traffic by Google.

So on the surface, it may look like most people are visiting your website
directly, but this is not usually the case.

But this analysis does not end here because you are still not looking at the
complete picture.

People do not always access your website directly and then make a purchase
straight away.

They are generally exposed to multiple marketing channels (display ads, social
media, paid search, organic search, referral websites, email, etc.) before they
access your website directly.

Before they make a purchase.

So if you are unaware of the role played by prior marketing channels, you will
credit conversions to the wrong marketing channels.

Like in the present case, to direct traffic.

To get this type of understanding, you need to understand and implement web
analytics.

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But you learn data analysis and data interpretation from web analytics and
not from Google Analytics.

The direction in which your analysis will move will determine the direction in
which your marketing campaigns will move.

You get that direction from ‘web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.

Web/digital analytics is not about Google Analytics (GA) or Google Tag

Manager (GTM). It is about analyzing and interpreting data, setting up goals,
strategies and KPIs.

It’s about creating a strategic roadmap for your business.

That's why the knowledge of web/digital analytics is so important.

So what I have done is, I have put together a completely free training for you.

This training will teach you what digital analytics really is and how I have been
able to leverage it to generate floods of news sales and customers. And how
you can copy what I have done to get similar results.

You can sign up for the free training here:

Reserve My Seat Now

I hope you find it helpful.

All the best,

Himanshu

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