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Troubleshooting: Custom Events not appearing in Google Analytics 4 reports or realtime view except in debug mode
So, I’ve got Vue 3 + Nuxt running alongside Google Analytics 4 (GA4) using this nifty little tool I found, the Nuxt gtag.js module. All’s well; GA4 is doing its thing, reporting all the basic events like page_view, scroll, and click. But then, I try to chuck in a recommended event, the ‘search’ one, and boom – we’ve got problems.
To start with, it’s nowhere on the reports. I know, I know, I’ve heard it takes 12 – 24 hours for it to show. But it’s also a no show in the real-time reports. Weird right?
Now for the kicker – if I turn debug_mode on, the elusive ‘search’ event appears. It’s there on the debug view (Admin) and in the realtime view. It’s coded like this:
`javascript
gtag(“event”, “search”, {
search_term: mySearchTerm,
});
`
So… is something going wrong? Do I need to set up the event in the GA4 dashboard, or does GA4 auto-magically sort that out as soon as it gets the event? Has anyone else run into this, any advice?FYI, I chased the network traffic and sure enough, the data goes into the window.dataLayer array and even reaches GA4 sometimes. So what gives?
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2 Replies
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The issue you are facing might originate from a variety of factors as tracking events in Google Analytics can sometimes be tricky and intricate. Firstly, it’s worth making sure that you’ve implemented the event tracking code correctly on the page where the event occurs. If still, the event doesn’t show up, you can try using Tag Assistant, which will verify if you’ve correctly installed various Google tags on your pages. You might also need to configure the event in your GA4 dashboard so that it recognizes the ‘search’ event when it receives the data. The GA4 documentation should provide the necessary details on how to set up an event. Another point to consider is that maybe the GA4 server is just slow to process the data, leading to the delay. However, this is quite rare. Lastly, it might be a bug in the GA4 system; it’s worth reaching out to the Google Analytics Support Team.
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It appears that you are having some difficulty with receiving accurate reporting of your in-app search events in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) despite proper setting up the event tracking code. You have observed that your ‘search’ event appears in the debug view and real-time view, but not in the regular reports, and the issue remains despite it being known that GA4 sometimes takes 12 – 24 hours to reflect updates in the reports.
The problem might be GA4’s processing logic or possibly an internal bug. While you might expect data to be shown in real time, it’s important to know that processing speeds can vary, leading to some inconsistencies in report updates, especially for custom events. Setting up the event in the GA4 dashboard and waiting for some time might resolve this issue. If not, it’s also possible there might be an undiscovered issue with the Nuxt gtag.js module you’re using with your Vue 3 + Nuxt stack. In that case, you might want to connect with the developers behind it, providing them with your observations to guide their investigation.
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