Huge Analytics discrepancy when I turned off Analytics Module & Turned on GA via GTM
-
Hello,
I was running universal GA via a GA Drupal module. We setup Google Tag Manager and setup a GA tag to run through GTM. When we pushed the GTM container live our Real Time was at around 1900 and when we turned off the Drupal module the Real Time was reporting around 1100.
After 24 hours the sessions for that day were about 100k lower than what they usually are.
Any ideas Why the larger discrepancy? Any places that are obvious to look?
*I didn't setup the original Drupal GA module, nor do I know who did.
Thanks
-
Thanks, Dirk. I had the devs move the data layer above the GTM container snippet. The GA tag is still not firing on pages with a data layer and firing on pages without a data layer.
Obviously, it looks like there is an issue with the data layer -- I can't figure out what it is. I took a screen grab of the data layer in the source code.
-
Can only give you a theoretical answer - don't have that much experience with debugging the tag manager. From the "manual":
Data layer needs to be above the container snippet
Datalayer should be added above the container snippet. Variables pushed to the data layer after the container snippet will not be able to fire tags on page loads with a matching condition.
Variables pushed to the data layer after the container snippet will not be able to fire tags on page loads with a matching condition.
Move the datalayer to above the container snippetCheck also https://www.optimizesmart.com/google-tag-manager-data-layer-explained-like-never/ - it seems that you define your data layer after the position of the tag - so the tag cannot send the info from the data layer to Analytics. Check your source code & check where the data layer is defined. Probably it's ok on your category pages but not on the detail pages (compare both types to see the difference)
Hope this helps.
Dirk
-
Hey Dirk,
I checked the debugger and on the pages where the tag isn't firing the console isn't even acknowledging GTM.
The Tag Assistant is showing this error on pages where the GA tag is not firing: 'data layer needs to be above the container snippet.' Do you think this could be the issue?
I work with a journal site, and I notice that on landing pages the GA tag mostly fires correctly, but on article pages the tag doesn't fire and I get the 'data layer' error from tag assistant. e.x: the tag fires on /news but not on /news/some-random-article-from-today
-
Apart from the Tag manager assistant - you could also check the debugger -https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-analytics-debugger/jnkmfdileelhofjcijamephohjechhna?hl=en-US - like Martijn mentioned there should be an error somewhere - did you check the messages in the console?
-
That is possible, the coding is a mess. How could I see if there were or were not JavaScript errors on the page? And if there were, how to pinpoint which are interfering with my GA tag firing?
Thanks, Martijn!
-
Are you sure that there are no JavaScript errors on the page?
-
I found a subdirectory that the GA tag is not firing on though the GTM container is present.
When I use Debug, I get this message:
No tags were evaluated because there was no Event in the selected Message
I have no idea as to why the tag is not firing.
-
Hmm yeah that seems right to me!
-
Thanks, Dirk. I'm going to follow your suggestions.
Martijn, the track type id is 'pageview' and is set to fire on 'all pages'. For my Tag Firing Options I have selected 'once per event.'
Does that seem to be right?
-
What Dirk is suggesting would be the first thing to do in my opinion as well. But the second one is what trigger are you using in Google Tag Manager. Are you targeting all pages in there or something else?
-
Run Screaming Frog - and check if the tag id is present on all pages. Apart from checking - you could also extract the code from the source to double check that the ID is correct; check here how you can do this
In Analytics reporting (Behavior > Site Content > Content Drill down) set the day after migration & compare it to the day before migration - check if there if the drop is generic (=all pages) or linked to a few sections. If the drop is higher in specific sections - go down to next level & do the same. Check the pages with the highest traffic loss using the Tag Assistant plugin for Chrome. It checks if the tag is properly implemented on these pages (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tag-assistant-by-google/kejbdjndbnbjgmefkgdddjlbokphdefk)
You can also use the Tag Assistant plugin on your main pages to see if it is sending data as you would expect.
Hope this helps.
Dirk
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
GA 4 Question
What differences are you typically seeing in Google Analytics 4 compared to UA? For one site I have, UA says there were 2,342 new users. GA4 says there were 1,899 new users for the same time period. Does that seem like a normal amount of difference between the two platforms?
Reporting & Analytics | | emilycarimus1 -
Analytics code removed and still collecting data
Google analytics code was removed from a website and then it started tracking a couple of days later to only stop again? How can that happen? Has the developer not removed the old code properly? Can the code be injected remotely?
Reporting & Analytics | | GardenBeet0 -
Linking My Google analytics with visual.ly
Hello, I have a quick question: Is it secure and safe to link my Google Analytics account with Visual.ly here's the link: https://create.visual.ly/graphic/google-analytics I want to create easy-to-understand report from Google Analytics and if you have any experience with this service can you share it with me please. Thanks.
Reporting & Analytics | | JonsonSwartz0 -
AHHH... Google Analytics just changed!
There's now an acquisitions tab.. but I can't figure out how to sort referral traffic by referral path.
Reporting & Analytics | | S.S.N0 -
Tracking Social Interactions with GA and WordPress
Hi, One of the things I'm looking to do is to track clicks on my social follow buttons. I know I can try to add GA events for each button and go from there. But in order to simplify the process, I'm looking for a WP plugin that can help. Currently I've only come across AddThis and Share This as viable options, though Add This has very mixed reviews, and Share This isn't updated for WP 3.6.1. For my social shares at the end of blog posts I'm wondering the same thing about tracking shares. I've used AddThis in the past with success in tracking shares, but I wanted to see what other are doing or if there's a newer technique. The bottom line is that I want to try to see as much of the "social" as I can in GA. Thank you in advance!!
Reporting & Analytics | | Titan5520 -
How do i get Social Media Actions Tracked in GA
Greetings from 17 degrees C wetherby UK 🙂 http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/zymurgy_bucket/how-do-get-this.jpg The above url pints to dat I'd love to see in my Google analytics account but instead all i can see is this:
Reporting & Analytics | | Nightwing
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/zymurgy_bucket/no-socail-media-engagementcopy.jpg What i really want to measure is Facebook Likes etc not just referral traffic from social media sites. So my question is please... "Do i have to add additional tracking code to Google analytics as explained here - https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/gaTrackingSocial " Thanks in advance,
David0 -
Weird info from google analytics?
Hi Could anyone explain what these visits are in Google Analytics? Under traffic sources and organic I am seeing lots of entries with data like below. Any ideas what kind of traffic this is? Is it a bot and if so what is their purpose of it and is it recommended that you block it? Pages/Visit 1.00 Avg. Time on Site 00:00:00 % New Visits : 100% Bounce Rate: 100.00% Many Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | ocelot0 -
Google Analytics session update question
Hello, With reference to seomoz blog post - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/panda-24-and-analytics-session-update-rolled-out-simultaneously#jtc151292 , i would like clarification about the following - User searches Google for "Product Name" and clicks on your AdWords advertisement. User leaves site and searches a few more times, click on competition and comparing prices and features. User ultimately decides to with your product, Googles "Your Brand + Product Name", clicks your organic listing, and buys the product. This whole process takes less than 30 minutes. "Your Brand + Product Name" will appear in your organic keyword report with 1 visit. My question is whether "Product Name" will also appear in organic keyword report with 1 visit if the visitor is not signed in. ( as search won't be encrypted ) Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | seoug_20100