Counting what visitors do: events and key events in Google Analytics

The short answer: knowing how many people visited the site says little. What matters is how many did what you want: sent the form, tapped the WhatsApp button, called, bought. Google Analytics counts these as events, and the ones that matter are marked as key events. Choose a few and give them clear names.

What is counted

Visitor action How it is recorded
Viewing a page, scrolling, downloading a file, leaving by a link Many are already counted by themselves, with “enhanced measurement” on in the data stream.
Sending a form Its own event, fired when the success message or the thank-you page appears.
Tapping WhatsApp or a phone number Its own event, fired on a click on a wa.me or tel: link.
Buying In a shop, the shop’s plugin sends the purchase event.
What to do with it Mark as a “key event” the few that stand for a result for the business.

Step by step

1 Decide what counts as success: two or three outcomes. Do not count everything.
2 With the Analytics account set up, open Tag Manager and create a trigger (for example, a click on a link containing “wa.me”). Tag Manager.
3 Create the Analytics event tag with a simple name without spaces (for example, whatsapp_click), tied to that trigger.
4 Test in preview mode and see the event in Analytics’ real time. Publish.
5 In Analytics, under Admin > Events, mark as key events the ones that matter. The data can take up to a day to show in the reports.
Do not send personal data in events (names, e-mails, phone numbers). Count the act, not the person. And respect the visitor’s consent: where it is required, Analytics should only measure after it is accepted. The cookie notice and consent.
To know where those who took the action came from, add tagged links: UTM links. The basics are in Setting up Google Analytics.

Want help measuring your form or your WhatsApp button? Open a ticket with the address.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

Google Analytics: setting it up and what to look at first

Google Tag Manager and tracking pixels: adding them without slowing your site

UTM links: finding out which campaign brought each visit

The cookie notice and consent: what your site collects without you knowing

A contact form that actually reaches your inbox

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