How to troubleshoot the most common tracking issues?

Before we start the troubleshooting ensure you have all required items listed above available. It means you can trigger a test conversion in a repeatable way, you can access tracking platforms and system to see if conversion are being tracked correctly.

For instance when using Google Tag Manager run the Tag Manager Preview Mode to see all events and tags being triggered during your test. If Google Analytics 4 is connected use the realtime view or DebugView to see what data it receives.

Trigger the test conversion

When all the tools are open and enabled ho ahead and either place a test order to make a test form submission. Then observe the realtime view of the debugging tools to see if the expected event is visible.

If it's not visible or not data is there, let's walk over the most common issues that can cause that. First we will start with the major implementation problems, there we continue into things that website owners cannot control directly and is related to user decisions and their browser configuration.

Tracking script is not placed correctly

Inspect the source code of the page or use Chrome DevTools networking tab to ensure the expected tracking snippet is placed correctly. The exact snippet will depend on what platform is used:

Google Tag Manager

<!-- Google Tag Manager -->
<script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':
new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],
j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src=
'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);
})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-1C3N4M5R');</script>
<

Google Tag (GA4)

<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=TAG_ID"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());

  gtag('config', 'TAG_ID');
</script>

If it's not there the tracking can't work. Stop here and ensure script is loaded. Then retry the test. If it fail again continue troubleshooting.

Event is not captured

If we are sure the tracking script is placed and loaded correctly we need to check the event data. It is a source of data for each tracking tag. If that data is not available or is misconfigured no tracking can happen.

dataLayer.push({
  event: "purchase",
  ecommerce: {
    transaction_id: "123123123",
    value: 17.50,
    tax: 1.50,
    shipping: 12.00,
    currency: "USD",
    items: [{
      item_id: "123123123",
      item_name: "Album",
      price: 17.50,
      quantity: 1
    }]
  }
});

If this this event is not present on the page after the transaction, verify your tracking plugin installation. Ensure the plugin is active and the purchase event is enabled.

Misconfigured tags or triggers (GTM only)

If using Google Tag Manager having the purchase or generate_lead event in the dataLayer is not sufficient in order to correctly track the event as a conversion in destination services.

Inspect Tag Manager Preview Mode, find the event in the left sidebar and ensure all expected tags fired. If they did fire, check their status, look for possible failures and error messages in the console.

Finally double-, triple-check the tracking IDs, such as Conversion ID and Label.

Broken Consent Mode implementation

If we have confirmed that all the data is where it is supposed to be (ideally in the DataLayer) and the integration tags or snippets are firing but we still cannot see the data in the GA4 realtime view or our conversion action are still not registering conversions we need to check consent mode.

Head back to Google Tag Manager Preview Mode, select the conversion event and check the content of the Consent tab. WE need to ensure the default and update values are aligned with our interactions with Consent Management Platform banner.

If that's not the case, if the consent is set to denied despite we accepted the cookies, review settings of your Consent Management Platform and ensure Google Consent Mode v2 and optionally IAB TCF Consent String are enabled.

Lack of consent

Okay, we have went through all possible implementation issues that could have prevented correct conversion tracking.

Now that we have ensured our consent mode integration is working as expected, play with it. Make another test conversion or form submission after denying the cookies. What will happen:

• When analytical cookies are denied the conversion won't be visible in analytical tools like GA4

• When advertising cookies are denied the conversion won't be visible in the advertising platforms like Google Ads, Facebook or Microsoft Ads

• When user data or ad personalisation cookies are rejected certain advanced data integrations like enhanced conversions or dynamic remarketing

That's how it works. Some Consent Management Platforms feature statistics to understand what percentage of visitors rejects certain categories of cookies. There may be certain optimizations in how the banner is presented to ensure user makes timely decision about their preference, but ultimately this is something that needs to be accepted when operating on regulated markets.

Blocking software

Similarly to lack of consent using technical solutions like AdBlock plugins or incognito mode may completely or partially prevent tracking. Try it yourself, download one of the popular tools from official browser marketplace and see how traffic with adblocks becomes invisible to tracking.

Summary

At this stage you should have been able to identify and fix most common technical issues preventing correct conversion tracking. Also, you have learned how privacy oriented tools and systems impact data completeness and makes it impossible to achieve 100% tracking accuracy.

Long story short, if you can get into 90-95% ballpark of correct data in analytical and advertising tools you are in a great spot. If you still need help or consultations with your setup, check our solutions below.