Is it possible to use Google Tag Manager to pass a user’s text input into a form field to Google analytics?
-
Hey Everyone,
I finally figured out how to use auto event tracking with Google Tag Manager, but didn't get the data I wanted. I want to see what users are typing into the search field on my site (the URL structure of my site isn't set up properly to use GA's built-in site search tracking). So, I set up the form submit event tracking in Google Tag Manager and used the following as my event tracking parameters:
Category: Search
Action: Search Value
When I test and look in Google Analytics I just see: "search" and "search value." I wanted to see the text that I searched on my site. Not just the Action and Category of the event....
Is what I'm trying to do even possible? Do I need to set up a different event tracking parameter?
Thanks everyone!
-
Hey Mike,
Thanks so much for the reply. I apologize for taking so long to respond! I have my Moz emails separated into a different email folder that I rarely check. We ended up abandoning GTM and coming up with a developer supplied solution, but I'd still love to try this out. We'd love to be able to do all of the event tracking without involving developers! I will try this out within the next few weeks on a new site and definitely respond back.
Thanks Mike.
-
Hi Melanie,
Definitely possible using GTM's Data Layer object, but it'll take a little work to make it happen.
Two resources I'd recommend a deep dive into to understand this logic:
- Google's Tag Manager Developer's Guide explains how to work with the data layer - I'd consider this mandatory reading as there are a few basic setup steps for utilizing the data layer object
- This great tutorial video from Eric Fettman at KISSmetrics (which I'm borrowing a bit from below) is a great, clear walkthrough - the whole video is solid, but if you're looking to jump right to the bit that applies to this case, go to 9:20
The following is my basic stab at what you'll need to do, but you should by no means consider this foolproof - testing and adjustment will be required.
You'll basically want to...
-
Use the dataLayer object in your form HTML to push an event with the search field value into the data layer upon the form's submission
For example: < form name="myform" onsubmit="dataLayer.push({event','search','eventLabel':[searchvalue]});" /> where search is the name of your new custom event, which you'll listen for with a new GTM event tag & rule combo (following steps), and you must replace [searchvalue] with the value of your search form field via JS or jQuery - that last bit is a little tricky and will probably require a separate function to parse the DOM and grab the value from the search field, but I'd look at the same basic functionality that JavaScript Form Validation uses as a starting point. Maybe someone with stronger JS skills than mine can help you sort that piece.
-
Create a new event tag in GTM with custom Category and Action static values (maybe "search" and "search performed"), adding a Macro with the type "Data Layer Variable," with a Data Layer Variable Name of eventLabel (which is what we used in the HTML code above - crucial that these match) and Data Layer Version set to 1
-
Create a rule for this new tag to fire when the Condition {{event}} equals search (or whatever you've specified as the event name in your form HTML above
It can be a little confusing wrapping your head around this combination of pushing a custom event along with a dynamic event label into the data layer and using that to trigger a rule+event combo to grab that data and push it with your custom event values into GA, but when you think through the logic a few times it becomes clearer.
I'd love to hear whether this did the trick or at least led you down the right track if you don't mind circling back in this thread.
Best,
Mike
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Strange 404 Pages Appearing in Google Analytics
Hi, My client has some strange urls appearing in GA which lead to error pages. Please see the following image: https://imgur.com/a/6TPO8yL e.g URLs like /h/6445738.html I've used screaming frog to see if these pages exist on the website and I can't find them, anywhere. Therefore how are they coming up in GA? If anyone could please help I'd really appreciate it.
Reporting & Analytics | | SolveWebMedia0 -
Techy - Google Analytics, Google & Code Expert
We are trying to find someone to join our company but are having a very difficult time. Does anyone have any suggestions about where to find someone like this?
Reporting & Analytics | | ColoradoMarketingTeam0 -
Google Analytics goals by source report?
Hello everybody. Is there way in Google analytics to create report on what goals have been completed per each source? Example: Lets say I have 3 goals: Subscription, Purchase, Quote. How can I get report, saying something like this: google / organic - Subscription - 5 conversions
Reporting & Analytics | | DmitriiK
Purchase - 3 conversions
Quote - 10 conversions and so on. P.S. Basically, I want the reverse of standard Google Analytics goal completions report, where you can click on goal and see which sources/mediums completions came from. I'd like to do the opposite - "click" on source/medium and see which goals have been completed. Thanks0 -
Different transaction data social channel on Google Analytics
Hi there, On my ecommerce, in order to find out the number of transactions that came directly from my social channels I go to Acquisition->Channels and then I look at the column Transactions for the Social channel. Surprisingly this number differ from the one that I find under Acquisition->Social->Overview and then I select Transaction under Conversions. Then I look at Last interaction Social Conversions to find the number of transactions. The two quantities are totally different for a month window and they should be the same. Can any of you explain to me the reason why? Thanks and regards
Reporting & Analytics | | footd0 -
Dip in traffic from Pune for our sites in Google Analytics
Hi, We have noticed dip in traffic from Pune after 6th May'14 in our Google Analytics account for few of our sites. Did anyone noticed the same for your site. Kindly let me know if you have any idea. Thank and Regards
Reporting & Analytics | | vivekrathore0 -
Tracking in Google Analytics
My site has just recently (or maybe not so recently...) had a great deal of https URL's indexed (I was really only able to find this out thanks to the recent update to the GWT Index Status). It appears that Googlebot picked up an ssl somewhere (I already know where) on my site and then proceeded to crawl and index pages with https rather than http. Since I understand the issue, it should be an easy fix. My question is, does Google Analytics support (track) both http AND https for one site, or would I need to set up two different tracking codes for http and https? I figured that I might as well grab some data from the https pages that are indexed before I try and remove them. I've done a little research on using Groupings/Groups but I figured I would reach out to the MOZ community to see if anyone else has worked with a similar issue. Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | GalcoIndustrial0 -
Google analytics reality check?
Looking back over a 9 month period tracking analytics with getclicky my site showed a 29% bounce rate, with only about 1/4 of visitors spending 1 minute or less on my site. I've recently implemented GA (removed old clicky code) and although traffic is strong, my site now shows a bounce rate of about 82%. Engagement stats also show that 82% of visitors spend between 0-10 seconds on my site. My site is built on Wordpress and the GA tracking code wasn't placed directly in the footer, my developer built a field in the admin area to insert the UA number which automatically adds the code to all pages. I've checked the code and the tracking seems to appear on all pages. I took a look at AW Stats. It corroborates GA and says that 80% of visitors are spending 0-30 seconds on the site. Potential issues/clues: browser tests show small loading problems in Internet Explorer 7,8,9 (the phone number at the top of the header loads on the wrong side of the page) and major issues in Internet Explorer 6 (site doesn't load at all in IE 6). The thing is no one who uses IE 6 is coming to the site. Second, the site gets a grade of C in YSlow, it's not lightning fast at the moment. GA is showing average page load of 2.4 seconds, but don't think either of these issues should cause an 82% 0-10 seconds engagement number. My site is content rich/focused with very minimal advertising. Content is accessible well above the fold. My question: Does the fact that AW Stats and GA agree mean that those numbers are accurate, or is there a bug I should be looking for? How to explain the clicky numbers?
Reporting & Analytics | | JSOC0 -
Analytics package beside google analytics
Hi, What analytics package can i use to track ecommerce transaction besides gogole analytics that is free of charge? Thanks Arthur
Reporting & Analytics | | VivaArturo0