Key Takeaways
- Tracking pays off: According to Bitkom (2025), only 44% of German companies actively use big data analytics tools. Connecting your CMS to analytics gives you a clear information advantage.
- Events over pageviews: Pageviews alone tell you very little. Only when you capture form completions, CTA clicks and scroll depth as GA4 events do you understand whether your content is actually working.
- GDPR is mandatory: The Austrian data protection authority clarified in a landmark ruling (noyb, 2022) that Google Analytics without valid consent violates GDPR. A Consent Management Platform (CMP) is essential for every EU website.
- Alternative tracking: If you want to avoid cookies, you can use Matomo in self-hosted mode. Matomo collects data server-side without third-party cookies and, according to the Matomo documentation, can be configured to be fully GDPR-compliant.
Many companies have Google Analytics installed but rarely look beyond pageviews. That is not enough. According to the digital association Bitkom (2025), only 44% of German companies actively use big data analytics tools. Yet what counts is not the click on a page, but what happens afterwards: a completed form, a watched video, a purchase. CMS analytics tracking makes exactly these moments visible and turns your website into a reliable basis for decisions.
Why CMS Analytics Tracking Is Essential Today
Web analysis is no longer a nice-to-have. Anyone publishing content, spending advertising budgets or testing landing pages needs valid data about what works. According to W3Techs (June 2026), Google Analytics is installed on 46% of all measured websites, giving it a traffic analysis market share of 81%. Yet the potential of many tracking setups remains untapped.
In my work with mid-sized companies, I regularly see that Google Analytics is installed but almost nobody has configured the events. The default installation delivers pageviews and session durations. Ten years ago that was enough. Today, with personalised journeys, multi-step funnels and cross-channel campaigns, it simply is not sufficient any more.
This becomes particularly clear when comparing pageviews with actual conversions. A page can attract 500 visitors per day and still generate only two enquiries. Without detailed event data, you do not know whether this is down to weak content, an unclear CTA or technical problems on mobile devices. A cleanly configured tracking system lets you answer that question before it becomes a real problem.
What Is CMS Analytics Tracking?
CMS analytics tracking describes the connection between a content management system - Sanity, WordPress, TYPO3 or a comparable system - and an analytics tool. The CMS delivers the content; the analytics tool measures how visitors interact with it. Only through this connection does a complete picture of user behaviour emerge.
The Three Core Components
The three building blocks
- Data collection via events: individual measurable actions that show what visitors actually do.
- Visualisation in dashboards: raw data becomes clear, actionable metrics.
- Consent management: ensures that data collection is GDPR-compliant and legally sound.
Anyone who combines all three components will have a tracking system that works reliably and permanently.
GA4, Matomo and Plausible Compared
Not every tool suits every project. Google Analytics 4 is the most widely used analytics tool in the world and, with its event-based data model, offers deep insights into user behaviour. The data is processed on Google's servers in the USA, which raises data protection questions.
Matomo is an open-source alternative that can be self-hosted. Data remains on your own server; third-party cookies are not used. This makes Matomo the preferred choice for companies with high data protection requirements, for example in healthcare or financial services.
Plausible Analytics is a lean, privacy-friendly tool from the EU. It collects no personal data, sets no cookies, and therefore does not require consent banners in many cases. For simple websites and content projects, Plausible is a pragmatic option. For complex e-commerce or B2B setups with deep funnels, however, GA4 or Matomo is hard to avoid.
Which Events Should You Track in Your CMS?
Events are the heart of every tracking setup. A pageview shows that someone was there. An event shows what that person did. GA4 captures some standard events automatically, according to Google's official documentation - for example session starts or file downloads on PDF links. The truly useful interactions, however, must be configured yourself.
Form Completions and CTA Clicks
Form completions are the most important event for most B2B websites. When a visitor submits the contact form, that is a direct conversion. Without event tracking, you do not know how many people opened the form but abandoned it before submitting. That abandonment rate is often the key lever for optimisation. Recommended naming: "form_submit_contact".
CTA clicks work in a similar way. Not every click on "Request now" leads to the desired outcome, but without tracking data you do not know on which pages the CTA is noticed at all. A consistent naming scheme is advisable: for example "cta_click_request" with an additional page property (parameter: "page_location").
