Maybe you knew this, maybe you didn\u2019t, but requests sent from your website (or app) to Google Analytics<\/a> have a maximum size. Or, more specifically, the payload<\/em> size (meaning the actual content body of the request) has a maximum.<\/p>\n This maximum size of the payload is 8192 bytes<\/strong>. This means, basically, that the entire parameter string sent to Google Analytics servers can be no longer than 8192 characters in length. The thing is, if the payload exceeds this, Google Analytics simply drops the hit<\/strong>. There\u2019s no warning, no error, nothing. The hit just doesn\u2019t get sent. If you are running the Google Analytics debugger<\/a> browser extension, you can<\/em> actually see a warning when the payload size is exceeded:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you see this warning, it means that the hit was aborted due to exceeding the 8192 length of the payload.<\/p>\n Note that if you are using Measurement Protocol<\/strong> to directly send data to Google Analytics, this size limitation applies to the POST request body<\/strong>. If you are sending the data with a GET request, the maximum size of the entire \/collect URL<\/strong> is 8000 bytes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Anyway, in this article I\u2019ll show you how to send the payload size (or at least a very close approximation thereof) as a Custom Dimension to Google Analytics with each hit. That way you\u2019ll be able to check if you are approaching this limitation, and thus you can take precautions to avoid exceeding the maximum size. We\u2019ll get things done with UPDATE<\/strong>: Check out Angela Grammatas\u2019 excellent article<\/a> on the very same topic. She uses a slightly different tactic, appending the data in the \n \n Subscribe to the Simmer newsletter<\/a> to get the latest news and content from Simo Ahava into your email inbox!\n <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Before I get started, I have a request to make. Some time ago, I was contacted by someone (Googler, I think), who shared with me a similar solution. For the life of me, I can\u2019t find this communication anywhere, because I don\u2019t even remember what medium I was contacted over (I\u2019ve gone through my mailbox to no avail).<\/p>\n This solution was definitely inspired by this person\u2019s idea, so I want to give credit where credit is due. So, if you remember approaching me with a solution you used to work on that did something similar, please be in touch and I will update this article with my thanks for your inspirational example.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t know what <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Then, in Google Tag Manager, create a new Custom JavaScript variable<\/strong>. Name it something descriptive, e.g. customTask – hit payload length<\/strong>. This is what you should add within:<\/p>\n To configure this This function interrupts To add it to your tag(s), either use a Google Analytics Settings variable<\/a> or override the settings of any tag<\/a>. Scroll down to More Settings<\/strong> > Fields to set<\/strong>, and add a new field.<\/p>\n Field name<\/strong>: customTask <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Now any tag that has this field set will add the hit payload length as a Custom Dimension to the request.<\/p>\n You can verify this by opening the Network<\/strong> tab of your browser\u2019s developer tools. The tag is represented by a request to <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n You could actually rewrite the By adding some custom code, you could do things like:<\/p>\n When payload length is at or over 8192 bytes, drop unnecessary fields from the payload until the length is under the limit.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n When payload length is at or over 8192 bytes, send a new hit to Google Analytics which contains some key information from the \u201cbroken\u201d payload, just so that you\u2019ll get an idea of the scope of the problem.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n A typical reason for exceeding payload length is if you are sending Enhanced Ecommerce<\/a> impression data, or just very large shopping carts. It only takes something like 50-60 products for you to be approaching the limit of 8192 bytes. Unless you can decrease the size of the product payload using regular means, you could do something like drop all non-critical fields from the product objects (e.g. ![\"Maximum](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2018\/04\/ga-maximum-payload-size.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n\n
