Google Analytics ‘Events’ Track Downloads, Video Views
Event tracking is one in every of Google Analytics most underutilized tools. From monitoring PDF downloads to video views, Event tracking counts the collection of times a particular action occurs on a domain, where that action will possibly not create a completely unique page view.
In an ordinary Google Analytics installation, a “page view” is generated whenever a visitor displays a particular, unique URL in his browser. As an instance, a visitor that goes to “http://yourwebsite.com/home” and “http://yourwebsite.com/hours-of-operation” has generated two page views, since he visited two unique URLs.
However, many user interactions turn up at the same page. Perhaps users click a map for your location, which opens up a brand new window to Google Maps, or they watch a video about what you are promoting, or they download a discount to apply on your store or restaurant.
Google Analytics gives us the facility to trace these interactions in numerous ways. One in every of them is via Events, which this text will address.
What Is a Google Analytics Event?
An “Event” in Google Analytics is a user action — a mouse click — that causes something to occur on an internet page that doesn’t necessarily cause a user to visit a brand new page.
For example, a cafe site may contain a PDF menu. If someone clicks on “View our Menu,” for instance, the PDF file is either downloaded or it opens up as a PDF file in a browser window.
In a customary web environment, neither of those two actions causes the Google Analytics JavaScript code to execute, which means that the info will never be captured.
Google Analytics Events allows us to trace these actions, and likewise to know what keywords and traffic sources are causing visitors to do them. Events have two major components, for tracking purposes: Category and Action.
For this tutorial, assume we’re creating Categories and Actions for the Cibon restaurant website, pictured below. Our Category may be “Menu Views,” and our Action could either be “Dine-In Menu” or “Take-Out menu.”
Cibon restaurant’s website offers ”Dine-In Menu” and “Take-Out Menu” as downloadable PDFs.
Setting up a Google Analytics Event to trace Restaurant Menu Views
Utilizing Events requires creating a simple modification to the links to our menu PDFs. Currently, the code appears as follows:
Cibon restaurant source code.
A simple explanation of the above code is that the link is pointing to a file called “cibon-dine-in.pdf,” and clicking it’s going to cause the PDF to open in a brand new window, or prompt the user to download and put it aside.
But this code provides Google Analytics no strategy to understand how typically visitors clicked at the PDF. All Google Analytics knows is that a visitor was on http://www.cafecibon.com/menu.php, a novel URL. The visitor hasn’t necessarily seen your menu.
Knowing what number visitors have downloaded the “Take Out Menu,” versus “Dine In” menus could be helpful. To realize this, make here link modifications.
<a href=”menu/cibon-dine-in.pdf” onClick=”_gaq.push([‘_trackEvent’, ‘Menu_Views’, ‘Dine_In’]);”> target=”_blank”>
and
<a href=”menu/cibon-take-out.pdf” onClick=”_gaq.push([‘_trackEvent’, ‘Menu_Views’, ‘Take_Out’]);”> target=”_blank”>
Now every time a visitor clicks to open either of the menus, an Event is recorded. In Google Analytics, the restaurant will know right here.
- Keywords. What keywords did visitors use to discover the web site and download a menu?
- Traffic sources. Is your Facebook page causing visitors to download the “Dine In” menu?
- Popularity. Do visitors wish to download “Dine In” or “Take Out”?
Looking at Events in Google Analytics
To reach the information you’re now collecting, log into your Google Analytics account. Under Content within the left sidebar select Events.
Information on which menus visitors are selecting displays under Events.
Here, you will notice an summary of ways oftentimes the Events you created occurred. Navigating throughout the options provides you with several different views, and adding secondary dimensions throughout the interface can display keyword data, referral sources, and other pieces of data you should use to gauge the effectiveness of your website.
To determine what number of visitors select “Take Out” versus “Dine In,” for instance, the restaurant owner could navigate to Top Events, click, say, “Menu_Views.” I’ve mocked up hypothetical results below.
To see Google Analytics event data, select “Events” under Content within the left sidebar. During this hypothetical example, “Dine In” menu was downloaded 10 unique times. “Take Out” was downloaded one unique time.
Summary of Google Analytics Events
The uses of Events in Google Analytics are almost infinite. For the restaurant example, you can actually add a class called “Image_Views” with Actions to trace each download of a picture from the most important menu page. This will track both the effectiveness of your photography, in addition to provide insights into which menu items are generating the foremost interest.
You could create a class called Coupons, with an Action correlated to a “Print Now” link at the website.
Perhaps most significantly, Events can also be tied to Goals, which gets your analytics into form, so that you can use analytics to grow your corporation. After all, of course , that’s the purpose of your website.