How To Set Up Event Tracking in Google Analytics (And Why You Should!)

Event Tracking is a very useful feature that Google introduced earlier this year and made available to all Google Analytics accounts.  So what is Event Tracking and how do you use it?

GA Event Tracking allows you to track events (also called “actions” or “conversions”) on your website.  An action occurs when a visitor clicks on something—perhaps a PDF white paper download, a call-to-action button such as “RFP Request” or “Click Here for a Free Quote!”, a link to a video or mp3/podcast, a link to an external website, or just about anything else you can think of.  More advanced implementations can be built into Flash movies to track visitor engagement and interaction.

Event tracking sounds great but how do you set it up?  What you need is:

• A free Google Analytics account.
• Google Analytics tracking code installed properly on your web pages.
• Ability to add tracking code to your hyperlinks (check with your webmaster).
• A little strategic planning and creativity!

Assuming you have a Google Analytics account and have the ga.js (not legacy urchin.js) tracking code installed on your website, the next step is to decide which events to track and how to label them.  The events to track are entirely up to you!  We suggest focusing on actions which may help measure the effectiveness of your online marketing initiatives such as promotional and informational downloads, multimedia presentations, requests for more information and sales leads.

The event tracking code is a basic line of JavaScript that you add to a hyperlink.  You need to specify a category name and action name, optionally you may also assign a label and value.  The tracking code should look something like this:

In the example pictured below we have added event tracking code to a “Request Pricing” button.  When the link is clicked, Google Analytics will register the event under the category, action and optional attributes we specify.  The event tracking code is highlighted in yellow.

When the “Request Pricing” button is clicked, Google Analytics will register the event in our “Contact” category, the action is called “Quote_Button”, and the optional label is “Inquiry_Form”.  As you can see the event tracking code is really quite simple to set up!  It is also very flexible since you can assign any category, action and optional attributes you desire.

Now that you have the event tracking code in place, you can set up advanced segments in Google Analytics to monitor the actions you have tagged.  In the example shown below we have an Inquiry Form completion set up as a conversion goal.  Our data from Month A shows conversions before the event tracking code was put in place and Month B shows conversion data after adding the event tracking code.  In Month B we can now see greater detail about the site visitor, showing how many visitors that clicked the “Quote_Button” completed the inquiry form, and the form completion (conversion) rate for visitors clicking the “Quote_Button”.

This is just one example of how Google Analytics Event Tracking can give deeper, more granular insight into how visitors interact with your site.  The possible ways of tracking visitor interaction with your site are limited only by your needs!

Web Advantage offers web analytics consultation as part of our Search Engine Marketing services.  Please contact us and let us know how we can help you!

6 Comments

1. There are many features in Google Analytics that I do not even know. This event tracking feature is quite essential to my blog. I will try to learn more.

     Comment by Altis Lo (Beaulife) — December 25, 2009 @ 1:01 am

2. I use google analytics, but so far I just use it for general purposes, it sounds interesting to use the event tracking, it gives deeper information for me, thanks for the sharing

     Comment by turisuna — January 10, 2010 @ 9:48 am

3. Actually Google Analytics is the best Analytics tool that is there, and I think event tracking is a quite good feature that can help in tracking affiliate conversions etc. Thanks for sharing the tips. Keep up the good work

     Comment by Forum Indonesia — January 11, 2010 @ 1:53 pm

4. thanks it seems to work fine on html pages but does show results immediately on aspx pages can you guide me why is this happening

     Comment by Raul Gonzelous — January 30, 2010 @ 4:16 am

5. Thanks,nice page.have to be careful with commentluv it can send you a ton of spam

     Comment by Christian Louboutin — April 21, 2010 @ 9:57 pm

6. google Analytics is not the best, there are still some other better tracking tools, only a few webmasters use Google Analytics in China.

     Comment by bearings — May 11, 2010 @ 6:07 am

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