About user events

This page describes user events for search and recommendations apps, including user event types, requirements, and examples for user event types.

The following app types support user events:

The following table lists the app types for which user events are required. Google recommends that you upload user events for all app types — the more user events the better the search and recommendation quality.

App type User events required?
Media recommendations Yes
Media search No, but very strongly recommended
Generic recommendations No, but strongly recommended
Generic search No, but strongly recommended

For help with recording user events, see Record real-time user events.

Depending on the type of search or recommendations app that you're working with, select one of the following to see details of its relevant user events:

User event types

You can record the following types of user events as end users browse your site:

User event name User action
view-category-page Views a category page, such as Home > TV > Dramas, Home > Movies > Action.
view-item Views details of a document.
view-home-page Views home page.
search Searches the data store.

For detailed information about the UserEvent object, see the UserEvent API reference.

User event type examples and schemas

This section provides the data formats for each event type supported by generic apps.

Examples for JavaScript Pixel are provided. For BigQuery, the full table schema for each type is provided.

For all user events types, userId is optional.

Note that:

  • The tagIds field is needed only if you are running an A/B experiment.
  • The attributionToken field is optional; it is used to measure performance. search and view-item events that are generated from recommendations clicks should have an attribution token in order to link the events back to the recommendations that generated them.

For more details about the user event object, see the UserEvent API reference documentation.

view-category-page

The following shows the view-category-page user event format.

Minimum required view-category-page object

The following examples show only the required fields of the view-category-page user event format.

While there is usually only one category associated with a page, the pageCategories field also supports a category hierarchy, which you can provide as a list.

JavaScript Pixel

var user_event = {
  "eventType": "view-category-page",
  "userPseudoId": "user-pseudo-id",
  "eventTime": "2020-01-01T03:33:33.000001Z",
  "pageInfo": {
    "pageCategory": "category1 > category2"
  }
};

BigQuery

This is the complete JSON schema for this user event type. Specify this schema when creating tables for this user event type in BigQuery.

Modes for required fields are set to REQUIRED or REPEATED. Modes for optional fields are set to NULLABLE.

Note that eventTime is required for importing events with BigQuery. eventTime is a string with a Timestamp format. 

[
  {
    "name": "eventType",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REQUIRED"
  },
  {
    "name": "userPseudoId",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REQUIRED"
  },
  {
    "name": "eventTime",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REQUIRED"
  },
  {
    "name": "userInfo",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "NULLABLE",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "userId",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "userAgent",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "pageInfo",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "NULLABLE",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "pageviewId",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "pageCategory",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "uri",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "referrerUri",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "attributionToken",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "NULLABLE"
  },
  {
    "name": "documents",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "REPEATED",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "id",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "tagIds",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REPEATED"
  },
  {
    "name": "attributes",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "NULLABLE",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "example_text_attribute",
        "type": "RECORD",
        "mode": "NULLABLE",
        "fields": [
          {
            "name": "text",
            "type": "STRING",
            "mode": "REPEATED"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "example_number_attribute",
        "type": "RECORD",
        "mode": "NULLABLE",
        "fields": [
          {
            "name": "numbers",
            "type": "NUMERIC",
            "mode": "REPEATED"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
]

view-item

The following shows the view-item user event data format.

Minimum required view-item object

The following examples show only the required fields of the view-item user event format.

In most cases, documents contains details for the associated document.

JavaScript Pixel

var user_event = {
  "eventType": "view-item",
  "userPseudoId": "user-pseudo-id",
  "eventTime": "2020-01-01T03:33:33.000001Z",
  "documents": [{
    "id": "document-id"
  }]
};

BigQuery

This is the complete JSON schema for this user event type. Specify this schema when creating tables for this user event type in BigQuery.

Modes for required fields are set to REQUIRED or REPEATED. Modes for optional fields are set to NULLABLE.

Note that eventTime is required for importing events with BigQuery. eventTime is a string with a Timestamp format. 

[
  {
    "name": "eventType",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REQUIRED"
  },
  {
    "name": "userPseudoId",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REQUIRED"
  },
  {
    "name": "eventTime",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REQUIRED"
  },
  {
    "name": "userInfo",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "NULLABLE",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "userId",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "userAgent",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "pageInfo",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "NULLABLE",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "pageviewId",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "uri",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "referrerUri",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "attributionToken",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "NULLABLE"
  },
  {
    "name": "documents",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "REPEATED",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "id",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "tagIds",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REPEATED"
  },
  {
    "name": "attributes",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "NULLABLE",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "example_text_attribute",
        "type": "RECORD",
        "mode": "NULLABLE",
        "fields": [
          {
            "name": "text",
            "type": "STRING",
            "mode": "REPEATED"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "example_number_attribute",
        "type": "RECORD",
        "mode": "NULLABLE",
        "fields": [
          {
            "name": "numbers",
            "type": "NUMERIC",
            "mode": "REPEATED"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
]

view-home-page

The following shows the view-home-page user event format.

