Google Analytics Audit Test #

13

'view_item_list' Events Are Tracking

Why It Matters:

Critical to understanding drivers of shopping behavior on your website.

Industries:

Ecommerce

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 checks whether view_item_list events are properly firing when users view a collection or list of products—such as a category page, search results, or homepage product carousel. This event is key to understanding:

  • Which product lists users are exposed to
  • Which categories drive engagement
  • Funnel progression from browsing to item detail views
  • Performance of merchandising strategies

Without this event, it’s hard to assess how product discovery impacts downstream behavior like select_item, view_item, or add_to_cart.

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Google Analytics audit test results.

How to Conduct This Test

Basic Tests

  • In GA4 > Reports > Events, confirm that the view_item_list event exists and is receiving data
  • In Explore, build a Free-form report:
    • Dimensions: Event name, Item list name, Item name
    • Metrics: Event count
    • Filter for event_name = view_item_list

Advanced QA

  • In GA4 DebugView, browse to a product list page (category, search, etc.):
    • Ensure the view_item_list event fires upon page load
    • Check that the items array contains relevant product details, including:
      • item_id, item_name, item_list_name, item_category, etc.
  • In BigQuery, you can check for consistency of this event using this query:
    SELECT event_name, param.value.string_value AS list_name, COUNT(*) AS count
    FROM `your_dataset.events_*`,
         UNNEST(event_params) AS param
    WHERE event_name = 'view_item_list'
      AND param.key = 'item_list_name'
    GROUP BY event_name, list_name
    ORDER BY count DESC;

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How To Fix

Implementing 'view_item_list'

  • Use the recommended push to the dataLayer:
    gtag('event', 'view_item_list', {
      items: [
        {
          item_id: 'SKU_12345',
          item_name: 'Running Shoes',
          item_list_name: 'Search Results',
          item_category: 'Footwear'
        },
        ...
      ]
    });
  • In Google Tag Manager, trigger this event when:
    • A category or product list page loads
    • A search results page renders items
  • Ensure each product in the list is included in the items array
  • Maintain consistency with other ecommerce events like select_item and view_item

QA Tips

  • Validate the event using DebugView and ensure no duplicates or misfires occur
  • Hire a pro to implement and QA your ecommerce tracking—so your product visibility data is as accurate as your purchase tracking.

Tips from a Google Analytics Consultant

Focus on Insights

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

‍

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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