Google Analytics Audit Test #

131

Standardize Trailing Slashes on Page Paths

Why It Matters:

Critical to understanding visitor behavior.

Industries:

All

Checks For:

Utility

How powerful is your current implementation?

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 evaluates whether page paths in Google Analytics are standardized with or without trailing slashes.

Inconsistent use of trailing slashes (e.g., /pricing vs. /pricing/) creates duplicate page entries in reports, inflates page counts, breaks content groupings, and complicates funnel or path analysis.

Google Analytics considers each variation a separate page path—even though they lead to the same content for users.

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How to Conduct This Test

Basic Tests

  • In Google Analytics > Reports > Engagement > Pages and Screens, view the Page path + query string dimension.
  • Look for duplicate entries such as:
    • /about and /about/
    • /products/item-1 and /products/item-1/
  • In Explore, group page paths and compare engagement metrics across trailing slash variations.

Advanced QA

  • In BigQuery, use a query to detect inconsistent trailing slashes:
    SELECT 
      REGEXP_REPLACE(page_path, '/$', '') AS normalized_path,
      COUNT(DISTINCT page_path) AS variations
    FROM `your_dataset.events_*`
    WHERE page_path IS NOT NULL
    GROUP BY normalized_path
    HAVING variations > 1

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How To Fix

  • Choose a canonical format: either with or without trailing slashes (most choose without).
  • Use Google Tag Manager or server-side processing to normalize the page_path value before it’s sent to Google Analytics:
    • In Google Tag Manager: Use a variable or custom JavaScript to remove or add trailing slashes consistently
    • On server-side: Strip or standardize paths during tagging or routing
  • Update internal linking and CMS rules to use your preferred format
  • If you're using content grouping, update rules to treat trailing slash variations as equivalent
  • Hire a pro to normalize your Google Analytics page path strategy, reduce clutter, and unlock accurate content insights.

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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