How to debug Duplicate Page View Events

In this blog we are going to discuss one of the most common issues with web analytics: duplicate page view events. Duplicate page view events inflate these events in GA4 and result in ultra low bounce rates which don’t reflect the true nature of engagement on the site. You can continue reading the blog or watch the YouTube video below.

Identifying Duplicate Page Views

If you have Google Analytics 4 (GA4) set up on your website, you can quickly identify a duplicate page view issue using the Chrome Developer’s Console. Here’s how:

1. Open the Developer’s Console:
   • First, right-click on your website in Chrome.
   • Then, click on “Inspect.”
   • Next, navigate to the “Network” tab.
2. Filter for Page View Events:
   • Use the filter /collect to capture any Google Analytics events.
   • To specifically identify page view events, modify the filter using RegEx: /collect\?.*page_view/
3. Refresh the Page:
   • After refreshing, check if you see a single page view event (ideal) or multiple page view events (indicative of a problem).

Troubleshooting Duplicate Page Views

Duplicate page views can stem from various causes. Here are some steps to identify and resolve them:

1. Check Google Tag Manager (GTM):
   • First, verify if multiple page view events are being fired in the data layer. This is from the JavaScript script event firing multiple times. Perhaps a developer has not set the correct rules for when the event fires or there are multiple re-directs in place for landing pages.
2. Inspect GTM Setup:
   • Ensure there isn’t a duplicate page view event being triggered. This happens if the Google Tag fires a page view automatically and you also have a separate page view event in GTM.
   • If the Google Tag has send_page_view set to true, and you have a separate page view event, change this setting to false. This will prevent both tags firing the same event.
3. Debug View in GA4:
   • Additionally, check in Debug View to see if duplicate page views are being sent to Google Analytics.
4. Data Streams:
   • Moreover, ensure you have only one web data stream. Multiple data streams with separate measurement IDs can send duplicate page views. GA4 is not designed to have more than one web data stream. If there is more than one web data stream, consult your client and recommend they remove the second data stream. Instead, use GTM to configure sending data from different environments or sites to the same property if that is required.
5. Single-Page Applications:
   • If they use history changes and custom events to fire page view events, ensure the setting for “Page changes based on browser history events” in the Enhanced Measurement settings is unchecked.

Verifying Your Code

1. Check for Duplicate GTM Scripts:
   • Open up the Developer’s Console in Chrome by using Right Click & select “Inspect”. In the ‘Elements” tab, click into the console and use ‘Ctrl+F‘ to search for your GTM container ID. Ensure it appears only once in the >head section and once again in the >body to avoid duplicate scripts.
   • Alternatively, view the page source and search for your GTM script to ensure it’s correctly placed and not duplicated.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can identify and resolve duplicate page view events in Google Analytics 4, ensuring accurate data collection and analysis. This is a common issue for many websites I audit, and resolving it can significantly improve your analytics accuracy.

I hope you found this guide useful. If you have any further questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out.

Finally, you can view our other blog posts here.