How to track custom events with GA4 which is set up in Google Tag Manager?

Question

I currently have set up Google Tag Manager on my website via https://developers.google.com/tag-platform/tag-manager/web. So the GTM snippet is in the head of the website.

<!-- Google Tag Manager -->
<script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':
new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],
j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src=
'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);
})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-XXXXXX');</script>
<!-- End Google Tag Manager -->

Now I want to integrate GA4 into the website but it seems the recommended way to do this is via GTM because you do not need hardcoded G-XXXXXX ids anymore.

So adding the following snippet would be unnecessary right? Taken from https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ga4/events?client_type=gtag

<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXX"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());

  gtag('config', 'G-XXXXX');
</script>

And sending custom events to GA4 and this is done via

gtag('event', '<event_name>', {
  <event_parameters>
})

But how would I send an event to my G-XXXXX id using GTM? Since I do not have a hardcoded G-XXXXX id anymore, how does GTM know how to link the event to my G-XXXXX id? In the GA4 snippet there is extra code to set up the id after declaring the gtag function but after that is just a datalayer.push.

Is GTM setup enough/the equivalent for the standalone GA4 setup?

Check this post. It could help: stackoverflow.com/questions/76075126/… — My Guest Media
– My Guest Media, Commented Apr 27, 2023 at 17:23

darrelltw · Accepted Answer · 2022-11-02 08:44:35Z

2

It will become a very different way than using gtag to fire the event.

In GTM

Create a GA4 Configuration Tag
Create a GA4 Event Tag. You can choose the configuration tag you just created.

Then set the event name and the parameters you need. Most important you need to set up the right trigger for it. Like when should the event been sent.

Yes it is equivalent like gtag at the end. Google just use this user-friendly UI and help to send the GA4 request in the GTM.

add-on for click trigger

If you want to capture certain button click

You can use this trigger

CSS selector would be the most recommend if you know how to use.

Otherwise {{Click Class}} or {{Click ID}} would also good to use.

edited Nov 2, 2022 at 8:44

answered Nov 2, 2022 at 1:21

darrelltw

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3 Comments

Denny Over a year ago

Thank you for the reply. How would I trigger this event for a specific case? For example when a user clicks on a specific button?

darrelltw Over a year ago

update about how to use click trigger. Thanks

Denny Over a year ago

Thanks for the answer. This confirms my presumption about the custom trigger system which I'm not going to implement it in this way. I've marked it as an answer though.

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