Scroll Depth and Time on Page
Scroll depth events show whether visitors actually read long articles or product pages, or whether they bounce after the first few lines. GA4 has included a built-in scroll event since version 4 that fires at 90% scroll depth. For more precise analyses, custom thresholds can be defined using Google Tag Manager - for example at 25%, 50% and 75%.
Time on page alone is a weak metric, because open browser tabs distort it. Combined with scroll events and completed interactions, however, it provides a realistic picture of whether content holds attention.
Video Plays and Download Clicks
For websites with video content, the "video_start" event is central. GA4 captures YouTube embeds by default; for custom video players you need a custom event. What matters is not just who starts a video, but who watches it to the end. The "video_complete" event provides that information.
Download clicks on PDFs, white papers or product data sheets are particularly valuable for B2B websites. They indicate concrete interest in specific content and help evaluate the content mix. GA4 captures many download clicks automatically for correctly embedded links via the "file_download" event.
Exit Intent and Search Usage
Exit intent events fire when the mouse cursor leaves the top of the page, which often precedes closing the tab or leaving the site. This signal can be used to understand on which pages visitors abandon most frequently. Combined with scroll depth, it provides a clear picture of "drop-off points".
Internal search events are often underestimated. What visitors type into your website's search bar is direct feedback: they are looking for something and cannot find it immediately. This data is invaluable for content planning and navigation.
How Do You Set Up Meaningful Dashboards?
Raw data alone changes nothing. Dashboards are what turn measurements into decision-making tools. The principle here is: a dashboard should answer questions, not raise new ones. Google Looker Studio connects directly with GA4 and allows custom reports focused on the KPIs that actually matter.
KPIs by Website Type
Not every website needs the same metrics. For a content website, scroll depth, time on page, returning visitors and article completion rates take priority. For a B2B service website, they are form completions, pages per session on service pages and the origin of converting visitors. E-commerce sites prioritise conversion rate, cart abandonments and revenue per channel.
From my experience with B2B websites, I see that the most common source of error in dashboards is not missing data, but too much of it. Nobody reads a dashboard with 30 metrics regularly. Five to seven central KPIs, updated daily or weekly, create more pressure to act than a monthly report with everything included.
GA4 vs. Looker Studio
GA4 offers its own reporting views and an exploration area for deeper analyses. This is sufficient for many purposes. Looker Studio is recommended when multiple data sources need to be combined - for example GA4, Google Search Console and CRM data - or when reports need to be prepared for executives or clients.
A practical starting point: create a monthly dashboard in Looker Studio with six panels. Organic traffic, conversions, top 5 entry pages, bounce rate by channel, scroll depth distribution and form completions by device. This setup answers 80% of the questions that arise in day-to-day work.
GDPR-Compliant Tracking: What Is Legally Required?
Tracking without consent is unlawful in the EU. The Austrian data protection authority clarified in 2022, in a landmark ruling, that transferring personal data to Google Analytics in the USA without adequate safeguards violates GDPR. France, Italy and other EU member states followed with equivalent rulings. The decision was the first of 101 coordinated complaints by the privacy organisation noyb following the Schrems II ruling of the CJEU.
Consent Management Platform (CMP)
A CMP ensures that analytics scripts are only loaded after active consent has been given. This ranges from simple cookie banners to fully configured consent systems such as Cookiebot or Usercentrics. Important: a purely informational banner without technically blocking the scripts does not meet the legal requirement.
Consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous, as GDPR Article 7 requires. That means: pre-ticked checkboxes are not permitted. "OK" buttons without an equivalent rejection option are not permitted. Only a clear opt-in meets the requirements.
IP Anonymisation and Server Location
GA4 anonymises IP addresses by default, which is an improvement over Universal Analytics. The data still resides on Google's servers in the USA, however. Anyone wanting to avoid this should consider Matomo in self-hosted mode. All data is then stored on your own server or with a European hosting provider. The Matomo documentation describes in detail how to configure the system to be GDPR-compliant, including cookie-free tracking.
ePrivacy and the Right to Refuse
The ePrivacy Directive supplements the GDPR specifically for electronic communications and is the legal basis for cookie consent. Even though the final ePrivacy Regulation has not yet been adopted, the existing directive continues to apply in its national implementations. Companies must ensure that users can refuse tracking just as easily as they can agree to it.
Which Tools Are Suitable for CMS Analytics Tracking?
The choice of the right tool depends on three factors: data protection requirements, technical infrastructure and budget. There is no universally best solution, but there are clear recommendations depending on the situation.
