Google Analytics Audit Test #

129

More 'view_item' than 'select_item'

Why It Matters:

Critical to understanding shopping behavior.

Industries:

Ecommerce

Checks For:

Accuracy

How accurate is your recent data?

Insight Category:

Behavior

Can you tell what visitors are doing?

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Background

A GA4 audit is essential for uncovering missing insights—key data points that organizations don't yet know and can act upon. A well-done audit evaluates both behavioral tracking and traffic attribution, ensuring each is accurate and useful. It also assesses whether the data collected truly supports business decisions and reporting.

Test Detail

This test verifies that view_item events occur more frequently than select_item events, which is typically expected. In a standard ecommerce flow:

  • select_item fires when a user clicks on a product from a list (e.g., search results, category page)
  • view_item fires when a user lands on the individual product detail page

A higher number of view_item events than select_item could indicate:

  • Users are navigating to product pages from non-list areas (e.g., home page features, promo banners, external links)
  • Users are refreshing or re-visiting product pages
  • select_item isn’t implemented, or isn’t firing correctly
  • Product pages are discoverable by direct or organic traffic

This pattern is not inherently problematic, but if select_item is missing altogether, you may lose insights into how users interact with product lists—especially when analyzing merchandising performance or optimizing list layouts.

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How to Conduct This Test

Basic Tests

  • In Google Analytics > Explore, build a Free-form report:
    • Dimensions: Event name
    • Metrics: Event count
    • Filter to include: select_item, view_item

Advanced QA

  • In BigQuery, run this query:
    SELECT event_name, COUNT(*) AS event_count
    FROM `your_dataset.events_*`
    WHERE event_name IN ('select_item', 'view_item')
    GROUP BY event_name
  • If select_item is extremely low or zero, and all view_item events are coming from list views, it's likely an implementation issue.

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How To Fix

  • Check that select_item is implemented and configured to fire when a user clicks on a product in a list (e.g., on category, search, or featured product pages)
  • Confirm that the event includes:
    • A properly formatted items array
    • item_list_name to indicate the context (e.g., “Homepage Carousel”, “Category: Shoes”)
  • Use Google Analytics DebugView or GTM Preview Mode to verify that select_item fires on click and not on page load
  • Don’t expect a 1:1 ratio—some product page views will originate from external links, bookmarks, or emails
  • Hire a pro to implement complete item interaction tracking and boost your ability to optimize list-to-detail performance.

Tips from a Google Analytics Consultant

Focus on Insights

Every Google Analytics audit should result in a plan for more insights.

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An insight is:

  • something you don't know
  • and can act on to improve performance

The Goal

Identify and remove insight blockers. Don't get tempted to track things you can't act on!

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