Add Google Analytics to Gatsby

Google Analytics can provide great insights on how users interact with your Gatsby application. Thankfully, plugins make it easy to add Gatsby. Here is how to do it, step by step.

Let's dive in!

Before we dig in I want to show you something. I promise it's worth it...

Google Analytics is great, but also complex and a bit clunky. If you just want a straightforward dashboard with the insights you need, GA is not a great place to start. Additionally, Google doesn't care about privacy and GA requires an annoying cookie banner.

That's why I built Simple Analytics, a privacy-friendly and simple analytics tool - no personal data, no cookies, just the insights you need in a straightforward dashboard.

Here is how it looks vs GA. Feel free to check our live analytics to get an idea for your project. (It is free btw)

All right, enough about us. Now let's get into answering your question!

Can you spot the difference between the dashboards?

Integrating Google Analytics

Set up Google Analytics

Log into your GA profile (or create one, if you haven't already)
Create a GA property for your website
Inspect the property and note down your Measurement ID. You will need it later.

Install and Configure the Gatsby Plugin for Google Analytics

Gatsby provides plugins that make integrating third-party services like GA simpler. Install the Gatsby plugin for Google Analytics:

npm install gatsby-plugin-google-gtag

Add the plugin to your gatsby-config.js file, configuring it with your GA Measurement ID:

module.exports = {
  // Other configurations...

  plugins: [
    // Other plugins...
    {
      resolve: 'gatsby-plugin-google-gtag',
      options: {
        trackingIds: [
          'YOUR_MEASUREMENT_ID', // Replace with your Google Analytics Measurement ID
        ],
        pluginConfig: {
          head: true,
        },
      },
    },
  ],
};

(Optional) To track specific events (like button clicks or form submissions), you can use the GA API in your components. Gatsby's environment allows you to directly use the GA methods:

const trackCustomEvent = () => {
  if (typeof window !== 'undefined' && window.gtag) {
    window.gtag('event', 'click', {
      event_category: 'Button',
      event_label: 'Subscribe',
      value: 'Subscribe Button Click'
    });
  }
}

Test Your Integration

After deploying your application, test to ensure that GA is tracking page views and events correctly. Tools like the Google Analytics Debugger for Chrome can be helpful.

(Optional) Create New Properties

To track multiple apps, create more GA properties and use the corresponding Measurement IDs. This prevents GA from conflating the data.

Final Thoughts

Adding Google Analytics to your app can give you great insights. However, ask yourself: is Google Analytics the right tool for you?

GA is an overpowered solution for straightforward analytics. If you're looking for a simple and intuitive dashboard with the insights you need, there are better alternatives. Yes, I’m talking about my own product (Simple Analytics), but there are others out there as well.

I hated using Google Analytics for my projects. It's clunky, there are hundreds of dashboards and it doesn't look appealing. Also Google doesn't care about privacy or ethics. That's why I decided to build my own and more intuitive web analytics tool.

If this resonates with you, feel free to give Simple Analytics a spin. You just need to add the script to your app and off you go. This takes about one minute- and there is a free version as well!

Enjoy!

Google Analytics Glossary