gatsby-plugin-google-analytics
Easily add Google Analytics to your Gatsby site.
Deprecation Notice
This plugin uses Google's analytics.js
file under the hood. Google has a guide recommending users upgrade to gtag.js
instead. There is another plugin gatsby-plugin-google-gtag
which uses gtag.js
and we recommend it.
Install
npm install gatsby-plugin-google-analytics
How to use
module.exports = {
plugins: [
{
resolve: `gatsby-plugin-google-analytics`,
options: {
trackingId: "YOUR_GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_TRACKING_ID",
head: false,
anonymize: true,
respectDNT: true,
exclude: ["/preview/**", "/do-not-track/me/too/"],
pageTransitionDelay: 0,
optimizeId: "YOUR_GOOGLE_OPTIMIZE_TRACKING_ID",
experimentId: "YOUR_GOOGLE_EXPERIMENT_ID",
variationId: "YOUR_GOOGLE_OPTIMIZE_VARIATION_ID",
defer: false,
sampleRate: 5,
siteSpeedSampleRate: 10,
cookieDomain: "example.com",
enableWebVitalsTracking: true,
},
},
],
}
See below for the complete list of optional fields.
Note that this plugin is disabled while running gatsby develop
. This way, actions are not tracked while you are still developing your project. Once you run gatsby build
the plugin is enabled. Test it with gatsby serve
.
<OutboundLink>
component
To make it easy to track clicks on outbound links in Google Analytics,
the plugin provides a component.
To use it, simply import it and use it like you would the <a>
element e.g.
import React from "react"
import { OutboundLink } from "gatsby-plugin-google-analytics"
const Component = () => (
<div>
<OutboundLink href="https://www.gatsbyjs.com/plugins/gatsby-plugin-google-analytics/">
Visit the Google Analytics plugin page!
</OutboundLink>
</div>
)
export default Component
Options
trackingId
Here you place your Google Analytics tracking id.
head
Where do you want to place the GA script? By putting head
to true
, it will be placed in the "<head>" of your website. By setting it to false
, it will be placed in the "<body>". The default value resolves to false
.
anonymize
Some countries (such as Germany) require you to use the
_anonymizeIP function for
Google Analytics. Otherwise you are not allowed to use it. The option adds two
blocks to the code:
function gaOptout(){document.cookie=disableStr+'=true; expires=Thu, 31 Dec 2099 23:59:59 UTC;path=/',window[disableStr]=!0}var gaProperty='UA-XXXXXXXX-X',disableStr='ga-disable-'+gaProperty;document.cookie.indexOf(disableStr+'=true')>-1&&(window[disableStr]=!0);
...
ga('set', 'anonymizeIp', 1);
If your visitors should be able to set an Opt-Out-Cookie (No future tracking)
you can set a link e.g. in your imprint as follows:
<a href="javascript:gaOptout();">Deactivate Google Analytics</a>
respectDNT
If you enable this optional option, Google Analytics will not be loaded at all for visitors that have "Do Not Track" enabled. While using Google Analytics does not necessarily constitute Tracking, you might still want to do this to cater to more privacy oriented users.
If you are testing this, make sure to disable Do Not Track settings in your own browser.
For Chrome, Settings > Privacy and security > More
Then disable Send a "Do Not Track" request with your browsing traffic
exclude
If you need to exclude any path from the tracking system, you can add it (one or more) to this optional array as glob expressions.
pageTransitionDelay
If your site uses any custom transitions on route update (e.g. gatsby-plugin-transition-link
), then you can delay processing the page view event until the new page is mounted.
optimizeId
If you need to use Google Optimize for A/B testing, you can add this optional Optimize container id to allow Google Optimize to load the correct test parameters for your site.
experimentId
If you need to set up SERVER_SIDE Google Optimize experiment, you can add the experiment ID. The experiment ID is shown on the right-hand panel on the experiment details page. Server-side Experiments
variationId
Besides the experiment ID you also need the variation ID for SERVER_SIDE experiments in Google Optimize. Set 0 for original version.
enableWebVitalsTracking
Optimizing for the quality of user experience is key to the long-term success of any site on the web. Capturing Real user metrics (RUM) helps you understand the experience of your user/customer. By setting enableWebVitalsTracking
to true
, Google Analytics will get "core-web-vitals" events with their values.
We send three metrics:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): measures loading performance. To provide a good user experience, LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds of when the page first starts loading.
- First Input Delay (FID): measures interactivity. To provide a good user experience, pages should have a FID of 100 milliseconds or less.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): measures visual stability. To provide a good user experience, pages should maintain a CLS of 1 or less.
Optional Fields
This plugin supports all optional Create Only Fields documented in Google Analytics:
name
: string, tracker nameclientId
: stringsampleRate
: numbersiteSpeedSampleRate
: numberalwaysSendReferrer
: booleanallowAnchor
: booleancookieName
: stringcookieFlags
: stringcookieDomain
: string, defaults to 'auto'
if not givencookieExpires
: numberstoreGac
: booleanlegacyCookieDomain
: stringlegacyHistoryImport
: booleanallowLinker
: booleanstorage
: string
This plugin also supports several optional General fields documented in Google Analytics:
allowAdFeatures
: booleandataSource
: stringqueueTime
: numberforceSSL
: booleantransport
: string
These fields can be specified in the plugin's options
as shown in the How to use section.
TrackCustomEvent Function
To allow custom events to be tracked, the plugin exposes a function to include in your project.
To use it, import the package and call the event within your components and business logic.
import React from "react"
import { trackCustomEvent } from "gatsby-plugin-google-analytics"
const Component = () => (
<div>
<button
onClick={e => {
// To stop the page reloading
e.preventDefault()
// Lets track that custom click
trackCustomEvent({
// string - required - The object that was interacted with (e.g.video)
category: "Special Button",
// string - required - Type of interaction (e.g. 'play')
action: "Click",
// string - optional - Useful for categorizing events (e.g. 'Spring Campaign')
label: "Gatsby Plugin Example Campaign",
// number - optional - Numeric value associated with the event. (e.g. A product ID)
value: 43,
})
//... Other logic here
}}
>
Tap that!
</button>
</div>
)
export default Component
All Fields Options
category
: string - requiredaction
: string - requiredlabel
: stringvalue
: integernonInteraction
: booltransport
: stringhitCallback
: function
For more information see the Google Analytics documentation.
hitCallback
A timeout is included by default incase the Analytics library fails to load. For more information see Google Analytics - Handling Timeouts
Troubleshooting
No actions are tracked
Check the tracking ID
Make sure you supplied the correct Google Analytics tracking ID. It should look like this: trackingId: "UA-111111111-1"
Make sure plugin and script are loaded first
The analytics script tag is not properly loaded into the DOM. You can fix this by moving the plugin to the top of your gatsby-config.js
and into the head of the DOM:
module.exports = {
siteMetadata: {
},
plugins: [
{
resolve: `gatsby-plugin-google-analytics`,
options: {
trackingId: "UA-111111111-1",
head: true,
},
},
],
}