Wajahat Mubashir

How to Create and Track Custom Events in GTM and GA

How to Create and Track Custom Events in GTM and GA4

Step 1: Set Up Your Tag in GTM

First, log into your Google Tag Manager account. Navigate to the ‘Tags’ section and click on ‘New’ to create a new tag.

New Tag

Configuring Your Tag

  • Tag Type: Select ‘Google Analytics: GA4 Event’.
  • Tag Configuration: Enter your GA4 Measurement ID, which you can find in your GA4 account under Admin Settings > Data Streams.
Measurment ID GA4

Step 2: Define Your Custom Event

Event Name: Choose a clear, descriptive name for your event using lowercase and underscores instead of spaces (e.g., ‘custom_event_name’).

Step 3: Set Up Triggering

This step involves specifying when your custom event should fire.

  • Navigate to the ‘Triggers’ section in GTM and create a new trigger.
  • Choose the trigger type as ‘All Elements’ and set it to fire on ‘Some Clicks’.
  • Specify the conditions under which the trigger should fire, such as clicking a specific button. For instance, if your button has a CSS class named ‘CTA’, set the Click Class condition to ‘CTA’.
GA Tag Type

Step 4: Testing Your Setup

Before making your tag live, it’s crucial to test it:

  • Preview Mode: Go to GTM and click on ‘Preview’. Enter the URL where your specified button is located and interact with your page as a user would.
  • Debug View: Check the debug view in GA4 to see if your custom event is being recorded as expected.

Step 5: Publish Your Changes

Once you confirm that everything is set up correctly:

  • Exit preview mode in GTM.
  • Click on ‘Submit’ to publish your changes.

Within 24-48 hours, you should start seeing the data from your custom event appear in your GA4 account under the ‘Events’ section.