Google Analytics 4
GA4 is the first choice when you need deep funnel analyses, use Google Ads or want to create reports with Looker Studio. The event-based architecture is flexible; Google Tag Manager simplifies configuration without code changes. The downside: data processing in the USA requires a legally sound consent solution plus a data processing agreement with Google.
For most German companies, GA4 with a properly configured CMP is legally defensible. Without a CMP, it is not.
Matomo
Matomo is particularly suited to companies in regulated sectors, public institutions, or anyone who wants full data sovereignty. In self-hosted mode, Matomo can be operated entirely without cookies; consent banners then become optional. The Matomo platform offers similar features to GA4, including funnel analyses, heatmaps and A/B tests in the commercial version.
One caveat: data quality depends on how many users have ad blockers enabled. Because Matomo does not use external infrastructure, the data is often more complete than with GA4, but the maintenance effort for self-hosting is higher.
Plausible Analytics
Plausible is ideal for simple websites, blogs and small companies that want quick insights without a complex setup. The tool collects no personal data, requires no cookies and, according to its own statements, can be used without consent banners in many EU countries. The Plausible privacy policy is transparent and easy to understand.
The trade-off: deep funnel analyses, custom events and multi-channel attribution are only possible to a limited extent in Plausible. Anyone who needs more will quickly hit its limits.
From Evelan's Practice
An event management company that regularly organises seminars and events was managing registrations and participant data across several third-party systems. Which events were actually in demand and where prospective attendees dropped out of the registration process remained unclear.
Evelan consolidated the processes in a custom-built software solution and integrated end-to-end tracking of the registration flow. The result: for the first time, clear figures on conversion rates and drop-off points - as a basis for targeted optimisations rather than guesswork.
Best Practices for a Sustainable Tracking Setup
A tracking setup is not a one-time project. Websites change, new features are added, campaigns start and end. Anyone who does not maintain the setup risks corrupted data and, with it, poor decisions.
Planning Before the First Event
Before you configure the first event, you should create a measurement plan document. This document contains, for each event: the name, the trigger, the parameters used and the business purpose. This document is the foundation for all subsequent discussions between development, marketing and management.
A proven naming convention for events follows the pattern "category_action_element" - for example "form_submit_contact", "cta_click_request" or "download_click_whitepaper". Such names are self-explanatory and can still be reliably interpreted months later.
Regular Audits and Debugging
Use the GA4 Debug View or Google Tag Assistant to check whether events are still firing correctly after every website change. Selectors that trigger events can break silently after CMS updates or layout changes, without anyone noticing.
A biannual tracking audit uncovers: duplicate events, outdated tags, missing consent assignments and KPIs that nobody reads any more. This maintenance effort is small, but it is decisive in ensuring the system delivers reliable data over the long term.
Documentation and Team Onboarding
Tracking setups are often built by one person and then operated by others for years. Clear documentation - at minimum an overview of all events with descriptions and a link to the measurement plan - prevents knowledge from being lost. Ideally, the documentation is stored directly in the internal wiki or as a comment within Google Tag Manager.
Frequently Asked Questions
CMS analytics tracking connects a content management system with an analytics tool such as Google Analytics 4 or Matomo. It captures not just pageviews but concrete user interactions as events - for example form completions, CTA clicks or scroll depth. This data feeds into dashboards and enables data-driven decisions about content, campaigns and website structure.
Related Evelan Articles
- KPIs in Online Marketing: The Most Important Metrics 2026
- Micro-Conversions: Making Trust Measurable
- Headless CMS vs. Traditional CMS: Which System Suits Your Business?
- Online Marketing Guide: Strategy, Website, Data
Sources
- Bitkom: Digitalisation of the German Economy Is Moving Forward Only Slowly (2025)
- Google: GA4 Overview and Getting Started (2024)
- Google: Automatically Collected Events in GA4 (2024)
- Matomo: Why Matomo - GDPR and Privacy (2025)
- Matomo: What Is Matomo Analytics (2025)
- Plausible: Privacy-focused Web Analytics (2025)
- DSGVO-Gesetz.de: Art. 7 GDPR, Conditions for Consent (2018)
- noyb: Austrian DSB, EU-US Data Transfers to Google Analytics Illegal (2022)
- Cookiebot: GDPR-Compliant Consent Management for Cookies (2024)
