In the new version of Google Tag Manager<\/a>, auto-event tracking has received a considerable usability upgrade. It might seem quirky at first, especially if you\u2019re used to the old auto-event tracking<\/a> method, but the logic behind the new setup is brilliant.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The most important distinction is that auto-event tracking isn\u2019t something you control with separate tags<\/strong> anymore. Rather, it\u2019s now entirely trigger<\/em>-driven, meaning you activate and specify the auto-event tracking of your choice using tag triggers (triggers are what ye olde folk used to call rules).<\/p>\n \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 If you\u2019ve used the new UI, you might have noticed how triggers are now grouped together logically. For example, you have your Click Triggers (which include both \u201cClick\u201d and \u201cLink Click\u201d trigger types):<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n I\u2019ll get to how these triggers are set up in just a bit, but the important thing to understand is that the auto-event trigger controls both when your actual tag fires<\/strong> as well as when the auto-event listener should be active<\/strong>. That\u2019s a huge simplification, since you no longer need a separate, discrete tag to control your auto-event listener with.<\/p>\n Then you have your Form Triggers:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n And you also have auto-event triggers for History events, JavaScript Errors and Timers, as before.<\/p>\n So remember:<\/p>\n The auto-event trigger determines when your tag fires AND when the listener is active<\/strong>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the new auto-event tracking in a nutshell.<\/p>\n But if this was just a \u201cin a nutshell\u201d post, I would shame my reputation as someone who writes increasingly long guides when a simple, to-the-point, concise, non-repetitive, efficient, and disambiguated utterance would suffice (this sentence proves my point). So, here\u2019s a step-by-step how to set up some useful listeners.<\/p>\n When you create a trigger for an auto-event, such as a Click trigger or a History trigger, they will always be on<\/em>. What does this mean? Well it means exactly what I wrote. For example, when you create a Click trigger \u2013 regardless of what filters you have in place for the actual tag which uses it \u2013 every single click on every single page will create the There are two notable exceptions to this.<\/p>\n When you create a Timer<\/strong>, Link Click<\/strong> or a Form<\/strong> trigger, you will need to specify when that trigger is enabled, if you\u2019re using the Wait For Tags<\/strong> or Check Validation<\/strong> options. This is because these listeners can behave erratically when other scripts on your page interrupt or control the event propagation flow<\/a>. It\u2019s thus not always prudent to have one of these triggers firing on a page where they might not play nicely with your other scripts.<\/p>\n You control when these special triggers are enabled using the Enable When<\/strong> step in the trigger settings:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n You will only see this option on the Timer, the Link Click, and the Form trigger type, when you\u2019ve selected Wait For Tags<\/strong> or Check Validation<\/strong>. This filter lets you delimit the trigger to only be active on certain pages, for example. It\u2019s best to start with a broad match (Page URL matches RegEx .<\/strong>*), and then modify it appropriately if problems arise.<\/p>\n The conditions for when a Tag that uses this trigger should fire are set in the Fire On<\/strong> step:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n I hope this distinction is now clear. Enable When<\/strong> is for determining when the trigger listens<\/em> for events, and Fire On<\/strong> is for when the tag should fire if the event is recorded.<\/p>\n So, back to the step-by-step<\/strong>. Here\u2019s the key process:<\/p>\n Create the tag you want to be triggered by the auto-event (e.g. Event tag for Google Analytics)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Add the trigger you want to use for the tag (e.g. Click or Form)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n In the trigger settings, specify what other conditions beside the Click or Form Submit you want in place for the tag (e.g. Click ID equals X<\/em> or Form URL contains Y<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n If it\u2019s a Link Click or Form trigger, you need to also specify on what conditions should the auto-event listener itself be active<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n Let\u2019s go over this step-by-step. I\u2019ll create a tag which sends an event whenever someone clicks on a link which redirects out of my domain. An external link, in layman\u2019s terms.<\/p>\n First things first. The new UI introduced something called Built-In Variables. These little checkboxes let you quickly enable your most used variables for your tags to utilize. As I want to trigger the tag only when the clicked link HREF does not point to my domain, I will need to activate the Click URL<\/strong> variable. In the old UI, it\u2019s the same thing as the {{element url}}<\/strong> macro, just simplified here for your convenience.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n You\u2019ll see me using it in just a bit.<\/p>\n Next, create your tag. I\u2019ll be using a Universal Analytics \/ Event tag for this. Let\u2019s just stop short of adding the trigger:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nothing surprising here, right?<\/p>\n Next, we need to create the Link Click trigger that makes this tag go BOOM. So, click on Click<\/strong> in the Triggers list to enter the Choose from existing Click Triggers<\/strong> (if you already have click triggers) or the Add a new trigger<\/strong> view if this is your first one. Whatever the case, you should now be in the process of creating a new Click trigger for your tag:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In Step 2<\/strong>, you\u2019re asked to select Trigger Type. Choose Link Click from this list, and you should see two new options in this same step:<\/p>\n Wait For Tags<\/strong> – if you want the listener to wait for any tags to fire before proceeding with the original action (i.e. link redirect)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Check Validation<\/strong> – if you only want the listener to activate when a proper link click is registered<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n It\u2019s a good idea to start with both checked, and then if it doesn\u2019t work, debug by unchecking first one and then the other.<\/p>\n Note that since we\u2019re creating a (Link) Click<\/strong> trigger, the underlying condition is that a click has occurred, so you don\u2019t have to specify the gtm.(link)click event anymore!<\/strong> All you need to specify in these filters are the other conditions you might want to use to have your tag fire only under specific circumstances.<\/p>\n If you choose either Wait For Tags or Check Validation, Step 3<\/strong> requires that you enter the condition for when the listener should be active and listening for clicks. Like I suggested before, start with a broad match like Page URL matches RegEx .<\/strong>*, test it thoroughly, and if some pages prove problematic, exclude them with a URL condition.<\/p>\n![\"Auto-Event](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/10\/auto-event-tracking.jpg#ZgotmplZ\"){kind=tracking}
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\n X<\/span><\/p>\n
\n The Simmer Newsletter<\/strong>\n <\/p>\nThe trigger types<\/h2>\n
![\"Click](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/10\/click-triggers.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"Form](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/10\/form-triggers.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\nHow to set it up<\/h2>\n
gtm.click<\/code> event. Go ahead, try it! You can\u2019t limit the Click trigger type to only fire on certain pages.<\/p>\n![\"Enable](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/10\/enable-when.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"Fire](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/10\/fire-on.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n\n
1. Built-in variables<\/h3>\n
![\"Click](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/10\/click-url.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n2. Set up your tag<\/h3>\n
![\"Create](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/10\/create-tag.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n3. Create your trigger<\/h3>\n
![\"Link](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/10\/link-click-trigger.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n\n
![\"Fire](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/10\/fire-on-external.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"Rest](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/10\/tag-settings.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"Preview](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/10\/preview-mode.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
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