Google Analytics Legacy APIs (analytics.js / ga.js) Cheat Sheet

[!NOTE] analytics.js (Universal Analytics) and ga.js are legacy Google Analytics libraries superseded by Google Analytics 4 (GA4 via gtag.js). This guide serves as an archival reference.

Universal Analytics (analytics.js)

Pageviews

ga('create', 'UA-XXXX-Y', 'auto')
ga('create', 'UA-XXXX-Y', { userId: 'USER_ID' })

ga('send', 'pageview')
ga('send', 'pageview', { 'dimension15': 'My custom dimension' })

Event Tracking

ga('send', 'event', 'button', 'click', { color: 'red' });

ga('send', 'event', 'button', 'click', 'nav buttons', 4);
/*                  ^category ^action ^label         ^value (int) */

Exception Tracking

ga('send', 'exception', {
  exDescription: 'DatabaseError',
  exFatal: false,
  appName: 'myapp',
  appVersion: '0.1.2'
})

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Classic Google Analytics (ga.js)

Archived syntax for legacy synchronous/asynchronous ga.js tracking snippet implementations.

Event Tracking

// [..., category, action, label, value (int), noninteraction (bool)]
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Videos', 'Play', 'Birthday video', true]);
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Projects', 'Donate', 'Project name']);
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Accounts', 'Login']);

Custom Variables

// [..., index (1-5), name, value, scope (optional)]
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'Logged in', 'Yes', 2]);

// Scope: 1 (visitor), 2 (session), 3 (page, default)

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References

• Google Analytics Migration Guide
• Universal Analytics (analytics.js) Documentation