Adding Google Analytics

EvilExecutor

Is it okay to edit the index.php to add google analytics JavaScript to the Forum or is there any other better way I can do this?

clarkwinkelmann

You can insert HTML in the forum using Admin > Appearance > Custom Header or Admin > Appearance > Custom Footer

Or you can add code to the <head> using https://discuss.flarum.org/d/20162-how-to-add-to-head-head

It's not a good idea to edit Flarum source files since Composer will likely revert the changes next time to install/update/remove extensions or Flarum itself.

sky

clarkwinkelmann But flarum opens the post without reloading the page, is this useful?

clarkwinkelmann

sky if you want to track page changes inside of the single page app with Google Analytics or Matomo, this extension has you covered: https://discuss.flarum.org/d/1983-friendsofflarum-analytics-tracking-user-visits

sky

clarkwinkelmann tks

mventures

Hi clarkwinkelmann
Thanks for this great tip!

When you say, "HTML", you mean the HTML code GA provides on their console?
When HTML is inserted into the "custom footer", will it record only the visitors on the tag homepage or can it also record visitors going directly to a particular tag/category (e.g: someone sharing a direct link to a tag category)?
How do I track the analytics on each tag/category and not just the homepage- do I have to use the Friends of Flarum extension?
The user SKY says, "But flarum opens the post without reloading the page" - does this mean Flarum doesn't freshly load any pages once the entire website is loaded or just a particular post?

Looking forward to hearing from you and thank you much for your time.

clarkwinkelmann

mventures Flarum is a Single Page Application. This means special consideration must be taken into account to track page changes.

Flarum's custom HTML footer will be inserted on all pages, but due to the nature of a single page app, if you include code inside it will only run once.

The FoF Analytics extension takes care of tracking page changes in the single page app.

mventures

clarkwinkelmann
Thanks much for your response. When you say "page changes", you mean the new entries on a post, right?

I am trying to track the performance of each section/channel/tag/category in my forum and not individual post changes. So, when I log into the GA dashboard, I can see which of my parent categories/tags are doing well.

luceos

mventures When you say "page changes", you mean the new entries on a post, right?

He means, when you click on a link to a different discussion (or other part of your forum) only part of the html is re-rendered. The head and most of the other html remains the same, that's the nature of a SPA. Only if you refresh (F5, cmd+R etc) do you actually reload the complete HTML of the page.

clarkwinkelmann

If you want to track other metrics that aren't page loads, you could certainly do it using the Flarum javascript extension API and the API of your analytics platform of choice.

No existing extension I know of tracks more than page loads though.

I am personally working on an improved Matomo Analytics extension that also tracks other events in Flarum frontend, but it's not ready for public use yet.