Track Phone Clicks as Events in GA4 without Tag Manager | Create Custom Events in Google Analytics 4

In this video, we look at how you can create events to track clicks on phone number links on your website. Learn how to set up and track events in GA4 here 👉 www.stevenlitt... Need help setting up Google Analytics 👉 www.stevenlitt... Try out SEMRush 👉 semrush.sjv.io...
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[@powerseostrategy]

Finally an easy to follow video! Nice to see Divi theme by the way.

[@stevelitton]

Glad you found it useful! Yeah that website is still going strong after being built about 10 years ago 😁

[@ЕгорСавин-к9ц]

thank you very much for the example, I did it like in the video and it worked.

[@stevelitton]

No problem, glad you got it working 👍

[@ebenezerfagundes1001]

Thank you! Simple and Straightforward!

[@stevelitton]

No problem, glad you found it helpful 👍

[@SivaGopi]

To the point. Great video.

[@stevelitton]

Thanks, glad you found it useful 👍

[@lexiriam]

Thanks for the informative video. It worked perfectly!

[@stevelitton]

No problem, glad to hear you got it working 👍

[@gabescobar2499]

Excellent video! keep up the great work :)

[@stevelitton]

Thanks, I appreciate it 🙏

[@SanitationForAfrica]

Thanks Steve very helpful

[@stevelitton]

No problem, glad you found it useful 👍 I have a success page tracking video coming shortly that you may also find helpful.

[@edjavas]

Thanks for that. I hate relying on GTM.

[@stevelitton]

No problem, glad you found it helpful 👍 I have a couple more videos coming over the next few weeks.

[@topler10]

This is a great how to video. When I follow the steps I don't have the same results. I can't get the event to report in GA4.

[@stevelitton]

Thanks, glad you found it useful. You will want to be looking at the 'real-time' dashboard to see your events there. Otherwise they won't show until the next day. You may need to clear your browser cache or use an incognito window to see the event come through. Hope that helps.

[@VivekSingh-IM]

Thanks mate!

[@stevelitton]

No problem, glad you found it useful 👍

[@Elsie-Day]

Thanks for the information Steven! What parameter conditions would you setup to track clicks on a audio file's play button within a blog post? The audio reads the blog to the clicker.

[@stevelitton]

No problem, glad you found it useful. It all really depends on what DOM elements the audio player is made up of. If the play button is not in an and it has an id assigned to it then you may be able to target it that way with a click event.

[@DreseanRyan]

I did this same exact thing, but nothing is showing up in the real time report?

[@stevelitton]

Make sure you clear your cache, start a new user session and you accept cookies on your site. You could try it in an incognito tab. Make sure you have tel: and not tel;

[@colectadigital363]

Hi, can I transform this event in conversion and import in Google Ads (conversions)?

[@stevelitton]

To use it for a Google Ads conversion you would need to use the same parameters in Tag Manager for the trigger or you could use a simple Javascript click function to fire the conversion tag manually on the website. Hope that helps.

[@Nareskumar]

Thanks

[@stevelitton]

No problem, glad you found it useful 👍

[@rankingacademy]

nope, doesn't work for me

[@stevelitton]

I can confirm this method still works, have you cleared your site cache and checked in the real-time section? Also make sure your links are tags with the tel: extension in the href for this to work, it will not work on button elements.

[@rankingacademy]

@@stevelitton all set up properly but when clicking on the phone link nothing happens

[@stevelitton]

@@rankingacademy It's hard to know without seeing it but what you could do is try a different browser or incognito window as it may be due to the session already being active before the event was created. Be sure to accept cookies or it may not work.

[@anthonymartinez5065]

Hi am fallowing the steps and do not see the events on my websites do you offer over the phone help

[@stevelitton]

Hi Anthony, you can request a callback here 👉 www.stevenlitton.com/request-a-callback/ and I will get back to you next week. I charge £49+VAT an hour for support calls.

[@saishef]

What if it opens a thank you message without the change the in the URL.

[@stevelitton]

What is the user interaction that triggers the thank you message? If it is a form then you can cover that under form submissions, if not you would have to track it as a click on a button with a particular ID or Class for example.

[@RaeSnow888]

I added a custom event, but it's not showing up on the list of events. How do I make that happen?

[@stevelitton]

It will only start showing once the event is triggered. It will take a day or so to see it in the events report but you should be able to see it in the realtime view. It may be on the second page of events.

[@RaeSnow888]

@@stevelitton Thanks. What do i put in the parameter field? My button has an id of "enroll_button" that's the only button I want it to track. Is it "item_id" equals "enroll_button"? I am not sure what to put in the first field. I can't find a list of what is allowed anywhere.

[@stevelitton]

@@RaeSnow888 You will want to use click_id for that purpose

[@RaeSnow888]

@@stevelitton Thanks. Is there a complete list of parameters somewhere as reference?

[@stevelitton]

@@RaeSnow888 This should have everything you need support.google.com/analytics/answer/9216061?hl=en

[@lsr-anon]

Can I turn this event into a conversion?

[@stevelitton]

Yes, when you set up the event there is a toggle to set it as a conversion.

[@lsr-anon]

@@stevelitton awesome thanks! Just gotta wait 24h now to get it.

[@stevelitton]

@@lsr-anon No problem, glad you got it all set up. Yeah, you can give it a test in the real-time report but in the next day or so you should start getting some data in the standard reporting views.

[@EvanRogers-s2v]

tried this but it isn't working for me. still doesn't track. not sure what's wrong.

[@stevelitton]

If you are looking in the standard events view then you will have to wait a day to see the new events you create. But if you head over to the realtime dashboard then it should show in the events section there if you click on a phone number on the site. Quite often the event pops in to the second page, so check on there if you don't see it.

[@EvanRogers-s2v]

@@stevelitton It's strange, because I looked on the real-time and even waited a day but still no event triggered rewatched the entire video and have everything setup the same but no luck.

[@stevelitton]

Thats odd, make sure to clear the cache on your website and to double check the telephone links do contain tel: in the href

[@Brian-xe2gw]

I'm also having trouble getting this to show up as a separate event. I have the event setup just like you do. If I click on the telephone number on the website, and then then go to real time events section and browse through "Click" -> "link_url" I see the "tel:+###########". So GA is passing the information correctly. It just does not show up as its own event. Hmmm.

[@Brian-xe2gw]

Nevermind, this just started working. GA4 is clunky and I think takes 15 or 20 minutes to figure out what is going on, even in the "real time" dashboard. For anyone else having trouble, just give it a few test clicks and let it sit for a few minutes, try a few refreshes in GA4, or closing the GA4 window completely and navigate back to the dashboard from scratch.

[@stevelitton]

Glad you got it working. What I find sometimes is that if you have a session already open before creating the event and don't end it then the event sometimes doesn't register in GA. The best way is always to use incognito but just remember to accept cookies if required. Either way, you have it sorted 👍