customTask<\/code><\/a> (what else?) and Google Tag Manager<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
buildHitTask<\/code>, which works just as well.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n X<\/span><\/p>\n
\n The Simmer Newsletter<\/strong>\n <\/p>\nIMPORTANT REQUEST<\/h2>\n
Send the hit payload length using
customTask<\/code><\/h2>\ncustomTask<\/code> is, please check out my guide<\/a> on the topic. In a nutshell, customTask<\/code> lets you modify, among other things, the request sent to Google Analytics before<\/em> it is sent, adding information dynamically to the payload. This information could be anything from a PII-purged payload<\/a> to the Client ID<\/a>.<\/p>\ncustomTask<\/code> works with a Custom JavaScript variable<\/strong>. To send the hit payload length as a Custom Dimension, you\u2019ll first need to create a new hit-scoped<\/strong> Custom Dimension<\/a> in Google Analytics admin. Once you\u2019ve created it, make note of the index<\/strong> assigned to the new dimension.<\/p>\n![\"Custom](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2018\/04\/new-custom-dimension.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\nfunction<\/span>() {\n \/\/ Change this index to match that of the Custom Dimension you created in GA\n<\/span> var<\/span> customDimensionIndex = 10<\/span>;\n \n return<\/span> function<\/span>(model) {\n \n var<\/span> globalSendTaskName = '_'<\/span> + model.get('trackingId'<\/span>) + '_sendHitTask'<\/span>;\n \n var<\/span> originalSendHitTask = window<\/span>[globalSendTaskName] = window<\/span>[globalSendTaskName] || model.get('sendHitTask'<\/span>);\n \n model.set('sendHitTask'<\/span>, function<\/span>(sendModel) {\n \n try<\/span> {\n \n var<\/span> originalHitPayload = sendModel.get('hitPayload'<\/span>);\n \n var<\/span> hitPayload = sendModel.get('hitPayload'<\/span>);\n var<\/span> customDimensionParameter = '&cd'<\/span> + customDimensionIndex;\n \n \/\/ If hitPayload already has that Custom Dimension, note this in the console and do not overwrite the existing dimension\n<\/span> \n if<\/span> (hitPayload.indexOf(customDimensionParameter + '='<\/span>) > -1<\/span>) {\n \n console.log('Google Analytics error: tried to send hit payload length in an already assigned Custom Dimension'<\/span>);\n originalSendHitTask(sendModel);\n \n } else<\/span> {\n \n \/\/ Otherwise add the Custom Dimension to the string\n<\/span> \/\/ together with the complete length of the payload\n<\/span> hitPayload += customDimensionParameter + '='<\/span>;\n hitPayload += (hitPayload.length + hitPayload.length.toString().length);\n \n sendModel.set('hitPayload'<\/span>, hitPayload, true<\/span>);\n originalSendHitTask(sendModel);\n \n }\n } catch<\/span>(e) {\n \n console.error('Error sending hit payload length to Google Analytics'<\/span>);\n sendModel.set('hitPayload'<\/span>, originalHitPayload, true<\/span>);\n originalSendHitTask(sendModel);\n \n }\n });\n };\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\ncustomTask<\/code>, you just need to update the customDimensionIndex<\/code> variable with the index number of your Custom Dimension (in my example, the index is 10<\/code>).<\/p>\nsendHitTask<\/code>, which is the task used to actually send the request to Google Analytics. The payload sent to Google Analytics is appended with the Custom Dimension you have created, and the value of that Custom Dimension is set to the entire length of the payload. Thus, when a tag that uses this customTask<\/code> fires, the request to Google Analytics will contain the length of the payload as the value of the Custom Dimension you assigned for it.<\/p>\n
Value<\/strong>: {{customTask – hit payload length}}<\/p>\n![\"Fields](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2018\/04\/fields-to-set.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n\/collect<\/code>, and by clicking this request you can see that the Custom Dimension parameter is included with the length of the payload:<\/p>\n![\"Payload](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2018\/04\/payload-length-custom-dimension.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\nOther ideas<\/h2>\n
customTask<\/code> to add some further logic if you are nearing the 8192<\/strong> byte maximum size. For example, it doesn\u2019t really help you to add the payload length as a Custom Dimension, if the payload is never sent due to exceeding the size requirement.<\/p>\n\n
brand<\/code>, category<\/code>, variant<\/code>), and just include the id<\/code>, name<\/code>, price<\/code>, and quantity<\/code>.<\/p>\n