Events not being tracked in new Google Analytics (analytics.js) setup

Events Google Analytics Jquery analytics.js

Events Problem Overview

I have a website that I am using the new Universal Analytics (analytics.js) to track. Everything is setup and working (pageviews, referrals, etc.) using the following code snippet:

<script>
  (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
  (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
  m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
  })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');

  ga('create', 'UA-39570713-1', 'site.com');
  ga('send', 'pageview');

</script>

That is located before the </head> tag.

I am using JQuery to fire off an event. I tested the JQuery with an alert message and it is getting called, so that isn't the problem. Here is the snippet that fires when a button is clicked:

$('#submitButton').on('click', function() {
	  ga('send', 'event', 'button', 'click', 'contact form');
	});

Nothing is appearing in the Events section of Analytics. I keep clicking the button, even from different computers just to make sure it isn't excluding my IP address. Because the Analytics doc that Google provides does not provide a whole lot of explanation I'm at a loss here.

Events Solutions

Solution 1 - Events

If you are using Google Tag Manager and also want to trigger some events via code, ga('send'...) does not appear to be enough. You need to first fetch the appropriate analytics object:

if ("ga" in window) {
    tracker = ga.getAll()[0];
    if (tracker)
        tracker.send("event", "Test", "Test GA");
}

Note that this assumes you're only using a single Google Analytics Tracking code on your site. If you happen to be using multiple, you may need to fetch the appropriate one by name or index.

Solution 2 - Events

New version of analytics has a new syntax. Replace the line below;

ga('send', 'event', 'button', 'click', 'contact form');

with this;

gtag('event', 'click', {'event_category' : 'button',
  'event_label' : 'contact form'});

Reference; https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gtagjs/events

Solution 3 - Events

For testing purposes you could also use the hitCallback method:

ga('send', {
  'hitType': 'event',         
  'eventCategory': 'button', 
  'eventAction': 'click',     
  'eventLabel': 'contact form',
  'hitCallback' : function () {
      alert("Event received");
   }
});

Update: comma was missing.

Solution 4 - Events

For GA for this moment... Sending a new page in SPA looks finally like this for me:

if (window.ga){
	window.ga.getAll()[0].set('page', location);
	window.ga.getAll()[0].send('pageview')
}

This shows exactly what wanted on GA reports like a new page is hit and the title and all are correct.

Solution 5 - Events

I had the exact same problem. I had to create a new property and select "Universal Analytics" instead of "Classic Analytics" (it is labeled as "beta"). Now events are captured properly.

Solution 6 - Events

In my case the problem was uBlock Origin that was blocking the analytics script from loading.

Solution 7 - Events

I had this same problem, and I think I've found the solution, but it really leaves a bad taste in my mouth about Universal Analytics.

What I had to do was explicitly use the synchronous analytics API. So instead of including the usual snippet in your <head> tag, use the following code:

<script src="//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js"></script>
<script>
  tracker = ga.create('UA-XXXXXXX-1', 'example.com');
  tracker.send('pageview');
</script>

Then you call the event tracking code like this:

tracker.send('event', 'Category', 'Action', 'Label');

This will ensure that the tracking beacon is sent to Google and acknowledged before the page the user navigated to starts loading.

This suggests that Universal Analytics requires some kind of additional acknowledgment beyond what the old ga.js analytics code required. So when you attach an event to a click that brings the user to another page, that acknowledgement can't be sent because the browser has left the page and dropped the current javascript execution stack.

Maybe this problem is specific to certain execution environments (I'm using Chrome 34 on OSX Mountain Lion), which might explain why more developers aren't noticing this problem.

Solution 8 - Events

today I needed to setup analythics for the first time and I found myself in the same trouble.

I found that the bast way to deal with the multiple trackers to avoid the getAll(), is this:

<script>
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');

ga('create', 'UA-xxxxxx-y', 'auto', 'tracker');
ga('tracker.send', 'pageview');
ga('tracker.send', 'event', 'test', 'click', 'automaticEvent')

Note that you have to pass a "name" to the create method, and then you send an event to that tracker with ga([trackerName].send, ...)

Reference: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/accessing-trackers

Solution 9 - Events

If anyone is trying to send an event to Google Analytics and wondering why the send function is doing nothing without any clear hint, I recommend using the debug version of their library. It will log some useful hints in the browser console.

Instead of getting the script from https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js, get it from https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics_debug.js. I found this out from their documentation.

Solution 10 - Events

I cannot see anything wrong with the code itself. Have you tried using the alternative event tracking?

ga('send', {
  'hitType': 'event',          // Required.
  'eventCategory': 'button',   // Required.
  'eventAction': 'click',      // Required.
  'eventLabel': 'contact form'
});

I would also suggest testing the website with GA Debug Chrome addon, which allows you to see the tracking beacon was sent or not.

