Replacing gtag.js with walker.js
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Markus Baersch discusses replacing gtag.js with walker.js for Google Analytics 4 (GA4) session handling, highlighting issues with gtag.js such as consent management and blocking concerns. Walker.js offers more control and flexibility by allowing event tracking and sending data to various destinations while respecting user consent. The presentation includes technical details on implementing walker.js, examples of event tagging, and links to resources on GitHub.
Replacing gtag.js with walker.js
- 1. Markus Baersch Replacing gtag.js with walker.js Why? How? Demo: Running GA4 Using ssGTM
- 3. Why Not GTAG.JS? (yes, same old song - but only a very brief summary. And a new color! Yay!)
- 4. gtag.js some issues (shortened version) Source: likely to be blocked Heavy: UA, GA4, GAds, Optimize, partner badges + stuff Not a “Stream To Rule Them All”: no data without consent. Consent Mode is not an option!
- 5. gtag.js … is odd! (also shortened version) GA4 Session Handling & More: ● “first_visit” and “session_start” ● Conversions ● referral exclusion ● public measurement id
- 6. Options: ● ga4mp.dev by David Vallejo (-> ssGTM) ● Build your own format and send to own endpoint Or use existing tools like CDPs, Tealium (see slides from MC Berlin 2022) But: ● Blocking might still be a problem ● Costs? ● Control? Alternatives exist! perfect fit?
- 7. Feeding GA4 with walker.js
- 8. Open source: walker.js is a maintained repo on GitHub (Can) have all data you need: there are timestamps, timings, hit numbers… https://github.com/elbwalker/walker.js elbwalker open source event tracker
- 9. Tagging Basics uses a command / event queue called “elbLayer” (per default) scans DOM for data-elb attributes and builds events and parameters alternatively push events to elbLayer manually via JavaScript can send events to several destinations Destinations are consent sensitive (walker.js can handle consent) https://github.com/elbwalker/sgtm-client-template/tree/main/example
- 10. events have an “open” structure to contain default attributes, custom attributes, session state, user information, references… or whatever Send example: elb('page view', {id: '/test/virtual/path1', title: 'Virtual Page 1'}, 'click', {some_property: 14} ); Events
- 11. Sending Stuff: walker.js Destinations Every destination can handle events individually. We use it to send data to a ssGTM endpoint
- 12. GA4 Session Handling GA4 wants session handling (simple) example… - is only active if consent is present - uses localStorage / sessionStorage - which is only possible on a single domain AND host - Can be part of destination init block (see example code for ssGTM tag) elb("walker user", {hash: sD.sessionId, device: sD.clientId});
- 13. Tagging: GTM Tag Template github.com/elbwalker/gtm-tag-template Custom Templates for walker,js Configuration and walker,js Events to migrate GTM setups - destinations - GA4 session data - ecom item conversion - use your existing variables
- 14. Endpoints ● use ssGTM and translate walker events to ssGTM event model ○ trigger / fire any tags as if gtag.js did generate all requests ● or build your own in Node, PHP or whatever and forward events to GA4 ○ cloud edge endpoints actually are an option ;) ● Remember: CNAME is not an option to avoid browser tracking protection issues
- 15. ssGTM Example use custom client for walker events basic example and client template available on Github: github.com/elbwalker/ sgtm-client-template -> fork and build what you need (contribute if you like!)
- 16. send data to GA4 using standard tag enrich server-side dimensions add debug flag for better debugging (kill before publishing ;)) ssGTM Example
- 17. … or send data (additionally or exclusively) to Piwik PRO, Matomo… … or send directly to BigQuery as event-level raw data ssGTM Example
- 18. Demo sending events… … from client-side GTM… -> to ssGTM -> to GA4 Medium article: mbaersch.medium.com/ A-better-solution-for-ga4- Data-capturing-replacing- gtag-js-with-walker-js- 2b9fd291d919
- 19. No ssGTM? Use: worker for walker events forward (few data) to GA4 using GAMP V2 think: add event to D1 cloud database ;) Or build your endpoint as - AWS Lambda - GCP Cloud Function - Azure Function Cloud Functions & Workers
- 20. Can you see it?
- 21. Done! Questions?
- 22. Game On! download and play: Walker | GTM Tags | Client | BQ: github.com/elbwalker Order: markus-baersch.de/gtmbook