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Trouble viewing Custom Event data in GA4 Debug View
“Hey all, got a question. I’m trying to get custom tracking working on a WordPress site with WooCommerce for its eShop. I’m attempting to add the product name as a first step in custom events. My problem? The data layer seems to be pushed after the tag is sent to GA4, always resulting in an empty parameter in the custom event in Debug View. I’ve also tried coding custom events directly in a JS file where sometimes, the custom event doesn’t show up in Debug View (but it does in Tag Assistant) and other times, the “page_view” event doesn’t trigger. All while there are no errors in the console. Any idea what’s going on and how to fix this?”
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2 Replies
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It sounds like you’re dealing with a timing issue where the GA tag is firing before your data layer has all the necessary information. In this case, make sure that your data layer is populated prior to the GA4 event tag being fired. You can achieve this with a custom event trigger that would fire after the data layer is ready. Alternatively, you can modify your custom JS to make the operation synchronous by ensuring that your code runs before the GA4 event. Be mindful that the order of your code/ tags will be very important here.
If you see your custom events in Tag Assistant but not in Debug View, it might be due to caching issues, slow internet connection or browser inconsistency. Try using incognito mode or resetting your browser cache to see if it solves the problem.
As for the “page_view” not being triggered sometimes, it could be due to how your events are configured. Ensure they are universal and not tied to a certain page type or condition that may not always be true.
If none of these seem to be working, I suggest reaching out to Google Support or digging through GA’s help forums for similar issues. This is a very common issue and I’m sure there will be much more in-depth solutions available there.
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It seems like you’re facing a timing issue where the data layer is pushed after the GA4 tag is fired, which subsequently leaves an empty parameter in your custom event. To overcome this, you may want to reconsider the trigger for your tag to ensure the necessary data layer variable is available before the tag fires – for instance, you could delay the GA4 tag until the data layer pushing the product name is loaded completely. Regarding the custom events not showing up in Debug View, you must ensure that GA4 is able to pick up these events correctly – if you don’t see them in Debug View but do see them in Tag Assistant then it’s likely a difference in how the two sites parse the events. If your “page_view” event isn’t triggering, it’s most likely due to your code configuration. It may help to try various configurations and observe the results. Debugging such issues can be complex, therefore it may be beneficial to seek help from a developer experienced with GA4 tracking.
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