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gatsby-plugin-gdpr-tracking

Gatsby plugin to add analytics services like Google Analytics, Hotjar or Google Ads GDPR compliant.

Install

npm install --save gatsby-plugin-gdpr-tracking

How to use

// In your gatsby-config.js
module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    {
      resolve: 'gatsby-plugin-gdpr-tracking',
      options: {
        // logging to the console, if debug is true
        debug: false, 
        googleAnalytics: { 
            // The property ID; the tracking code won't be generated without it.
            trackingId: 'YOUR_GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_TRACKING_ID',
            // Defines it google analytics should be started with out the cookie consent
            autoStart: true, // <--- default
            // Setting this parameter is optional
            anonymize: true, // <--- default
            // Name of the cookie, that enables the tracking if it is true
            controlCookieName: 'gdpr-analytics-enabled', // <--- default
            cookieFlags: 'secure;samesite=none' // <--- default
        },
        googleAds: {
          // The property ID; the tracking code won't be generated without it.
          trackingId: 'YOUR_GOOGLE_ADS_TRACKING_ID',
          // Setting this parameter is optional
          anonymize: true, // <--- default
          // Name of the cookie, that enables the tracking if it is true
          controlCookieName: 'gdpr-marketing-enabled', // <--- default
          cookieFlags: 'secure;samesite=none' // <--- default
        },
        facebookPixel: {
          // The property ID; the tracking code won't be generated without it.
          pixelId: 'YOUR_FACEBOOK_PIXEL_TRACKING_ID',
          // Name of the cookie, that enables the tracking if it is true
          controlCookieName: 'gdpr-marketing-enabled', // <--- default
        },
        hotjar: {
          // The Hotjar ID; the tracking code won't be generated without it.
          trackingId: 'YOUR_HOTJAR_ID',
          // Your Hotjar snippet version
          snippetVersion: '6', // <--- default
          // Name of the cookie, that enables the tracking if it is true
          controlCookieName: 'gdpr-analytics-enabled' // <--- default
        },
        // Defines the environments where the tracking should be available  - default is ["production"]
        environments: ['production', 'development']
      },
    },
  ],
}

How it works

First of all the plugin checks in which environment your site is running. If it’s currently running in one of your defined environments it will add the Google Analytics, Google Ads and Hotjar Pixel tracking code (script tags) by default to the <head> of your site. It will not be activated or initialized by this.

PLEASE NOTICE!

If the googleAnalytics.autoStart option is true, then it will start tracking to Google Analytics without user consent! In order to be perfectly compliant to GDPR you have to set it to false!

Google Analytics

If the googleAnalytics.autoStart option is false, this plugin will not send any data to Google Analytics to make it GDPR compliant. The user first needs to accept your cookie policy. By accepting that, you need to set the cookie, that you can configure in the option: googleAnalytics.controlCookieName. Depending on the user input the value of the cookies should be true or false. Usually you have to reload the page after changing the control cookie value. But with this plugin you can simple call the function window.trackGoogleAnalytics() to start the tracking. You page view will be tracked without reloading the page. This function still check the value of the control cookie. So you have to set it to true first and then call the function after the user has confirmed the consent.

JavaScrip API of Google Analytics

This plugin uses the new Google Analytics API that is working with Google Tag manager (gtas.js) Here you can find the Google Docs: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gtagjs

This plugin loads the gtag.js library, establishes googleAnalytics.trackingId as the default Google Analytics property ID, and sends a pageview hit to Google Analytics.

This is the code of onRouteUpdate method created by this plugin

gtag(
  'config', googleAnalyticsOpt.trackingId, {
  'anonymize_ip': googleAnalyticsOpt.anonymize.toString(),
  'page_path': location.pathname
});

Helper functions, that you can use in your code:

window.trackGoogleAnalytics() - sends a pageview hit to Google Analytics, depending on the current value of the control cookie

window.trackGoogleAnalyticsEvent(category, params) - sends an event to Google Analytics, depending on the current value of the control cookie

window.gaOptout() - If your visitors should be able to set an Opt-Out-Cookie (No future tracking) you can set a link e.g. in your imprint as follows:

<a href="javascript:gaOptout();">Deactivate Google Analytics</a>

By default, this plugin will not send any data to Google Ads or to Hotjar to make it GDPR compliant. The user first needs to accept your cookie policy. By accepting that you need to set cookies that you can configure in the options: googleAds.controlCookieName and hotjar.controlCookieName. Depending on the user input the value of each of the cookies should be true or false.

