Select Content

Fire whenever a user clicks on a content link found in a list that forwards the user to the content page. List types include card collections, search results, carousels, and other similar components.

How this event is used in reporting

This event is to be used to understand how content is being engaged with in regard to the lists they are a part of. If an analyst is looking to report on how much a piece of content was engaged with and want/need to know the list information, they must use "select_content" in their GA4 report as the event and NOT "view_content". This is because "view_content" will not have associated list information.

Pairs with the following event: - View Content List

Warning

Do not fire this event for content links found in menus.

HTML Data Attributes

<a href="<link_url>"
  data-layer-event="select_content"
  data-layer-facets="<facets>"
  data-layer-identifier="<identifier>"
  data-layer-index="<index>"
  data-layer-list_type="<list_type>"
  data-layer-name="<name>"
  data-layer-search_term="<search_term>"
  data-layer-search_type="<search_type>"
>

Javascript Code

// When:
// User clicks on a content link found in a list (cards, search, promotions...) that forwards to the content page

// Code:
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
dataLayer.push({ event_data: null });  // Clear the previous event_data object.
dataLayer.push({
  event: "select_content",
  event_data: {
    content_type: "<content_type>", // REQUIRED | string | ex. article, blog, page  
    facets: "<facets>", // contextual | string - double delimited (:)(~) | category:skin_health~featured_as:best_seller 
    identifier: "<identifier>", // REQUIRED | string | ex. ecp_locator, free_trial
    index: "<index>", // REQUIRED | integer | ex. 5
    list_type: "<list_type>", // REQUIRED | string | ex. cards, search_results  
    name: "<name>", // REQUIRED | string | ex. purchase_product
    search_term: "<search_term>", // contextual | string | ex. sunscreen
    search_type: "<search_type>", // contextual | string | site, filter_by_group    
  }
});

Variable Definitions

Field	Type	Required	Description	Example	Maximum Length
content_type	string	required	The type of content selected by the user. Use "page" if no more specific content_type applies or if the capability to distinguish between content_types does not currenly exist.	article, blog, page	100
facets	string	contextual	A double-delimited string of key/value pairs representing the refinements that were applied to this search. Only set if the list type is a search result or filter_by_group.	category:skin_health~skin_concern: acne~featured_as:best_seller	100
identifier	string	required	The form machine-readable name. This should be a unique value specific to this piece of content, if one exists. If one does not exist, this can also be populated with the same value as the .	ecp_locator, free_trial	100
index	integer	required	The numerical index of the item position (1-indexed). For instance, if this is the 5th search result, you would send 5 here. If this is the 3rd card in a single row, send 3. If this is the 2nd item in the 3rd row of a 3-up card layout, send 8 (3 + 3 + 2).	5	100
list_type	string	required	The type of list the item was found in.	cards, search_results	100
name	string	required	The form human-readable name. This should be something that an analyst without a deep knowledge of the technical implementation of the site can easily identify the form with. It should be lowercase snake_case.	purchase_product	100
search_term	string	contextual	The final search term submitted after any correction has been performed. Only set if the list_type is search_results.	sunscreen	100
search_type	string	contextual	The type of search performed. Only set if the list_type is search_results.	site, filter_by_group	100