Tracking User Actions

You can use Google Tag Manager (GTM) and Google Analytics (GA) to track user interactions on your site by creating an event tag and an event goal. We’ll review the set-up steps to implement both event tags in GTM and event goals in GA in order to track user interactions on your website.

If you do not have access to GTM or GA for your Georgetown website, feel free to reach out to the Web Services team at webservices@georgetown.edu and we’d be happy to help.

An event consists of any user interaction with content on your site that can be measured. This can range from downloading a form, clicking on a link, playing a video, and more. An event consists of 4 components:

  • Category: The name of the object you want to analyze
    • ex: videos
  • Action: The event or interaction you want to measure
    • ex: play
  • Label: Any additional information for the event
    • ex: video title
  • Value: The optional numerical value you can assign to the object
    • ex: a 10 second load time

The first step in tracking events on your website is to create an Event Tag in Google Tag Manager.

Creating an Event Tag

GTM helps you manage and deploy “tags” on your site that allow you to track user interactions without having to edit the website code. These consist of three main parts:

  • Tags: Snippets of code that tell GTM what to do
    • ex: GA universal tracking code
  • Triggers: A way to fire your tag, tells GTM when to do what you want it to
    • ex: link click
  • Variables: Additional information GTM may need 
    • ex: GA tracking ID number

To create an event tag in GTM, you can follow these steps:

  1. Log into Google Tag Manager and select “Tags” from the left-hand side. Then, click “New”.
The Tags page in Google Tag Manager is displayed. Additionally, the “new” button is outlined in red.
  1. Select “Google Analytics: Universal Analytics” as the tag type.
A user hovers their cursor over the Google Analytics: Universal Analytics tag under the tag type menu.
  1. Choose “Event” for track type.
A user hovers their cursor over the Track Type menu with the “event” link outlined in red.
  1. Set your event category, action, label, value, and name your tag.
A user fills out the event tracking parameters, specifically outlined in red is Category, Action, Label, and Value parameters.
  1. Set your GA Settings by selecting the GA Settings Variable (this should already exist, but if you do not see this option contact the Web Services team).
Under the event tracking parameters, the google analytics settings is outlined in red.
  1. Next, configure your trigger. To create a new trigger, click on the plus icon in the upper right corner.
Under the trigger tab, the plus icon in the top right corner is outlined in red.
  1. Select your desired trigger type. For tracking clicks on elements such as links, choose the “All Elements” trigger. Check out the GTM help center for more information on trigger types.
Under the Choose Trigger Type tab, the All Elements tab is outlined in red.
  1. Click the “Some Clicks” button and fill out your conditions. If you need to add multiple conditions, click on the plus icon to the right of the conditions.
In the Trigger Configuration pop-up, there is a red outline over the Some Clicks button and the multiple conditions tab.
  1. Once you’ve named your trigger and set the conditions, save your trigger by clicking the “Save” button.
There is a red outline over the customized trigger name in the top left corner and a red outline in the top right corner around the Save button.
  1. Once you have configured your tag and trigger, save the tag by clicking the “Save’ button.
The tag pop-up is displayed with a red outline around the upper right corner Save button.
  1. Next, test your tag by clicking “Preview” to ensure it’s behaving as expected.
Under the tag tab there is a red outline in the upper right corner around the Preview button.
  1. Clicking preview will open up the debugging mode. Enter the URL of the site you created the tag for and click “Start” to begin debugging.
The Start Tag Assistant pop-up is displayed and the URL section and Start button are both outlined in red.
  1. Test to make sure your tag does not fire unless all the conditions you set occur.
In the Summary tab and under the Tags tab, the Tags Not Fired display is outlined in red.
  1. Next, complete the action on your site you are tracking and make sure the tag was fired.
In the Summary tab and under the Tags tab, the specific tag GA-Event prepared button is outlined in red under the Tags Fired display.
  1. Once you’ve tested your tag, exit the debugger mode. Then, click “Submit” to save your changes.
Under the Tags tab, the upper right Submit button is outlined in red.

Once you’ve created your tag, it’s time to create an event goal in Google Analytics.

Creating an Event Goal

  1. Log in to Google Analytics, go to Admin, then click “Goals”.
In Google Analytics under the admin tab, the Goals button is outlined in red.
  1. Click on “New Goal”.
Under the Goals tab, a plus symbol next to the words New Goal button is outlined in red.
  1. In the Goal setup, select “Custom”. Then, click “Continue”.
The goal setup page is displayed with the custom option and continue button outlined in red.
  1. Fill out the Goal description by adding a name. Then, select “Event” for the goal type.
Under the Goal Description header, the Name, Event type option, and Continue button are all outlined in red.
  1. Fill in the category, action, label, and value fields for your event exactly as you did in GTM and click “Save”.

You can test the goal by completing the event on your site. If your goal was set-up correctly, you should be able to see conversion data in Google Analytics by going to Conversions > Goals.