Hotjar

If the value of hotjar.controlCookieName cookie is true, Hotjar will be initialized onClientEntry. After the page reload it will track the page by the Hotjar library. You can also use trigger the tracking by using the helper function:

window.trackHotjar() - trigger the tracking of the website by Hotjar, only if the value of the control cookie is true.

Sometimes you want to track the Google Ads Analytics in separate Google Ads account. Then you can activate it by setting the trackingId of googleAds configuration object.

The tracking of Google Ads is very similar to Google Analytics. Basically they differ only by the tracking ID and the name of the helper functions to use.

Helper functions, that you can use in your code:

window.trackGoogleAds() - sends a pageview hit to Google Ads Analytics, depending on the current value of the control cookie

window.trackGoogleAdsEvent(category, params) - sends an event to Google Ads Analytics, depending on the current value of the control cookie

Facebook Pixel

The user first needs to accept your cookie policy. By accepting that, you need to set the cookie, that you can configure in the option: facebookPixel.controlCookieName. Depending on the user input the value of the cookies should be true or false. Usually you have to reload the page after changing the control cookie value. But with this plugin you can simple call the function window.trackFbPixel() to start the tracking. You page view will be tracked without reloading the page. This function still check the value of the control cookie. So you have to set it to true first and then call the function after the user has confirmed the consent.

JavaScrip API of Facebook Pixel

This plugin loads the https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js library and sends a PageView hit to Facebook.

This is the code of onRouteUpdate method created by this plugin

  fbq('track', 'PageView');

Helper functions, that you can use in your code:

window.trackFbPixel() - sends a pageview hit to Facebook, depending on the current value of the control cookie

Important:

Please keep in mind setting the cookies. Otherwise, the tracking won’t work! Tracking won’t happen at all if there are no cookies or they are set so false.

Options

Global:

debug

Logging to the console, if this option is true. Default is false.

environments

Defines the environments where the tracking should be available. Default is ["production"].

Google Analytics googleAnalytics configuration object:

trackingId

Here you place your Google Analytics tracking id.

autoStart

Should the tracking starts immediately without consent or not. Default is true. You can set it to false to let it be controlled via cookie with the name defined in controlCookieName option

controlCookieName

Name of the control cookie. Needed if autoStart sets to false. If the value of this cookie it set to true, then tracking is activated

anonymize

Some countries (such as Germany) require you to use the _anonymizeIP function for Google Analytics. Otherwise you are not allowed to use it.

trackingId

Here you place your Google Analytics tracking id.

anonymize

Some countries (such as Germany) require you to use the _anonymizeIP function for Google Analytics. Otherwise you are not allowed to use it.

controlCookieName

Name of the control cookie. If the value of this cookie it set to true, then tracking is activated

cookieFlags

The new cookieFlags field allows you to set any cookie directive when the Google Analytics cookie is created.

The value of this setting is a semi-colon separated list of lowercase cookie directives and their respective values. For example, this is a possible value of cookieFlags:

max-age=7200;domain=simoahava.com;path=/;secure;samesite=none

The default value is: secure;samesite=none

See more details here: https://www.simoahava.com/analytics/cookieflags-field-google-analytics/

Hotjar hotjar configuration object:

trackingId

Your Hotjar ID

snippetVersion

Your Hotjar snippet version or 6 by default

controlCookieName

Name of the control cookie. If the value of this cookie it set to true, then tracking is activated

Facebook Pixel facebookPixel configuration object:

pixelId

Your Facebook Pixel ID

controlCookieName

Name of the control cookie. If the value of this cookie it set to true, then tracking is activated

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