Viewing scroll depth in Google Analytics can help you understand how visitors are interacting with your website content. For example, you can see whether they’re reading a post all the way through or leaving it midway. Thus, it can give you a lot of information about how engaged people are with your site. This, in turn, may affect what adjustments you can make to improve that engagement rate. In short, scroll depth data is something valuable that most website owners would benefit from if they had access to it.
The only question is how do you install it?
In this article, we will address the same question. More specifically, we will discuss two popular methods To set up scroll depth tracking. The first is through Google Analytics, and the second is by using a WordPress plugin.
We’ll also explain why it’s important to set everything up correctly.
Without any further delay, let’s begin.
What is tracking scroll depth via Google Analytics and why does it matter?
If you own a website, you know that one of the most important things you need to make sure is understanding the impact of your work. It’s not just in terms of numbers (for example, the total traffic you get), but also in terms of understanding visitor behavior.
There are many ways to analyze this type of data. For example, bounce rate, average visit duration, and most visited pages. Another popular metric that is often overlooked is scroll depth in Google Analytics. Instead of focusing on how long someone views your content, scroll depth tracks how much of the page they actually see. The way Google Analytics does this is by measuring various scrolling behaviors, such as scroll direction, vertical scroll and horizontal scroll length, and various scroll depth events (such as scroll triggers) or scroll depth units.
What is an average scroll depth, and how much should you aim for?
The most popular metric when it comes to measuring scrolling behavior is average scroll depth. This is how far down the average visitor scrolls on your website. If your scroll depth is 75%, it means that people read three-quarters of your pages or posts on average.
The number you should aim for will depend on your industry and the length of your content, but a general minimum benchmark is 54%. [1], If your content is small, then you should try to get a higher number. If it’s long, you can often get away with going short.
Now we’ll go through the two best ways to analyze the results of your scroll depth tracking. These are using Google Analytics itself and then using a plugin.
Method 1: How to track scroll depth directly in Google Analytics
Setting up scroll depth in Google Analytics isn’t difficult, but you’ll first need to set up Google Tag Manager, which is the tool through which Google Analytics gets the data it needs.
To set up depth tracking, just go to Google Tag Manager (GTM) Vertical and follow these steps:
Step One: If using Universal Analytics, enable variable scroll depth
Go to your Google Tag Manager, find the menu on the left of your home screen and select variables, click on configure button. then click on the three boxes titled scroll depth threshold, scroll depth units, And scroll direction,
Step Two: If Using GA4, Create a Tag
A tag is an event that gets recorded when a particular tag is triggered. To add one, select the tag Click on More from the left-hand menu New, You can choose any category as per your wish.
Then, select the tag type named “Google Analytics: GA4 Event, Don’t forget to give your event a name so you can easily find it in the future.
In the configuration tag choose “None, then in measure id, paste your GMT measurement ID. For Google Analytics, your Measurement ID is the same as your Destination ID
Step Three: Create a Trigger
You’ll want to create a scroll event when the user reaches a specific point on the page. To do this, click on the block that says trigger and then on, “Sign in to add new.
Scroll down until you see the section called user interaction and choose scroll depth,
Here, you’ll be able to select the type of scroll depth you need (vertical scroll depth or horizontal scroll depth), and at what depth the event will be triggered. You will also be given the option of using a percentage of pixels to set the depth.
Finally click save and submit, Once you have completed the above steps, make sure you test the configuration to see if it all works as expected. You can do this by using the preview feature of Google Tag Manager. Then, you have to wait for a few days to see the results.
If all went well with your tests, you should be able to move on to tracking your visitors’ scroll depth data. You can do this using the Analytics Pages report, which you can find in the events section of your main menu).
Method 2: How to Track Scroll Depth with a WordPress Plugin
One of the most popular plugins (and our recommendation) for tracking Google Analytics metrics in WordPress is Google Tag Manager (GTM4WP). This plugin natively supports scroll depth tracking on a pixel or percentage basis, making it an obvious choice for our purposes here. The advantage of using a plugin instead of setting things up manually on GTM is that the tool will simplify everything for you. You’ll be shown scroll-depth data through useful, user-friendly reports.
You can check the scrolling settings in Google Tag Manager Adjustment, google tag manager, and then click on the scroll tracking tab. Make sure you check the box that says “Enable Scroll Tracker Script on Your Website, You will then be able to set the time delay, minimum distance, and scroller time. Remember to save your changes when you’re done.
As mentioned, the plugin supports scroll depth tracking calculated using percentages or pixels, as well as additional scroll events designed to capture user interaction or intent.
Final thoughts on tracking scroll depth in WordPress
Analyzing scroll depth can help you understand how your visitors interact with your content and see which pages are more engaging. Scrolling behavior includes events such as direction, length, and triggers.
In this article, we have covered various methods for tracking scroll depth using Universal Analytics, GA4, and a WordPress plugin. Once you’ve chosen your method, just remember that the data is based on tracking the behavior of actual visitors to your site. In practice, this means you will have to wait a few days for your preliminary results.
