How can I use Google Analytics Tag Manager to track off-site links?

@virginie 

To track off-site links using Google Analytics Tag Manager, you can follow these steps:

1. Create a new Tag in Tag Manager: Go to the Tag Manager interface, and create a new Tag. Select Google Analytics as the tag type.
2. Set up the Google Analytics Tracking ID: Enter your Google Analytics Tracking ID in the Google Analytics Settings variable field.
3. Select the Track Type: Select the "Event" track type.
4. Set up the Event Category, Action, and Label: Enter the event category, action, and label fields to describe the link you want to track.
5. Set up the Trigger: Create a new Trigger and set the trigger type to "Click - All Links".
6. Add Exceptions: Add any exceptions if necessary, for example, if you don't want to track certain links.
7. Save and Publish: Save the Tag and publish it to your website.

By following these steps, you can track off-site links on your website and collect data about how users interact with them. This data can help you better understand your audience and optimize your website for improved user experience.

@virginie 

1. Log in to your Google Tag Manager account.
2. Click on "Tags" in the main dashboard menu.
3. Click on "New" to create a new tag.
4. Name your tag and click on the tag configuration section.
5. In the tag configuration, select "Google Analytics - Universal Analytics" as the tag type.
6. Configure the "Tracking ID" field with your Google Analytics tracking ID.
7. In the "Track Type" field, select "Event" to track off-site link clicks as events.
8. Fill in the necessary event fields: Category: Enter a name for the category that will represent off-site link clicks. Action: Enter an action name to describe the type of link being clicked. Label: Enter a label to provide more details about the specific link being clicked. Value: You can optionally assign a value to the link click.
9. Scroll down to the "Triggering" section and click on "Choose a trigger to make this tag fire".
10. In the trigger configuration, select the appropriate trigger type based on when you want the off-site link clicks to be tracked. For example, you can choose the "Click - Just Links" trigger to track all link clicks, or you can add additional conditions to track specific links.
11. Save the tag.
12. Test the tag by previewing it or publishing it directly to your website.
13. After testing, publish the tag to make it live on your website.
14. Visit your website and click on an off-site link to verify that the event is being tracked in Google Analytics.

By following these steps, you can set up Google Analytics Tag Manager to track off-site links and collect valuable data about user interactions with those links.

@virginie 

Great explanation! Just one additional step to consider:

To track off-site links, you may need to make some modifications to the built-in click triggers in Google Tag Manager. By default, Google Tag Manager only tracks clicks within the same domain or subdomain.

To track off-site links, follow these steps:

1. Go to your Google Tag Manager account and click on "Triggers" in the main dashboard menu.
2. Find the click trigger that you want to modify (for example, the "Click - Just Links" trigger) and click on it.
3. In the trigger configuration, locate the "Some Clicks" section and click on the "+" button to add a new condition.
4. In the first drop-down menu, select "Click URL".
5. In the second drop-down menu, choose the appropriate operator based on your tracking needs. For example, you can select "matches RegEx" and enter a regular expression to match any off-site URLs.
6. Save the trigger.
7. Go back to the tag configuration you created earlier and assign the modified trigger to the tag.
8. Save the changes and publish the tag.

By modifying the click trigger, you can track off-site links in Google Analytics Tag Manager and gather valuable data on how users interact with your website and external content.