Hey Reader!
I’ve been working on an audit of a client’s dataLayer implementation for a custom-built eCommerce website. There’s a lot going on, but one of the major issues is that their developers got bad dataLayer advice in the past and now we’re working on cleaning it all up. But what's been on my mind more than the technical issues is the documentation itself.
When you're working with people who only encounter analytics occasionally, your audit document has to do two jobs at once. It needs to be precise enough that developers know exactly what to change, but it also has to land without putting anyone on the defensive. That's a harder balance to strike than it sounds.
A mistake I've made before is assuming developers already know certain dataLayer almost-rules, like making sure every push has an event key. (Not technically required, but kind of actually is.) When you assume shared context that isn't there, you end up with a document that reads like a list of things someone did wrong rather than a guide to what should happen next.
So as much as I hate producing a 40+ page audit document to cover 10-ish dataLayer pushes, sometimes that's what it takes because you need clear examples of what the correct output should look like alongside what's wrong, and that takes space.
Here's what I'd encourage you to try if you're doing this kind of implementation review work: think of your documentation as a collaboration tool, not a record of what went wrong. Lead with specific examples of what the correct output should look like. Make it easy for a developer to copy your example and get it right on the first try. Your developers will thank you, and so will future you when you're reviewing the next round of pushes.
My Content Consumption Guide: Fully Rewritten (With Videos!)
If you've ever struggled to explain to a stakeholder whether people are actually reading your content or just landing on a page and leaving, this one's for you.
I've done a complete rewrite of my original content consumption measurement guide, and this time it comes with step-by-step walkthrough videos so you can follow along in your own setup. Content consumption is one of those things that's difficult to measure well, and the default metrics don't tell you much. This guide walks through how to actually get there.
Read (or watch) the guide →
Articles Worth Your Time
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Boilerplate for Getting Started with Claude Code
If you've been curious about Claude Code but haven't known where to start, Jordan Choo put together a starter template that gives you a working project structure to build from. Use it as a practical starting point — clone it, poke around, and see how it's set up before you try to build something from scratch.
This matters because the hardest part of getting value from Claude Code isn't the coding itself, it's knowing how to structure a project so the AI can actually help you effectively. Having a reference implementation to learn from is very useful, especially if you're not a developer by trade.
The Second Edition of Google Analytics Alternatives Is Out
Jason Packer just released the second edition of his book on Google Analytics Alternatives, and it's a resource I'd recommend bookmarking even if you're not actively evaluating tools right now.
The book evaluates 15 products across three categories: comprehensive web analytics (think Adobe, Matomo, Piwik Pro), simplified analytics (Plausible, Fathom, Cloudflare), and product analytics (Amplitude, Mixpanel, PostHog), and helps you build a decision framework rather than just giving you a ranked list. The honest answer to "what's the best GA alternative?" is always "it depends on what you actually need," and Jason's book is one of the better resources for working through that question.
Referral Exclusions vs. Cross-Domain Tracking in GA4
I put together a reference guide on one of the most confusing topics in GA4 — when to use referral exclusions versus cross-domain tracking, and why picking the wrong one can mess up your attribution data.
The core decision comes down to one question: can you install your GA4 property on the other domain, and do you want to track behavior there as part of the same property? If yes to both, cross-domain tracking. If no to either, referral exclusion. There's also a section on subdomains, which a lot of people assume require cross-domain tracking when GA4 actually handles them automatically. Worth a read if you've ever seen your own domain showing up as a referral source and weren't sure which setting to reach for.
Where You Can Find Me
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SMX Munich — Now With an AI Traffic Dashboard Focus
I've mentioned my Reporting and Looker Studio workshop at SMX Munich a few times, but I've updated it since then. I'm adding a significant section specifically on building a dashboard for AI traffic which is something I've been getting a lot of questions about lately, and frankly something I think every analytics person needs to have set up right now.
The conference runs March 9–11 in Munich. If you'd like a discount code for the workshop, just hit reply and I'll see what I can do!
That's it for this edition of The Huddle. As always, if you have questions or want to share what you're working on, just hit reply!