Case Study - Daily Maverick
AUDIT
About Client
Daily Maverick (dailymaverick.co.za) is a South African online news publication specializing in independent, investigative journalism on a range of topics such as politics, business, and current affairs.
Committed to delivering accurate and unbiased news coverage, Daily Maverick is renowned for its in-depth analysis, thought-provoking opinion pieces, and timely breaking news stories.
Requirements
The client needed a solution to address the incorrect configuration of Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. They sought a comprehensive audit of both platforms to highlight the causes of inaccurate and missing data in their reports. Professional guidance and expertise were crucial to optimize their analytics capabilities and facilitate informed decision-making.
Findings
Several critical issues were identified during the audit:
- Duplicate events, including page view events, were causing confusion.
- Incorrectly configured events led to improper tracking of certain web pages.
- Sub-domain tracking was not set up for their other domain.
- Prevalent “Not set” issues, particularly in Page View User Status, where data should be categorized as “Anonymous.”
- Inconsistent author information was affecting report accuracy.
- Discrepancies were observed between GA4 and GA-U data, such as user numbers.
- Missing demographic data, which is common due to factors like users lacking Google Accounts or disabling ad personalization.
Solution
Guided by the audit results, we put the following steps into action:
- Turning off enhanced measurements in the GA4 setup resolved the issue of duplicate page view events.
- Addressed the “not set” issue by setting the default value for the Page View User Status parameter to ‘Anonymous.’
- Noted the absence of author names in 50% of cases and recommended correcting the same for data consistency.
- Explained the reasons behind user discrepancies between UA and GA4, highlighting Google Signals as a potential contributing factor.
- Clarified that missing demographic data is typical due to various factors impacting its availability.
Additionally, we offered recommendations to improve tracking, such as adding scroll depth events, monitoring CTA clicks, and tracking video engagement.
Conclusion
The project delivered a detailed audit report that thoroughly identified issues in the client’s Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager configurations. This report highlighted the problems and provided clear, actionable solutions to improve tracking and data management.
