Understanding Why Google Optimize is Firing Continuously Across Your Site

Discover how to properly set up `Google Optimize` with GTM to prevent it from firing continuously on all pages, and learn effective strategies for selective activation.
---
This video is based on the question stackoverflow.com/q/74157905/ asked by the user 'Kelly' ( stackoverflow.com/u/1352412/ ) and on the answer stackoverflow.com/a/74343372/ provided by the user 'eliL' ( stackoverflow.com/u/12530000/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

Visit these links for original content and any more details, such as alternate solutions, latest updates/developments on topic, comments, revision history etc. For example, the original title of the Question was: Google Optimize is firing continuously on all site pages

Also, Content (except music) licensed under CC BY-SA meta.stackexchange.com/help/licensing
The original Question post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ) license, and the original Answer post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ) license.

If anything seems off to you, please feel free to write me at vlogize [AT] gmail [DOT] com.
---
Why is Google Optimize Firing Continuously on All Site Pages?

As website owners or marketers using Google Optimize, you may have encountered a situation where experiments seem to be activating continuously on all your site pages. This can be confusing, especially if you have set specific conditions for your tests. In this post, we will explore the reasons behind this issue and how to properly configure Google Optimize to fire only on designated pages.

Understanding the Activation Event

The term "activation event" is crucial when discussing how Google Optimize operates. By default, an activation event can be triggered continuously, meaning Google Optimize will activate whenever there is a DOM change – instead of waiting for a page to load.

What Does This Mean?

DOM Changes: These are modifications to the document object model (DOM) that can occur without a full page load. For example, dynamic content updates through AJAX calls or single-page application (SPA) routing.

Activation Process: When Google Optimize activates, it evaluates if the current page matches any of the defined experiments and if the corresponding audience criteria are met.

This means that if your configuration is set to "continuously," Optimize will check for eligible experiments not just on your homepage but on all pages of your website.

How to Restrict Continuous Firing to Specific URLs

To tackle the issue of Google Optimize firing on unintended pages, you have a couple of approaches:

1. Remove Google Optimize from Other Pages

A straightforward solution is to remove the Google Optimize tag from all pages except your targeted homepage. This way, the tool will only evaluate experiments on the homepage.

2. Implement Specific Activation Events

If you don’t want to remove Optimize from other pages but wish to limit its observations, you can implement a specific activation event. Here’s how:

Determine Specific Triggers: Use activation events that only fire in situations where you need Optimize to reevaluate.

Virtual Page Loads: If you are using a single-page application, set up a virtual page load activation. This means you invoke Optimize to reconsider its running experiments only when certain actions occur, rather than on every DOM change.

Benefits of Controlled Activation

Enhanced Performance: Limiting where Google Optimize fires can improve your site’s loading speed and overall performance.

More Accurate Data: By ensuring that Optimize only activates on pertinent pages, your test data will be more reliable and relevant.

Conclusion

If you have noticed that Google Optimize is firing continuously across your site, understanding the nature of activation events is key. By either removing the Optimize tag from unnecessary pages or by customizing activation events, you can regain control of where and how your experiments run. This not only optimizes performance but also enhances the accuracy of your testing results.

For further questions or assistance with Google Optimize and GTM integration, feel free to reach out or explore Google's documentation for more in-depth guidance.