Is it possible to use Google Tag Manager to pass a user’s text input into a form field to Google analytics?

[DaveGuyMan]

Hey Everyone,

I finally figured out how to use auto event tracking with Google Tag Manager, but didn't get the data I wanted. I want to see what users are typing into the search field on my site (the URL structure of my site isn't set up properly to use GA's built-in site search tracking). So, I set up the form submit event tracking in Google Tag Manager and used the following as my event tracking parameters:

Category: Search

Action: Search Value

When I test and look in Google Analytics I just see: "search" and "search value." I wanted to see the text that I searched on my site. Not just the Action and Category of the event....

Is what I'm trying to do even possible? Do I need to set up a different event tracking parameter?

Thanks everyone!

[DaveGuyMan]

Hey Mike,

Thanks so much for the reply. I apologize for taking so long to respond! I have my Moz emails separated into a different email folder that I rarely check. We ended up abandoning GTM and coming up with a developer supplied solution, but I'd still love to try this out. We'd love to be able to do all of the event tracking without involving developers! I will try this out within the next few weeks on a new site and definitely respond back.

Thanks Mike.

[MikeTek]

Hi Melanie,

Definitely possible using GTM's Data Layer object, but it'll take a little work to make it happen.

Two resources I'd recommend a deep dive into to understand this logic:

1. Google's Tag Manager Developer's Guide explains how to work with the data layer - I'd consider this mandatory reading as there are a few basic setup steps for utilizing the data layer object
2. This great tutorial video from Eric Fettman at KISSmetrics (which I'm borrowing a bit from below) is a great, clear walkthrough - the whole video is solid, but if you're looking to jump right to the bit that applies to this case, go to 9:20

The following is my basic stab at what you'll need to do, but you should by no means consider this foolproof - testing and adjustment will be required.

You'll basically want to...

1. Use the dataLayer object in your form HTML to push an event with the search field value into the data layer upon the form's submission

   For example: < form name="myform" onsubmit="dataLayer.push({event','search','eventLabel':[searchvalue]});" /> where search is the name of your new custom event, which you'll listen for with a new GTM event tag & rule combo (following steps), and you must replace [searchvalue] with the value of your search form field via JS or jQuery - that last bit is a little tricky and will probably require a separate function to parse the DOM and grab the value from the search field, but I'd look at the same basic functionality that JavaScript Form Validation uses as a starting point. Maybe someone with stronger JS skills than mine can help you sort that piece.

2. Create a new event tag in GTM with custom Category and Action static values (maybe "search" and "search performed"), adding a Macro with the type "Data Layer Variable," with a Data Layer Variable Name of eventLabel (which is what we used in the HTML code above - crucial that these match) and Data Layer Version set to 1

3. Create a rule for this new tag to fire when the Condition {{event}} equals search (or whatever you've specified as the event name in your form HTML above

It can be a little confusing wrapping your head around this combination of pushing a custom event along with a dynamic event label into the data layer and using that to trigger a rule+event combo to grab that data and push it with your custom event values into GA, but when you think through the logic a few times it becomes clearer.

I'd love to hear whether this did the trick or at least led you down the right track if you don't mind circling back in this thread.

Best,
Mike