When MetaLocator events don’t appear in GA4, the issue is often related to how GA4 or Google Tag Manager has been installed in combination with MetaLocator's Interface Builder settings. Below are common reasons and troubleshooting paths.
Some Reasons Why MetaLocator Events may not appear in GA4
The Interface Builder settings are not configured correctly for the GA4 installation scenario
Google Tag Manager is installed on the host page, but is not listening to MetaLocator Events.
DebugView is not reporting events because the GA4 Debug mode has not been enabled.
The Google Analytics Measurement ID installed on the host page is not the same as that configured in the Interface settings.
A privacy tool or browser extension is blocking the activity.
Installation Scenarios
First determine which Google Analytics Installation scenario you are debugging as described below:
GA4 is installed directly on the host page using
gtag.jsGA4 is installed via Google Tag Manager on the host page
GA4 is not installed on the host page (or a different GA4 measurement is installed on the host page)
GA4 is installed via Google Tag Manager installed in the Interface settings.
In these scenarios, the host page refers to the page on your Website where MetaLocator has been installed. E.g. https://yourwebsite.com/find-a-thing.html
Scenario 1: GA4 is installed directly on the host page
This is the simplest setup and the recommended configuration for most customers. This presumes that Google Tag Manager is not installed and that the GA4 Measurement installed on the host page is the same as configured in the MetaLocator Interface. This also presumes that the setting "GA4: Send Events from Host Page" is set to "Yes" or "Auto".
Troubleshooting Steps:
Confirm that the GA4 Measurement ID configured in MetaLocator matches the Measurement ID on the host page. In this scenario, the easiest way is to look at the page source (View Source) and search for
gtag/js. The ID in the code should match the configuration.Install the GA4 Debugger Chrome Extension. This will ensure that the events will appear in GA4 DebugView.
Open the page on your site with the locator installed in Chrome
Enable the GA4 Debugger Extension. (It should show "ON" in the icon)
Open GA4 Debug View under Admin > Data Display > DebugView.
Select your device from the "Debug Device" drop-down.
Trigger events in MetaLocator by clicking the result cards in the locator, opening the map marker window and/or performing searches.
If you see events listed in DebugView as shown below, MetaLocator is communicating correctly with GA4
Scenario 2: GA4 is installed via Google Tag Manager on the host page
This is the second most common scenario, where the customer has deployed GA4 via GTM on the host page, and the Interface has been configured with the GA4 Measurement ID. This also presumes that the setting "GA4: Send Events from Host Page" is set to "Yes" or "Auto".
In this scenario, Google Tag Manager controls which events appear in GA4. MetaLocator still pushes the events, but GTM intercepts them and determines which tags to trigger, including GA4. This means that to receive MetaLocator events inside GA4, you must configure GTM to listen to those events and trigger GA4 Event tags accordingly.
If the step of configuring GA4 Event tags hasn't been performed, you will only see GA4 Automatic events, such as "page_view", "scroll" and "user_engagement". Important: You will not see GA4 automatic "click" events for most MetaLocator links due to how MetaLocator invokes link actions. To track MetaLocator events, including click events, configure a trigger and a tag as described here.
Scenario 3: GA4 is not installed on the host page
In this example, GA4 is not installed at all on the host page. The GA4 events originate directly from MetaLocator's IFRAME. In this configuration, troubleshooting steps are as follows:
Important: Be sure that Analytics Settings > GA4: Send Events from Host Page is set to
No. If a different GA4 measurement is installed on the host page but Send Events from Host Page is set to Yes, no events will be captured due to the GA4 Measurement ID mismatch.Install the GA4 Debugger Chrome Extension. This will ensure that the events will appear in GA4 DebugView.
Open the page on your site with the locator installed in Chrome
Enable the GA4 Debugger Extension. (It should show "ON" in the icon)
Open GA4 Debug View under Admin > Data Display > DebugView.
Select your device from the "Debug Device" drop-down.
Trigger events in MetaLocator by clicking the result cards in the locator, opening the map marker window and/or performing searches.
If you see events listed such as below, MetaLocator is communicating correctly with GA4
Scenario 4: GA4 is installed via Google Tag Manager installed in the Interface settings
In this example, GA4 is not installed at all on the host page. The GA4 events originate directly from MetaLocator's IFRAME from within Google Tag Manager.
In this scenario, Google Tag Manager controls which events appear in GA4. MetaLocator still pushes the events, but GTM intercepts them and determines which tags to trigger, including GA4. This means that to receive MetaLocator events inside GA4, you must configure GTM to listen to those events and trigger GA4 Event tags accordingly.
If the step of configuring GA4 Event tags hasn't been performed, you will only see GA4 Automatic events, such as "page_view", "scroll" and "user_engagement". Important: You will not see GA4 automatic "click" events for most MetaLocator links due to how MetaLocator invokes link actions. To track MetaLocator events, including click events, configure a trigger and a tag as described here.
In this configuration, troubleshooting steps are as follows:
Be sure that Analytics Settings > GA4: Send Events from Host Page is set to
No. If a different GA4 measurement is installed on the host page but Send Events from Host Page is set to Yes, no events will be captured due to the GA4 Measurement ID mismatch.Set Google Tag Manager: Push Events to Data Layer from MetaLocator to "Yes". To track MetaLocator events in GA4, including click events, configure a trigger and a tag as described here.
Ensure the GA4 Measurement ID is not set in the Interface Builder settings under Analytics > GA4 Measurement ID.
Install the GA4 Debugger Chrome Extension. This will ensure that the events will appear in GA4 DebugView.
Open the page on your site with the locator installed in Chrome
Enable the GA4 Debugger Extension. (It should show "ON" in the icon)
Open GA4 Debug View under Admin > Data Display > DebugView.
Select your device from the "Debug Device" drop-down.
Trigger events in MetaLocator by clicking the result cards in the locator, opening the map marker window and/or performing searches.
If you see events listed such as below, MetaLocator is communicating correctly with GA4
GA4 Debugger
An effective tool for debugging GA4 events is to install the GA4 Debugger Chrome Extension. The Debugger not only displays data regarding the events in the Web developer console, it also enables debug mode automatically for the GA4 installation code snippets it finds on the page. Without debug mode, no events will appear in DebugView.