Analytics does not record scrolling on its own. Add scroll tracking through Tag Manager as non-interaction events, see where visitors stop on phones and computers, and move the key answers above that point.

Pages written from top to bottom

A long service page usually grows in the order the owner thinks about the work: a welcome, some history, the process, the details, and at the very bottom the price, the area served and a button.

Guides grow the same way. The answer to the question a visitor arrived with often sits in the last third of the page.

Analytics reports that the page was viewed and, on average, for how long. It does not say how far down anyone got.

A long page could be read to the end by most visitors or abandoned after the first screen by most of them, and the standard reports would look much the same.

What the standard reports cannot see

Universal Analytics records a page view when a page loads. Scrolling, reading and hunting for the phone number send it nothing.

Time on page is measured from one page view to the next. On the last page of a visit there is no next page, so Analytics has nothing to measure, and long pages are often the last page.

Bounce rate counts every visit that viewed one page and left, whether the visitor glanced for five seconds or read every word and phoned.

On their own, those figures cannot separate a long page that works from one that fails.

What scroll tracking adds

The third is usually the reason to set it up. A page that answers the main question below the point where most visitors stop is answering it for very few of them.

How the measuring works

Scroll tracking is usually added through Tag Manager, so nobody has to edit the site's code.

A short script, of the kind widely published for the purpose, watches the page and sends an event to Analytics as a visitor passes a quarter, half, three quarters and the end.

Each event carries the page's address, so the figures can be read page by page. Nothing changes for the visitor, and the page looks exactly as before.

Whoever sets it up should check it in Tag Manager's preview mode before publishing, then watch the events arrive in the real-time report.

Keep your bounce rate comparable

One setting decides whether this helps or muddles everything else: each scroll event should be sent as a non-interaction event.

Analytics treats an ordinary event as engagement, so a visitor who scrolls would stop counting as a bounce. Bounce rate would fall overnight, and every comparison with last year would mean nothing.

Marked as non-interaction, the events are recorded without touching bounce rate, and the page's history stays comparable.

A worked example

A go-kart track on the edge of town has a long page about birthday parties and group events.

It opens with the track's history, then a gallery, the party room, the karts and the safety rules. The minimum age and height, the price per driver and how to book come near the bottom.

Nearly every call about parties asked the same two things: how old do the children have to be, and what does it cost.

Scroll tracking, added through Tag Manager, showed why. On phones, most visitors stopped at the gallery, about a third of the way down.

A full-width block of photographs looked like the end of the page, and the answers sat below it.

The page now opens with a short summary: ages and height, price per driver, how long a session lasts, what the party room includes and a button to request a date.

The gallery moved lower and shrank, and the history and safety rules stayed for anyone who wants them.

Move the answers up, do not cut the page

The lesson is usually about order rather than length. Long pages are fine when the answers people came for are near the top.

Put the facts people phone about, such as price, area, timing and availability, in the first screen or two. Leave the detail lower down for readers who want it; those who scroll to the end are often the most interested.

Clear headings help readers who skim. A visitor who can see from the headings that the price is coming will keep scrolling to find it.

Phones and computers separately

A page that fills three screens on a laptop can fill twelve on a phone, and combined figures hide the difference.

Split the scroll events by device category and read each one. A page can work on computers and fail on phones, and the fix for phones is often just a summary near the top.

Then look at what sits where the numbers fall: a large photograph, a long block of text, a full-width banner. Anything that looks like a footer will be taken for one.

What scroll figures cannot tell you

Reaching the bottom is not the same as reading. Some visitors flick straight down looking for a phone number.

Stopping early is not always failure either. A visitor who found the answer near the top and called has done exactly what you wanted.

Read scroll figures alongside the events that count: taps on the phone number, form submissions and clicks on the booking button. Together they show whether a page is working, not just whether it is seen.

The counter-case

Short pages do not need any of this. If the whole page fits in two screens on a phone, there is little to learn.

A site with few visits will take months to collect enough events to mean anything. There, watching three or four customers find the price on their own phones teaches more, sooner.

And a summary at the top of a long page is worth adding before any measuring at all.

For the long pages that bring in most of your enquiries, though, scroll tracking shows exactly where the answers need to move.

Measure, then move

  1. Pick three long pages that matter most.
  2. Add scroll tracking through Tag Manager.
  3. Send the events as non-interaction hits.
  4. Wait a month for enough visits.
  5. Compare phones and computers page by page.
  6. Move the key answers above the drop.
  7. Add an annotation on the day you change it.

Step three is the one that protects your history. Without it, bounce rate shifts overnight for reasons unrelated to the page, and a year of comparisons is lost.

Which devices to check first is covered in reading the devices report before a redesign.

Frequently asked questions

Does Analytics show how far people scroll?

Not on its own. Universal Analytics records page loads, not scrolling. A short script added through Tag Manager can send an event as visitors pass each quarter of the page.

Why is time on page unreliable for long pages?

It is measured from one page view to the next, so the last page of a visit records nothing. A long page people read and then call from can look unread.

Should scroll events be non-interaction hits?

Yes, usually. Otherwise anyone who scrolls stops counting as a bounce, and bounce rate shifts overnight for reasons unrelated to the page itself.

Where do visitors usually stop on long pages?

It varies by page, but often at a large photograph, a long block of text or anything that looks like the end on a phone. Look at what sits where the numbers drop.

Should I shorten long pages?

Usually reorder rather than cut. Put the price, area and other answers people phone about near the top, and keep the detail lower for readers who want it.

How much traffic does scroll tracking need?

Enough visits that a month of events shows a pattern. On a page with few visits, watching a few customers find the price on their phones tells you more, sooner.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Long service page nobody seems to finish?

Send us the address. We will set up scroll tracking and show you where visitors stop reading.

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