Minimum required view-home-page object

The following examples show only the required fields of the view-home-page user event format.

JavaScript Pixel

var user_event = {
  "eventType": "view-home-page",
  "userPseudoId": "user-pseudo-id",
  "eventTime": "2020-01-01T03:33:33.000001Z",
};

BigQuery

This is the complete JSON schema for this user event type. Specify this schema when creating tables for this user event type in BigQuery.

Modes for required fields are set to REQUIRED or REPEATED. Modes for optional fields are set to NULLABLE.

Note that eventTime is required for importing events with BigQuery. eventTime is a string with a Timestamp format. 

[
  {
    "name": "eventType",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REQUIRED"
  },
  {
    "name": "userPseudoId",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REQUIRED"
  },
  {
    "name": "eventTime",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REQUIRED"
  },
  {
    "name": "userInfo",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "NULLABLE",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "userId",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "userAgent",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "pageInfo",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "NULLABLE",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "pageviewId",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "uri",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "referrerUri",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "attributionToken",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "NULLABLE"
  },
  {
    "name": "documents",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "REPEATED",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "id",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "quantity",
        "type": "INT64",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "tagIds",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REPEATED"
  },
  {
    "name": "attributes",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "NULLABLE",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "example_text_attribute",
        "type": "RECORD",
        "mode": "NULLABLE",
        "fields": [
          {
            "name": "text",
            "type": "STRING",
            "mode": "REPEATED"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "example_number_attribute",
        "type": "RECORD",
        "mode": "NULLABLE",
        "fields": [
          {
            "name": "numbers",
            "type": "NUMERIC",
            "mode": "REPEATED"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
]

The following shows the search user event format.

Minimum required search object

The following examples show only the required fields of the search user event format.

At least one of searchQuery or pageCategory field is required:

  • Provide searchQuery for search events where the user entered a text query.

  • Provide pageCategory when the user navigated to items of interest by browsing, that is, by clicking categories instead of by entering a text query.

documents should include the list of document IDs shown to the end user in the search results page.

JavaScript Pixel

var user_event = {
  eventType: "search",
  userPseudoId: "user-pseudo-id",
  eventTime: "2020-01-01T03:33:33.000001Z",
  searchInfo: {
    searchQuery: "search-query",
  },
  pageInfo: {
    pageCategory: "category1 > category2",
  },
  attributionToken: "attribution-token",
  documents: [
    {
      id: "document-id1",
    },
    {
      id: "document-id2",
    },
  ]
};

BigQuery

This is the complete JSON schema for this user event type. Specify this schema when creating tables for this user event type in BigQuery.

Modes for required fields are set to REQUIRED or REPEATED. Modes for optional fields are set to NULLABLE.

Note that eventTime is required for importing events with BigQuery. eventTime is a string with a Timestamp format. 

[
  {
    "name": "eventType",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REQUIRED"
  },
  {
    "name": "userPseudoId",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REQUIRED"
  },
  {
    "name": "eventTime",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "REQUIRED"
  },
  {
    "name": "searchInfo",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "NULLABLE",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "searchQuery",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "pageInfo",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "NULLABLE",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "pageCategory",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "attributionToken",
    "type": "STRING",
    "mode": "NULLABLE"
  },
  {
    "name": "documents",
    "type": "RECORD",
    "mode": "REPEATED",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "id",
        "type": "STRING",
        "mode": "NULLABLE"
      }
    ]
  }
]

About user information

userPseudoId represents the unique user identifier and is required when you record a user event.

The user information (UserInfo) included when you record a user event contains the userPseudoId value and, if available, the userId value. userId is optional and can be used as a unique, persistent identifier for a user across devices whenever a user logs in to your site. When you record the userId for a user, your search and recommendation apps can generate more personalized results for one user across multiple devices, such as both a mobile device and a web browser.

About the timestamp

When you record a user event, be sure to include an accurate timestamp of when the event occurred. Accurate timestamps ensure that your events are stored in the correct order. Timestamps are recorded automatically for events collected using the JavaScript Pixel. When you import events, you must provide the timestamp in the eventTime field in the format specified by RFC 3339.

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