How To Validate Your Google Analytics Implementation

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Being a Google Analytics Certified Partner, much of our work involves helping organizations architect and implement Google Analytics (GA). Depending on the size of the organization, the architecture can be as simple as adding Google Analytics to one website all the way up to building an architecture to track over a thousand websites across an organization.

One of the popular questions we hear from clients is about verifying Google Analytics is in fact working. “How do I know Google Analytics has been implemented and is working properly?”

For non-developers (and even developers), verifying your implementation can sound daunting. But, it really doesn’t have to be.

In this blog post, I’m going to show you some extensions and a unique tool that will be your BFF during the implementation process. This won’t be the definitive list of testing tools, as there are many, but I’m going to cover the ones I use on a daily basis.

For some additional tools to test your Google Analytics implementation, check out my colleague Jill Schmidt’s post, “Is My Google Analytics Data Accurate? (Part One)

Tag Assistant (by Google)

First up is Tag Assistant. It’s a Chrome browser extension that will identify the tags located on any page you navigate to within your Chrome browser. It mainly picks up Google tags, like GA, Google Tag Manager, DoubleClick and AdWords tags. However, I have seen it pick up some Tag Management System tags like Tealium.

I use Tag Assistant on an everyday basis to spot check sites. Since you have to navigate to each page you want to test, it’s a very manual process, so I would recommend using this tool only if you have a small number of pages to verify.

In the screenshot below, you can see I am looking at our homepage, infotrustllc.com. Tag Assistant is the blue “tag” looking icon on my browser and clicking on it shows the number of Google tags it found. You can see we use Google Tag Manager on our site to implement two Universal Analytics properties.

It will also give you some detailed information on your GTM or GA implementation, like any custom variabes/dimensions it finds, events, and dataLayer values. It will also give you the status of each tag and if a tag isn’t functioning properly, it will provide a suggestion for how to fix it.

Screenshot_2014-05-13_14.49.30

Google Analytics Debugger

GA Debugger, like Tag Assistant, is another Chrome extension for validating your implementation. Once installed and turned on, it will print any hits sent to GA to your browser’s console. For you non-developers out there, you can use the shortcut on a Mac (Option + Command + J) to open the console. Are you a Windows user? Get a Mac! Or use the Control + Shift + J shortcut. And then start thinking about getting a Mac 😉

Anyway, you can see below a pageview printed to the console, meaning this pageview was sent to GA. All hits that get sent to GA will print to the console, so pageviews, events, e-commerce transactions, and social events are all included. The console also provides the UA number, session information, language, location, screen resolution, and much more!

GA_Debugger

Just like Tag Assistant, GA Debugger is a manual validation tool which I only use for spot checking pages of a site. But, when testing things like event or e-commerce tracking, GA Debugger is my go-to testing extension.

Tag Inspector

Tag Inspector Logo

With all due respect to the wonderful analytics tools on the market, the simple truth is that your data is only as good as your implementation. You can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a shiny new analytics tool, but if your IT/development team doesn’t properly implement it and to your exact specifications, the data you are collecting will be rather useless.

So how can you ensure that your analytics and/or tag management system has been implemented properly on all the pages of your site?

Say hello to Tag Inspector. It’s an InfoTrust product that we originally developed to help our clients during the implementation process. Generally, this included Google Analytics, HubSpot, Google Tag Manager, and many other tag mangement sytems.

Tag Inspector scans your site and reports back on what tags it found on your website, how they are firing (through the source, through a tag management system, etc.), if they are firing multiple times, and which pages the tags are on and which they aren’t. This is extremely valuable information for an organization that just spent a pretty penny on an analytics tool and/or tag management system to greatly improve their analytics capability.

Now, instead of using a manual extension like the ones listed above to ensure GA is firing correctly on all pages of your site, set up a Tag Inspector scan and let it do the work for you!

