Google Analytics Integration (GA4)

GA4 Google Tag Analyitics Integration viag Global Site Tag (gtag.js) and Google Tag Manager (GTM)

What is Analytics?

The Analytics menu lets you send search interaction events to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) or Google Tag Manager (GTM).

Ajax Search Pro doesn't replace your analytics tool; it feeds it. You define which moments (triggers) you care about and what event to send for each, and the plugin fires those events on the frontend through your already-installed GA4/GTM tracker.

You'll find it under Ajax Search Pro → Analytics in the WordPress admin menu.

Requirements

• A GA4 or GTM tracker must already be installed on your site (via your theme, a plugin, or manually). Ajax Search Pro sends events through that tracker — it does not install one for you.

• Under the hood it uses the standard gtag() function when available (GA4), and otherwise falls back to pushing to the GTM dataLayer.

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Settings

Event tracking enabled

The master switch. Turn this on to start sending search events; when it's off, no events are sent and the event configuration is hidden.

Tracking ID (optional)

• Leave empty to send events through the globally installed GA/GTM tracker on your site (the usual setup).

• Provide a G-XXXXXXXX ID to send events to a specific GA4 property. The plugin adds this as the send_to target on each event, so you can route search events to a property that's different from your site-wide one.

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Triggers

A trigger is a moment during a search when events can fire. Each trigger can have one or more events configured, and each event fires independently when that trigger occurs. The eight available triggers are:

Trigger	Fires when…
Input focus	the user clicks into the search input field.
Search start	the live search request begins.
Search end	the live search results are displayed.
Magnifier click	the user clicks the magnifier icon.
Enter / Return key	the user presses Enter in the search input.
"Try this" keyword click	the user clicks one of the "try this" keyword suggestions.
Filter change	the user changes a frontend filter option.
Result click	the user clicks on a search result.

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Configuring an event

Under each trigger, click Add event to create an event. Each event has:

• Active toggle — enable or disable this individual event without deleting it.

• Event name — a label for your own reference in the admin (e.g. "Track search phrase"). This is required but is not sent to GA.

• Event action — the GA4 event name that is actually sent (e.g. search_start). Required. Must start with a letter and contain only letters, numbers and underscores — no spaces.

• Parameters — optional key/value pairs sent with the event (e.g. event_category → site search). Parameter names follow the same naming rule (letter first, then letters/numbers/ underscores). Parameter values can be literal text or template variables (see below), and must not be empty.

Expand an event row to edit its action and parameters; collapse it to keep the list tidy. Use the trash icon to remove an event (it asks for confirmation).

Template variables

In parameter values, use template variables in curly braces — the plugin replaces them with live data at the moment the event fires. Some variables are available everywhere; others only make sense for certain triggers and are offered per trigger:

Variable	Available on	Replaced with
{phrase}	all triggers	the current search phrase
{search_id}	all triggers	the search instance ID
{search_name}	all triggers	the search instance name
{results_count}	Search end	the number of results displayed
{option_label}	Filter change	the label of the changed filter option
{option_value}	Filter change	the value of the changed filter option
{result_title}	Result click	the title of the clicked result
{result_url}	Result click	the URL of the clicked result

The variables you can use are listed right under the Parameters field for the trigger you're editing.

Example — on the Search end trigger, an event with action view_search_results and a parameter search_term → {phrase} plus count → {results_count} will send, when results appear:

gtag('event', 'view_search_results', { search_term: 'bluetooth speaker', count: '12' });

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How events are sent

When a configured trigger fires, for each active event on it, the plugin:

1. Builds the parameter set, substituting any {variables} with live values.

2. Sends it via gtag('event', <action>, <params>) if gtag is available (GA4). If a Tracking ID is set, the event is routed to that property via send_to.

3. If gtag isn't present but a GTM dataLayer is, it instead pushes { event: 'gaEvent', eventAction: <action>, ...params } so you can pick it up with a GTM trigger.

If neither gtag nor dataLayer exists on the page, nothing is sent.

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Reset to defaults

The Reset to defaults button (next to Save) clears the analytics configuration back to its defaults — all configured events are removed. It asks for confirmation first.

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Tips & notes

• Remember to Save. Changes aren't applied until you click Save — the panel warns you if you try to leave with unsaved changes.

• Keep event actions consistent. Use the same action name (e.g. search) across triggers if you want them grouped together in GA4 reports, and distinguish them with parameters.

• GTM users: listen for the gaEvent dataLayer event and read eventAction plus your custom parameters in your GTM tags.

• For property setup and report building, refer to Google's own GA4 / GTM documentation; the plugin's job ends at sending the events.