Use Google Analytics 4 in CONTENTdm

Add Google Analytics 4 support to your site

Before the EOL date for UA, you can track your site’s activities with either or both Universal Analytics (UA) and GoogleAnalytics 4 (GA4). You can include Tracker IDs of one or both Google Analytics versions in your Website Configuration Tool.

First, create a property in your Google Analytics account.

• Refer to Add a Google Analytics 4 property if you already have UA.
• Refer to Set up Analytics for a website and/or app if you do not have UA.

Note the Tracking ID, referred to as the Measurement ID for GA4. The ID starts with the G-. This is not the property ID, but the tracking ID or measurement ID. Refer to Tracking ID support.

1. Sign in to the CONTENTdm Website Configuration Tool.
2. Navigate to Global Settings > Analytics & SEO > Google Analytics. 
3. If you are tracking your site activities in UA, the Google Analytics Tracker ID field should contain a Tracker ID starting with UA-:
   • Example: UA-#########
4. To track in both UA and GA4, add the GA4 Tracker ID, starting with G-, to the Google Analytics Tracker ID field with a comma to separate the two IDs and no space in between:
   • Example: UA-#########,G-#########
5. To only track in GA4, add a single GA4 Tracker ID to the Google Analytics Tracker ID field:
   • Example: G-#########
6. Click Save and Publish. 

Per Google, it can take up to 30 minutes for data to begin appearing in your new GA4 property. Some reports can take 24-48 hours to appear.

About custom dimensions in GA4

Once you add GA4 tracking to your website, you can start to use the real-time data and some of the standard reports to view and analyze your data. Refer to Understanding Google Analytics Reports (GA4). You can also set up custom dimensions to track additional data CONTENTdm supports to collect more meaningful data specific to your CONTENTdm collections. Refer to Custom dimensions and metrics (GA4).

GA4 tracks:

• event_name
• event_parameters

For example, to understand how the Download function is used, only tracking how often the Download button is clicked is not as informative. Instead, knowing which items users are downloading will be much more meaningful. In GA4, the download clicking event has event parameters attached to it, such as collection_id, item_id, and download label, which will tell you more information about the downloads. 

Set up these event parameters with the specific events to create custom dimensions. Afterward, use these custom dimensions to generate custom reports to help you visualize your analytics data.

In GA4, the event name is the top-level way of identifying events. In CONTENTdm, examples of these names are search and download item.  

GA4 allows us to send additional event parameters along with events. These can vary based on the event name. View these event parameters in the Realtime view when you drill down into events. To be able to drill down into their values over the longer-term analysis views in Google Analytics, as well as to build custom reports based on them, it is necessary to add custom dimensions for each unique event parameter.

Once added, new events will have those parameters processed as custom dimensions, and those values will be usable in reports.

Event parameters

Below is a list of event parameters that CONTENTdm supports. Add the desired event parameters for tracking. The most important event parameters that we recommend customers add are collection_alias,  item_id, and query.  If compound objects are used, parent_id is also recommended.

 Note: Not all of these custom parameters are sent for all events. Each individual event may have zero or a few custom parameters sent with it.

Below is a list of the events with the associated parameters indicated:

