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Tag: Google Analytics

  • How to Set Up GA4 Key Event Tracking in Squarespace (For Therapy Practices)

    This comprehensive guide addresses a common challenge for therapy practice websites: measuring meaningful client interactions rather than just traffic volume.

    Why Key Event Tracking Matters

    Therapy practices need different tracking than e-commerce businesses since consultations happen offline. Without key event tracking, you're making decisions based on traffic numbers alone when conversion patterns matter more.

    Understanding which pages and traffic sources actually lead to consultation requests is far more valuable than knowing how many people visited your homepage.

    What Counts as Key Events

    Primary events for therapy practices include:

    • Contact form submissions — the most direct indicator of interest
    • Phone clicks — especially important for mobile visitors
    • Consultation bookings — if you use online scheduling
    • Newsletter signups — for nurturing potential clients

    Essentially, any action that moves someone closer to becoming a client should be tracked as a key event.

    Step-by-Step Setup Process

    Step 1: Connect GA4 to Squarespace

    In your Squarespace dashboard, go to Settings > Advanced > External API Keys and add your GA4 Measurement ID (the one that starts with G-).

    Step 2: Enable Enhanced Measurement

    In GA4, navigate to Admin > Data Streams > Your website stream, and ensure Enhanced Measurement is turned on. This automatically tracks basic interactions like form submissions.

    Step 3: Mark Events as Key Events

    In GA4, go to Configure > Events. Find the form_submit event and toggle it as a key event. This tells GA4 that form submissions are important conversions for your business.

    Step 4: Test Your Setup

    Submit a test form on your website, then check GA4's Realtime report to verify the event appears. If it doesn't show within a few minutes, double-check your Measurement ID.

    Phone Click Tracking

    For mobile visitors who tap your phone number, you'll need to add a small code snippet. In Squarespace, go to Settings > Advanced > Code Injection and add this to the Footer section:

    document.querySelectorAll('a[href^="tel:"]').forEach(function(link) {
    link.addEventListener('click', function() {
        gtag('event', 'phone_click', {
            'event_category': 'Contact',
            'event_label': this.href
        });
    });
});

    Then mark phone_click as a key event in GA4.

    Practical Applications

    Once tracking is set up, you can discover patterns like:

    • Which service pages convert better than others
    • Which traffic sources generate actual consultation requests
    • What time of day people are most likely to reach out
    • Whether mobile or desktop visitors convert more often

    This data helps you allocate marketing resources more effectively.

    Common Issues and Solutions

    Event not appearing: Double-check your Measurement ID format (should be G-XXXXXXXXXX)

    Can't distinguish between forms: If you have multiple forms, you may need custom event tracking to differentiate them

    Traffic showing as "Direct": This often means UTM parameters aren't set up correctly on your marketing campaigns

    Getting Started

    Start with form submission tracking — it takes about 15 minutes to set up. Then add phone click monitoring and schedule monthly automated reports to review conversion patterns and refine your marketing focus.

  • UTM Parameters for Google Analytics 4: A Practical Guide

    UTM parameters are intended to simplify GA4 tracking, but they often create messy, fragmented data due to inconsistent naming conventions across marketing teams. This guide helps you implement them correctly.

    What GA4 Already Knows

    GA4 automatically classifies certain traffic types without UTM tags:

    • Organic search — when someone finds you through Google, Bing, etc.
    • Direct visits — when someone types your URL directly
    • Referrals — when someone clicks a link from another website

    Adding UTMs to these can actually override GA4's accurate classification, creating data problems instead of solving them.

    When UTMs Are Necessary

    UTMs become essential for traffic where the referrer doesn't clearly indicate intent:

    • Paid social ads (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn)
    • Email campaigns
    • SMS messages
    • Influencer partnerships
    • Affiliate links
    • QR codes
    • Sponsored content

    Without UTMs, this traffic often gets lumped into "Direct" or misattributed.

    Understanding Source vs. Medium

    Source identifies where the click originated — the platform name like "instagram" or "newsletter"

    Medium describes the traffic type — such as "paid_social" or "email"

    GA4 treats these values as case-sensitive and distinct, so "Instagram" is different from "instagram" in your reports. This is why consistency matters so much.

    The Consistency Problem

    UTM values should be lowercase, spelled out, and standardized across your organization. Once inconsistent data enters GA4, cleanup becomes extremely difficult or impossible.

    Common problems include:

    • Shortened platform names (fb vs. facebook)
    • Inconsistent capitalization (Email vs. email vs. EMAIL)
    • Missing medium parameters
    • Applying paid search conventions to social advertising

    Practical Recommendations

    For Paid Social Ads

    utm_source=instagram
utm_medium=paid_social
utm_campaign=winter_promo

    For Organic Social Posts

    utm_source=instagram
utm_medium=organic_social

    This separation lets you compare paid vs. organic performance.

    For Email Campaigns

    utm_source=newsletter
utm_medium=email
utm_campaign=january_tips

    General Rules

    • Always use lowercase
    • Use underscores for multi-word values (paid_social, not paid-social)
    • Be descriptive but concise
    • Document everything

    Building a UTM Standard

    Organizations should establish a shared naming standard documented in an accessible location — whether that's a shared spreadsheet, Notion doc, or project management tool.

    Include:

    • Approved source values for each platform
    • Standard medium values
    • Campaign naming conventions
    • Who's responsible for creating tracked links

    This ensures all team members use identical values when creating tracked links, and your GA4 data stays clean and actionable.

    Common Mistakes to Avoid

    1. Adding UTMs to organic search links — let GA4 handle this automatically
    2. Using different values for the same platform — pick one and stick with it
    3. Forgetting the medium parameter — source alone isn't enough context
    4. Using spaces in values — always use underscores instead
    5. Not documenting your standards — new team members will guess wrong

    Get your UTM strategy right from the start, and your analytics will actually tell you what's working.