Here’s an example Tag Inspector report:

Tag Inspector Scan

Have questions on your Google Analytics or tag management system implementation? Don’t know where to start? Contact us, we would love to help.

Author

  • Andy Gibson

    Andy is the Head of Vertical - News & Media at InfoTrust. He enjoys Dayton Flyers basketball, his pitbull rescue, Millie, and trying to figure out how to cook for himself. He's an expert with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, if you're into that kind of thing.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
Originally Published: May 15, 2014

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

August 7, 2023
Originally published on May 15, 2014

Other Articles You Will Enjoy

Google Tag Best Practices for Google Analytics 4

Google Tag Best Practices for Google Analytics 4

After collaborating with several of my colleagues at InfoTrust including Bryan Lamb, Head of Capabilities, Corey Chapman, Senior Tag Management Engineer, Chinonso Emma-Ebere, Tech…

4-minute read
Tracking User Behavior with Events in Google Analytics 4: Examples and Use Cases

Tracking User Behavior with Events in Google Analytics 4: Examples and Use Cases

So you’ve created your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) properties, created your data stream(s), and followed all the necessary steps to configure your property. Now…

5-minute read
Best Practices for Leveraging Custom Insights in Google Analytics 4

Best Practices for Leveraging Custom Insights in Google Analytics 4

What Are Custom Insights? Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offers Custom Insights to detect changes in your data that are important to your team specifically….

3-minute read
How to Track User Engagement and Behavior on Your Website Using Google Analytics 4 Custom Metrics

How to Track User Engagement and Behavior on Your Website Using Google Analytics 4 Custom Metrics

Understanding how users engage with your website is crucial for improving user experience and achieving your business goals. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offers a…

5-minute read
Leveraging Attribution Models in Google Analytics 4 to Improve Your Marketing Strategy: Tips and Best Practices

Leveraging Attribution Models in Google Analytics 4 to Improve Your Marketing Strategy: Tips and Best Practices

In the dynamic landscape of digital marketing, understanding the customer journey is crucial for optimizing strategies and maximizing ROI. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) introduces…

5-minute read
Predictive Analytics in Google Analytics 4: How to Use Machine Learning to Forecast User Behavior and Outcomes

Predictive Analytics in Google Analytics 4: How to Use Machine Learning to Forecast User Behavior and Outcomes

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is embracing the power of machine learning by incorporating predictive analytics within the platform so that you can use your…

7-minute read
How to Integrate Google Analytics 4 with BigQuery for Enhanced Data Analysis and Reporting

How to Integrate Google Analytics 4 with BigQuery for Enhanced Data Analysis and Reporting

Has your business found that its reporting needs require advanced analysis of your analytics data beyond what is practical in the Google Analytics 4…

4-minute read
Is It Time to Upgrade? 4 Signs Your Organization Needs Google Analytics 4 360

Is It Time to Upgrade? 4 Signs Your Organization Needs Google Analytics 4 360

As VP of Partnerships at InfoTrust, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with hundreds of decision-makers about their interest in upgrading to Google Analytics…

4-minute read
Leveraging Custom Dimensions and Metrics in Google Analytics 4 for Content Performance Measurement: Best Practices and Real-World Examples

Leveraging Custom Dimensions and Metrics in Google Analytics 4 for Content Performance Measurement: Best Practices and Real-World Examples

In today’s digital landscape where content reigns supreme, understanding how your audience interacts with your content is paramount for success. For news and media…

5-minute read

Get Your Assessment

Thank you! We will be in touch with your results soon.
{{ field.placeholder }}
{{ option.name }}

Talk To Us

Talk To Us

Receive Book Updates

Fill out this form to receive email announcements about Crawl, Walk, Run: Advancing Analytics Maturity with Google Marketing Platform. This includes pre-sale dates, official publishing dates, and more.

Search InfoTrust

Leave Us A Review

Leave a review and let us know how we’re doing. Only actual clients, please.