Action	event_name	event_parameters
User clicks Home in breadcrumbs link	breadcrumbs:home
User clicks collection name in breadcrumbs link	breadcrumbs:collection	collection_alias: (collection_alias)
User clicks collection card from home page	open collection	collection_alias: (collection_alias)
User clicks Browse button on collection	browse collection	collection_alias: (collection_alias)
User clicks Save star on item	save item	collection_alias: (collection_alias) item_id: (item_id)
User changes language in footer	change language	language: (language name)
User clicks Home in footer	home link	source: footer
User clicks About in footer	about link	source: footer
User clicks Browse in footer	browse link	source: footer
User clicks Log In in footer	log in link	source: footer
User clicks Log Out in footer	log out link	source: footer
User clicks the home link in the header (logo or title)	home link	source: header
User clicks a custom link in the hamburger menu	custom link	link: (url of custom link) source: header
User clicks the hamburger menu that opens the hamburger menu	open hamburger menu	none
User clicks Home in hamburger menu	home link	source: hamburger menu
User clicks Browse in hamburger menu	browse link	source: hamburger menu
User clicks About in hamburger menu	about link	source: hamburger menu
User clicks Log in in hamburger menu	log in link	source: hamburger menu
User clicks Log out in hamburger menu	log out link	source: hamburger menu
User enters a page number in the page number box for a compound object	select compound item page	collection_id: (collection_id) parent_id: (parent_id) parent_title: (parent_title) page: (page) source: entered page number
User downloads an item that isn't an image via the download dropdown	download item	collection_id: (collection_id) item_id: (item_id) download label: (message)
User downloads a single item that isn't an image via the download dropdown	download item	collection_id: (collection_id) item_id: (item_id) item_type: (single or compound)
User clicks the download dropdown on a non-image compound object (but hasn't downloaded the item yet)	open download menu	collection_id: (collection_id) item_id: (item_id)
User clicks the download dropdown on an image (but hasn't downloaded the item yet)	open download menu	collection_id: (collection_id) item_id: (item_id) item_type: (single or compound)
User downloads an image	download item	collection_id: (collection_id) item_id: (item_id) item_type: (single or compound) size: (size of image)
User prints something	print	collection_id: (collection_id) item_id: (item_id) item_type: (single or compound)
User opens print menu	open print menu	collection_id: (collection_id) parent_id: (parent_id) item_id: (item_id)
User clicks the share button	share button	collection_alias: (collection_alias) item_id: (item_id)
User clicks previous/next arrows on item	navigation buttons	type: (previous/next) collection_alias: (collection_alias) item_id: (item_id) record_number: (record_number)
User plays audio	play audio	collection_alias: (collection_alias) item_id: (item_id)
User downloads an item that cannot be previewed (not PDF, not audio, not image, etc.)	download item	collection_id: (collection_id) item_id: (item_id)
User clicks the Expand button on an image	expand image	collection_id: (collection_id) item_id: (item_id) record_id: (record_id)
User clicks the Expand button on a PDF	expand PDF	collection_alias: (collection_alias) item_id: (item_id)
User clicks on a URL for a URL item type	visit URL item	item url: (URL of URL item) collection_alias(collection_alias) item_id: (item_id)
User clicks play on a video item	play video	collection_id: (collection_id) item_id: (item_id)
User clicks next/previous from lightbox expanded view in compound object	expanded navigation buttons	direction: (previous/next) collection_alias: (collection_id) item_id: (item_id) record_number: (record_id)
User makes use of pagination controls	pagination	type: (previous/next/page number) page: (The props.pageInfo.trackPage value)
User makes a simple search	search	query: (query) type: simple
User clicks Advanced Search link	open Advanced Search	none
User clicks on a facet in the search results	select search facet	title: (title)
User clicks on a different page in a compound object in order to view it	select compound item page	collection_alias: (collection_alias) parent_id: (parent_id) item_id: (item_id) source: clicked on page
The selected/viewed item of a compound object changes due to the user selecting Filtered while viewing an object that doesn't match the filter	select compound item page	collection_alias: (collection_alias) parent_id: (parent_id) parent_title: (parent_title) item_id: (item_id) source: changed to filtered view
The user selects Show All/Filtered while viewing a compound object via search results	switch display mode	collection_alias: (collection_alias) parent_id: (parent_id) type: (either Filtered or Show All)
The user clicks a metadata link	click metadata link	link: (link text)
The user searches within an item (the Search this record) box	search within item	collection_alias: (collection_alias) parent_id: (parent_id) (only if applicable) item_id: (item_id) query: (query)
The user clicks the < or > arrows around the "Result 4 of 10" box to switch between items from search results or browsing a collection	move to next result	type: (previous result or next result) collection_alias: (collection_alias) item_id: (item_id)
The user selects a different page in a compound or monograph item whose parent is a monograph	select compound object	collection_alias: (collection_alias) parent_id: (parent_id) item_id: (item_id) type: monograph
The user clicks a custom link in the footer	custom link	link: (url of link) source: footer
The user clicks select all or deselect all in their saved items page	saved items: select all	One of: select deselect
The user clicks the remove button in their saved items page	saved items: open remove items
The user clicks cancel on the remove items popup after clicking remove	saved items: cancel remove items
The user clicks confirm on the remove items popup after clicking remove	saved items: confirm remove items
The user is on saved items without being logged in, clicks the log in link on the save page	log in link	source: saved items
The user clicks the Create link button in Saved Items. (This is the first step of that workflow)	saved items: open create link
The user clicks Cancel in the Create link dialog	saved items: cancel create link
The user clicks Create link on the Create Link modal	saved items: create link
The user clicks Copy link on the Link Created page after having created a link	saved items: copy created link
The user clicks OK on the Link Created page after having created a link	saved items: close link created modal
The user cancels out of the Link Created page by clicking anywhere on the page outside of the modal	saved items: cancel link created modal
The user clicks Export from the Export Items dialog in Saved Items	export items: items exported	format: (HTML or text)
The user chooses a different format in the dropdown on the Export Items dialog	export items: select format	format: (HTML or text)
The user clicks the Save all or Remove all button above the search results	save/remove all search results
The user changes the sort order above their search results	change search sort	type: (field) (direction)
The user clicks the Grid VIew or List View button above the search results	search result display mode changed	type: (grid or list)
The user clicks on a search result when the results are in Card View/Grid View	search result clicked	collection_alias: (collection_alias) item_id: (item_id) type: (grid or list)
The user changes how many search results display per page	search results per page changed	count: (new number)
The user changes the sort order while in mobile/narrow window view	change search sort	type: (field) (direction)
The user removes one of the filters above their search results	remove search filter	query: (value of filter)
The user selects on one of their items with the check box to its left while viewing their saved items	select saved item	type: (select or deselect) collection_alias: (collection_alias) item_id: (item_id)
The user clicks on one of their items while viewing their saved items (not the check box, to view it)	view saved item	type: (select or deselect) collection_alias: (collection_alias) item_id: (item_id)

Add Custom Dimensions

To add custom dimensions:

1. Sign in to your GA4 property.
2. Select Configure from the left pane, which expands when you mouse over it.
3. From the Configure screen, click on Custom definitions.
4. Click on the Create custom dimensions button.  
   • You will not initially have any custom dimensions, but once created, they will appear in the table under the Custom dimensions tab.
5. Add the custom dimension.
   • The Event parameter must match the parameters that OCLC is sending via CONTENTdm. Refer to the Event Parameter column in the above list of Event parameters table.
   • The Scope must be Event (default).
   • Dimension name is what it will appear as in your Google Analytics instance.
   • Description is optional and for your reference only.
6.  Once you have added the custom dimension, it will show up in your list of Custom Dimensions.
7.  Repeat this process for all of the other CONTENTdm custom parameters.

Once you have added custom dimensions, events that GA4 receives that have the specified custom parameters will now have those processed as custom dimensions and will be available both in GA4 default reports (in the Reports section), as well as in custom reports you build in the Explore section of GA4.

 Note: It takes 24-48 hours for the events with custom dimensions to start showing up in the Reports and Explore sections. This is a Google Analytics limitation.