You can use Google Analytics to track your help center traffic. Enabling it involves getting the tracking ID from Google Analytics and then adding it to the help center.
document_head.hbs theme template file, according to the Google Analytics documentation.
This article covers the following topics:
Adding your help center to Google Analytics
To track traffic via Google Analytics, you'll need a Google Analytics account to attach your help center to.
If you do not already have a Google Analytics account, start with Establishing a Google Analytics account.
If you already have a Google Analytics account, and simply want to add your help center to it, see Adding your help center to an existing Google Analytics account
Establishing a Google Analytics account
If you do not have a Google Analytics account, you'll need to create one before getting started.
To create a new Google Analytics account for your help center
- Go to www.google.com/analytics and create an account.
- Create a new property following Google's instructions in Set up Analytics for a website.
- Use your help center information to fill out the account options. For example, if you're creating an account for your company, Mondocam, you'd enter the following:
- Account Name: Mondocam
- Website Name: Mondocam Help Center
-
Website URL: (Select https:// from the drop-down menu) mondocam.zendesk.com/hc
Set the remaining options according to your preferences.
- Follow the advanced options to create a Universal Analytics Property to get a tracking ID that begins with UA-. If you only see codes beginning with G-, you may have set up your property incorrectly..
- Copy and add the tracking ID to the help center as described in Adding the tracking ID to the help center, below.
Adding your help center to an existing Google Analytics account
You may already have a Google Analytics account. If so, you can add your help center to your existing account.
To add your help center to an established Google Analytics account
- Sign in to your Google Analytics account.
- If this is the first website associated with this Google Analytics account, click Sign Up.
If you have other websites associated with this Google Analytics account, click Admin at the top of the page, and in the Account column, click the existing account name and select Create new account.
- Use your help center information to fill out the account options. For example, if you're creating an account for your company, Mondocam, you'd enter the following:
- Account Name: Mondocam
- Website Name: Mondocam Help Center
-
Website URL: (Select https:// from the drop-down menu) mondocam.zendesk.com/hc
Set the remaining options according to your preferences.
- Click Get Tracking ID and accept the Terms and Conditions.
- Copy and add the tracking ID to the help center as described below.
Adding the tracking ID to the help center
Once you have your help center added to your Google Analytics account, you need to update your settings with the tracking ID you generated in the previous section.
To add the tracking ID to the help center
- In Guide, click the Settings (
) icon in the sidebar. - Under Integrations, select the option to enable the Google Analytics and enter your tracking ID.
- Click Update on the upper-right side of the page.
Using Google Analytics with your help center
See the following resources on using Google Analytics to create the best self-service experience possible for your customers:
- Google Analytics and your help center - Part 1: Asking the right questions
- Google Analytics and your help center - Part 2: Measuring the effectiveness of search
- Google Analytics and your help center - Part 3: Tracking customers' actions
- Google Analytics and your help center - Part 4: Fine-tuning your help center
- Google Analytics and your help center - Part 5: Capturing your help center user data
18 Comments
As per above, can Zendesk confirm that GA4 support is on the roadmap?
I made a Minerva interactive step-by-step guide to help you walk through enabling Google Analytics in Zendesk. This is for those using Universal Analytics Tracking IDs and not the updated Google Analytics 4. Minerva is a guide that shows you where to click, and what to do next, so you can set this up on your own account. You can follow the link here for the step by step instructions:
https://www.minervaknows.com/howto/minervateam-zendesk-com-enabling-google-analytics-in-your-zendesk-help-center-yyevv1psvxbc.html?utm_source=forums&utm_medium=dan&utm_campaign=zendesk
@... sadly that doesn't work for the new Google Tag assets. Perhaps you could clearly label it as legacy Google Analytics configuration?
Hi Joel, thanks for taking a look and pointing that out. I have updated my comment to make it clear. Thanks again!
Can you use a G code on the light version of the zendesk guide?
Hey @...! A G- code will not work; a UA- code is required.
Hi. I converted our Google Analytics property to the old style with the UA code. I entered and enabled it in Guide settings. However, I can't see any activity beyond the homepage. Any ideas why? Anything I can try?
Hey @...! It can take a day or two for data to show up in Google Analytics dashboards/reports after adding the tracking ID in Zendesk Guide. That being said, activity beyond the homepage is expected to be captured.
@... Yes it did start showing up now! Thanks for checking in. Now just trying to get the custom dimensions captured correctly.
Ive read this thread multiple times and keep trying different things mentioned in the comments. I'll comment on that thread in a couple days if I haven't got it sorted.
https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/204279766?page=3#comments
My organization has 3 Brands, so 3 different help center. Additionally, each help center is translated into 4 languages. Does this mean I need to enter all 12 urls as properties into Google Analytics or is there a trick I can use to just add one URL and have all help centers data populate?
I recevied this note from Google Analytics:
Universal Analytics properties will stop collecting data starting July 1, 2023. It’s recommended that you create a Google Analytics 4 property instead.
Would this means that we need to change Google Analytics property in the future if we want to connect ot Guide?
What would it means when it comes to Google Analytics/Guide connections?
Hey Tanawat Oonwattana, we followed the instructions from the second paragraph in this article and were able to quickly add the new code to the document_head.hbs template in our theme. Tracking started right away.
Not as nice as just entering a code in the Guide front end but it seems to work just as well so far.
You'll only need to use the URL of each helpcenter from each brand, just like what we have in the example in this article.
Website URL: (Select https:// from the drop-down menu) mondocam.zendesk.com/hc
The helpcenter localization shouldn't be an issue and Google Analytics should work just fine as those locales are within the same helpcenter of each brand.
Hi, now that it's official that UA is EOL and GA4 is here to stay, when will we be able to deploy natively in Zendesk without having to modify templates?
Does Zendesk support GA4?
Google's official support says Universal Analytics will be going away. No data from UA accounts are able to be transferred to GA4 accounts. When will Zendesk support the modern Google Analytics accounts?
how can I add "most viewed" articles in help center?
Per Google, GA 4 won’t be replacing Universal Analytics until July 2023. And we don't yet have a date for native, official Zendesk implementation of GA4. Always keep track of our updates page for any news regarding this.
Google introduced GA4 in July 2019. Even though UA isn't ending for another year, they're urging everyone to move to GA4 as soon as possible in order to build historical data before UA suddenly stops.
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