"Official" debugging documentation for Universal Analytics is still missing as of now, but hopefully it will be added soon as ga_debug.js provides lot of useful ways how to find out what's wrong with Analytics implementation...

Solution 11 - Events

I have the same problem, and it looks like events are tracked, but GA dashboard doesn't allow to browse them. This is the only way how I could interprete the "Visits with events: 1071" but "Total events: 0" that GA dashboard shows me.

UPD: With GA Chrome debug, have found a problem; 1st method is not working (sends the event without any data attached), but the 2nd one is OK.

Solution 12 - Events

You should also consider that it is likely that the page gets reloaded after the submit event was fired before the ga script was able to execute the 'send' method. To avoid this you could employ the 'hitCallback' mechanism, i.e. prevent the submit, call the ga send-method and submit the form data in the callback.

Solution 13 - Events

I got it working - my example is using the new Universal Analytics.

<script type="text/javascript">
    function sliderOnChange() {
    var period = window.convertDays(($("#PeriodSlider").slider("value")));
    var amount_of_credit = $("#AmountOfCreditSlider").slider("value");
    var gaEventInput = "£" + amount_of_credit + " for " + period;
    ga('send', 'event', 'slider', 'sliding', gaEventInput);
}
</script>

Make sure Google Analytics / Google Tag Manager filters are not excluding any traffic from different domain. (Maybe you are testing it to get this working using different domain)
Recheck your GA id and domain in ga('create', 'UA-39570713-1', 'site.com');
Create a new profile in Google Analytics (GA) for testing purposes and debug your html in the same domain you define in GA.
Change the date to be today in GA - you might also need to wait some time before it appears in GA

Solution 14 - Events

I recommend sending GTM event via window.dataLayer.push({ event: 'EVENT_NAME', ...data }) and in GTM creating a trigger to fire a tag which sends event to Google Analytics. You'll have the best debugging experience with GTM preview and you'll be sure that events will be sent from GTM to GA, because GTM takes care of that.

Solution 15 - Events

onclick ga() function not working for me, I have also added the 'analytics.js' in <head> section -

<a mat-list-item routerLink='/dashboard' onclick="ga('send', 'event', 'Dashboard', 'Click', 'demoClick, 30);">
   <mat-icon color="accent">home</mat-icon>
   <span class="side-item">Dashboard</span>
</a>

gtag() function working fine for me, only the 'gtag.js' added in <head> section, 'analytics.js' not required or can be removed -

<a mat-list-item routerLink='/dashboard' id="sideNavDashboard" onclick="gtag('event', 'Click', {'event_category':'Dashboard', 'event_label':'demoClick', 'value':'30'});">
   <mat-icon color="accent">home</mat-icon>
   <span class="side-item">Dashboard</span>
</a>

Result (Google Analytics output) -

Solution 16 - Events

I was seeing everything except Events (both real-time and report). My steps included:

Calling Google and they found out that my GTM tag for Google Optimize was stopping all events to be sent to Analytics.
Removed the Optimize tag from Google tag manager and events started popping up in Analytics.

Try pausing some tag if you have this issue. Also connect the event tag to some goal.

Solution 17 - Events

I am using Vue.js and it seems I have to create ga each time, even though it was already created on the window:

ga('create', yourGtagId, 'auto');
ga('send', {});

Solution 18 - Events

In my case it didn't work because I loaded the HTML file directly from the file system.

Loading the page via a web server did the trick.

For local development a tool like https://github.com/tj/serve does a great job.

Solution 19 - Events

The only way I solved the problem was rolling back to the previous version of Analytics (non-beta):

<script type="text/javascript">

  var _gaq = _gaq || [];
  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-39570713-2']);
  _gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'optimino.com']);
  _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

  (function() {
    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
  })();

</script>

Solution 20 - Events

You can also use a jquery plugin I wrote for the new Universal Analytics: https://github.com/pascalvgemert/jquery-analytics-event-tracking

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	squeezemylime	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Events	Sanjay Vamja	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Events	afelaho	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Events	Dom	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Events	Albedo	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Events	extrabacon	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Events	user1139733	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Events	coredumperror	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 8 - Events	Alejandro Cuenca Estrada	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 9 - Events	Elias Zamaria	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 10 - Events	Petr Havlik	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 11 - Events	Yuriy Silvestrov	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 12 - Events	Nicolas Zimmer	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 13 - Events	Kristjan Kure	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 14 - Events	Daniel Kmak	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 15 - Events	Pinaki	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 16 - Events	Dan Prag	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 17 - Events	Stuart Cusack	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 18 - Events	Francesc Rosas	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 19 - Events	squeezemylime	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 20 - Events	pascalvgemert	View Answer on Stackoverflow