Google Analytics Events Audit

Are you curious about the Google Analytics events tracked by ExactMetrics?

ExactMetrics automatically tracks various types of visitor-triggered events once installed and activated on your WordPress site.

If you need help coming up with goals for your website, read through this guide to learn more about these events and their properties.

This list is not a complete account of ExactMetrics’ events. We’re always adding more tracking features and we currently track a lot of things—but we’ll detail relevant features to help you figure out your site goals.

What is an Event in Google Analytics?

Site visitor interactions on your website are called Events in Google Analytics.

Examples of events tracked in ExactMetrics:

  • File downloads
  • Outbound link clicks
  • Telephone link clicks
  • Affiliate link clicks
  • Form impressions and submissions

Why Do You Need Event Tracking?

Outside of event tracking, Google Analytics tracks what pages are viewed. Without event tracking, page views alone are not very insightful or useful when trying to track your site’s performance.

With event tracking, you can deduce:

  • What your users are doing.
  • If your users are completing certain actions (or your site goals, like using a form).
  • If your users are interacting with your website as expected (clicking a play button and etc).

Event tracking makes goal tracking much more feasible, allowing website owners to see meaningful progress or help make meaningful improvements to their site.

About Google Analytics Events

Custom events in Google Analytics are made up of the following:

  • Event Category
  • Event Action
  • Event Label
  • Event Value (optional, integer)
  • Non-Interaction (optional, true or false)

An example of a download event:

When a user clicks on a link such as the following …

<a href="http://example.com/my-ebook.pdf">Download My eBook</a>

It will trigger an event type of “download”. This means:

  1. The Event category assigned will be “download”.
  2. The Event action will display as http://example.com/my-ebook.pdf.
  3. The Event label will be “Download My eBook”.
  4. The Event Value is not applicable.
  5. The Non-Interaction value is not set.
A few things worth noting:

 

ExactMetrics determines the Event label in a certain order:
  1. The <a> element’s title attribute.
  2. Or text label of the <a> link.
  3. But since there is no title attribute in the above example, the event label is the text: “Download My eBook”.
Also, Non-Interaction is not set for the event-type downloads. When the Non-Interaction parameter is set to 1 (or set as true), it means that the event will not affect the bounce rate or time metrics (like time on page or session duration). By default, events have the non-interaction parameter omitted.

Later in the guide, you can view the makeup of different event types currently implemented by ExactMetrics.

Events Types Available in Each Plan

ExactMetrics tracks the following out of the box:

  • Outbound link tracking
  • Download link tracking
  • Telephone number tracking
  • Affiliate link tracking

This tracking is available in all versions of ExactMetrics. Data for these custom events can be viewed within Google Analytics.

Viewing reports:

If you are an ExactMetrics Plus user or higher, you can view reports on these custom events conveniently within the Publisher’s report (located right inside your WordPress site).

 

Additionally, if you’re an ExactMetrics Pro user or higher, you’ll gain access to even more advanced tracking such as Forms tracking and eCommerce tracking.

Table of ExactMetrics Events

Event TypeEvent CategoryEvent ActionEvent LabelEvent Value
Download file link clickdownloadsURL of fileThe label of the href attribute, either link title or text contentn/a
Outbound link clickoutbound-linkURL of linkThe label of the href attribute, either link title or text contentn/a
Form ImpressionformimpressionForm ID1
Form ConversionformconversionForm ID1
Affiliate link clickoutbound-link-affURL of linkThe label of the href attribute, either link title or text contentn/a
Telephone number link clicktelURL of number, i.e., tel:1-222-333-4445The label of the href attribute, either link title or text contentn/a
Email link clickmailtomailto URL of mailto link, i.e., mailto:[email protected]The label of the href attribute, either link title or text contentn/a

eCommerce Events Table

Event TypeEvent CategoryEvent ActionEvent LabelEvent Value
Product ImpressionProductsImpressionImpressionn/a
ProductsProductsViewed ProductProduct Titlen/a
ProductsProductsClickProduct Titlen/a
ProductsProductsRemove From CartProduct Title1
ProductsProductsAdd to CartProduct Title1
Checkout Page ImpressionCheckoutStarted CheckoutCheckout Pagen/a
Completed CheckoutCheckoutCompleted CheckoutOrder ID NumberPrice (integer)
Increase quantity of Product in CartCartIncreased Cart QuantityProduct Title1
Decrease quantity of Product in CartCartDecreased Cart QuantityProduct Title1
RefundOrdersRefunderOrder ID NumberPrice (integer)

Table of ExactMetrics Scroll Tracking Events

Event TypeEvent CategoryEvent ActionEvent LabelEvent Value
Scroll 25% Down PageScroll DepthPercentage25%1
Scroll 50% Down PageScroll DepthPercentage50%1
Scroll 75% Down PageScroll DepthPercentage75%1
Scroll 100% Down PageScroll DepthPercentage100%1

 

That’s it! Now you know the event type, category, action, label and value of various custom events.

What’s next? Create some Goals in Google Analytics through our guide: 4 Types of Goals in Google Analytics That Are Critical to Your Business.