The majority of reports in Google Analytics are comprised of data that is automatically collected through the basic Analytics code on your website. But, there are a few areas where you can add additional information to get specific data from your website. One of these areas is Events, which is used to measure actions that are happening on your website, such as clicks on a button, form submissions, video interaction or scrolling to the bottom of the page.

As you set up Event Tracking, use the Real-Time report for Event Tracking to ensure that the code is working as you implement it. Once the code is in place, head over to Behavior > Events > Overview to familiarize yourself with the data you can view. The Overview is useful because it contains a summary of the Top Events data, but you can move right along to the Top Events Report where all the details are posted.

Events provide two pieces of information: Category and Action. (There are also optional Value and Label fields, if you choose.) The Top Events Report starts with the Events Category, and this is where all generic information is entered about the event in order to group the data together. From Category, you may select the link above the table to view the data by Label or Action, or you may filter the information to find specific data.

In each report, you will find the following:

  • Total Events: Total number of times the event was tracked on your website. This is for all Actions and Label combinations.

  • Unique Events: Events of the same type within the same session are removed from Total Events so that you may identify events which are triggered multiple times per session.

  • Event Value: A numeric value is totaled up based on the values you fire with your Event Tracking. For instance, if 5 events with a value of 10 are collected, the report will show a value of 50.

  • Average Value: This averages out the value based on how many events fired. Using the above example, if the value was 50 and is divided by 5 events, the average value is 10. This information is helpful when determining the performance of certain types of events such as the average seconds of a video watched.

Do you want to know more about Google Analytics? Get in touch with our digital marketing team and let them help!

Pete Schauer
Marketing Director

Pete Schauer is the Marketing Director with an MBA in Communications from William Paterson University. Leading client development and implementation of Brand strategy, he diligently works to ensure the delivery of a fully integrated and multi-solution approach. Schauer is married and has two dogs. In his free time, you can find him outdoors, scouting a new brewery, or playing trivia.