Choose which activity Cedros records and connect the analytics services you already use. Built-in analytics supplies Cedros's own reports. Optional integrations send supported activity to services such as Google Analytics or Meta.
Start with the information you need to answer a real question: which pages attract visitors, which links they use, or where a journey breaks down. You can use built-in reports without adding an external tracking provider.
Find the settings and reports
Open Analytics in the admin navigation. The settings are organized into Built-in, Extensions, Tags, and Third party tabs.
Use View analytics to open the site's reports. The settings page controls collection and connections; the reports show the activity that has been recorded. See Understanding your site analytics for help reading those reports.
Changes to analytics settings save automatically and affect the public site. Wait for saving to finish before leaving or testing. If an error appears, resolve it and use Retry saving when offered. A switch moving on screen does not prove that the change was saved.
Changing these settings requires permission to edit site settings. If the controls are read-only, ask the site owner to check your access.
Choose built-in activity to collect
- Select Built-in and review the event switches.
- Keep the activity you need enabled. Each row describes what it collects and shows Collecting or Off.
- Turn off an event type you do not want recorded, then wait for the settings to save.
- Check the relevant report after new visits. Turning collection on does not recreate activity that happened while it was off.
The available switches cover several different kinds of activity:
- Page views and CTA clicks help you understand visits and interactions with calls to action. Click heatmap adds click positions for page-level heatmaps.
- Site searches, Docs searches, and Blog searches are separate controls. Keep the searches you want to measure enabled in their own rows.
- Scroll depth, Engagement time, and Section engagement help describe how visitors use a page. Section engagement measures visibility and attention; it is not a video recording of the visitor's screen.
- Form lifecycle and Content interactions cover supported form activity and actions such as sharing, copying, or using media. Core Web Vitals and JavaScript errors help identify experience problems.
- Support chat analytics, Email analytics, and Extension events cover activity reported by those features. Enabling a switch does not set up the underlying chat, email, or extension feature.
Visitor geolocation controls location coordinates used in geographic views. Available precision depends on the site's location data; it is not street-level tracking. Turning it off does not turn off page-view collection.
Collecting means the event is enabled. It does not confirm that someone has triggered it or that a report already contains data. Some actions require a supported form, content element, or extension to report them.
The Extensions tab explains extension analytics. Use Extension events in Built-in to control those events. The Tags tab is for audience rules based on recorded activity; it is not where you install Google Tag Manager.
Set the visitor consent notice
In Built-in, use GDPR cookie notice to show visitors Accept and Reject before optional browser analytics runs.
When the notice is enabled, Cedros waits for acceptance before starting its optional browser tracking and loading the third-party tags configured here. A rejection keeps that tracking off. The visitor's choice is remembered, so returning visitors may not see the notice again.
Cedros also honors the browser's Global Privacy Control opt-out. An accepted notice does not override that browser preference.
When the notice is disabled, these integrations can run without waiting for an Accept choice. Review this setting before enabling a new provider. Scripts added separately through custom code or another tool need their own review; do not assume this switch controls every script on your site.
For a meaningful check, test with a browser profile that has no saved choice for the site. Try Reject, then test Accept in a separate fresh profile or after clearing that site's stored choice. Check the optional analytics behavior in each case, not just whether the banner disappears.
Connect an external tracking provider
Open Third party. Each tracking provider has its own Enabled / Disabled setting and an ID or URL field. Enter the correct value, select Enabled, and wait for saving to finish. Use the provider's ID or endpoint, rather than pasting a complete script into these fields.
Google Analytics: enter the GA4 web stream's Measurement ID, normally beginning with G-. Cedros loads the Google tag and forwards supported events to that stream. Use Google's measurement ID instructions to find the right value. A Google account name or property number is not the measurement ID.
Google Tag Manager: enter the web Container ID, beginning with GTM-. Cedros loads the container and makes supported events available to it. Configure the tags and triggers inside Tag Manager, then publish the container there. Saving a container ID in Cedros does not publish your Tag Manager workspace. Google's verify and publish guide covers that step.
Facebook Pixel: this is the setting for Meta Pixel. Enter its numeric Pixel ID. Cedros loads the pixel and forwards supported page views, searches, CTA activity, and conversion events. A click on a purchase button is not, by itself, evidence of a completed purchase.
Tracking pixel: enter a provider-supplied HTTPS image endpoint in Pixel URL. Cedros requests that endpoint with event and page information added to the URL. This field does not accept JavaScript or an HTML embed. Confirm that the receiving service supports this kind of image request and understands the supplied information; an arbitrary image URL is not a working analytics integration.
Enabling an integration does not import its reports into Cedros or prove that its account received an event. Inspect the destination service to confirm delivery. Built-in event switches can affect the events Cedros forwards, while a provider's own tag can also collect activity independently.
Avoid duplicate tracking
Choose one installation method for each destination. For example, if your Tag Manager container already installs the Google tag for a GA4 stream, leave Cedros's direct Google Analytics integration disabled for that same stream unless the person managing your tags has deliberately coordinated both paths.
Check existing custom code, themes, extensions, and Tag Manager tags before adding another installation. Repeating the same tag can duplicate data or mix settings, as Google's tag-management guidance explains.
Cedros forwards supported events such as page views, CTA clicks, and searches. Your provider can also have automatic measurement or custom triggers. Review the combined setup rather than assuming that one visit must produce exactly one event in every system.
Turning off Page views in Built-in does not remove an enabled Google or Meta tag. To stop a provider installed through this screen from loading on subsequent page loads, set that provider to Disabled and wait for the change to save. Also remove or disable any separate installation in the tool that owns it. Test on a newly loaded page; a tag already loaded in an open tab may still be active there.
Check a saved connection
- Reload the Analytics settings and confirm that the intended provider and ID or URL remain saved.
- Open a published page as a normal visitor. Use its public address rather than a Cedros editor preview or heatmap preview, where tracking is suppressed.
- If the consent notice is enabled, make the appropriate choice. A rejection or Global Privacy Control opt-out can explain why optional tracking does not run.
- Visit another page or use a harmless navigation link. Note the page, action, and time so you can recognize the test activity.
- Check Cedros through View analytics, and check the external destination separately. For GA4, the Realtime report can help confirm recent activity. For Tag Manager, use its preview and tag diagnostics to inspect which tags fired.
- Allow for processing delays and refresh the relevant report. Compare the same page, time window, and event type before deciding that results disagree.
Test the specific behavior you need. A page view arriving does not verify a purchase, a booking, or every custom event. Use the relevant feature's test flow for those outcomes instead of making an unintended live purchase or booking.
If a browser extension blocks tracking, compare with a separate test profile whose settings you understand. Automated browser tests may also be excluded from built-in collection, so they are not a substitute for checking an ordinary visit.
Resolve missing or unexpected data
The integration returns to Disabled. Check for an empty ID, a nonnumeric Meta Pixel ID, or a tracking URL that is not a valid HTTPS address. Re-enter the correct value and confirm the saved state. A value that remains saved still needs a delivery check.
Nothing arrives at the external provider. Confirm the destination ID, saved Enabled setting, consent choice, browser privacy settings, and public URL. For Tag Manager, also confirm that the required tags and triggers are published in the correct container.
Cedros and the provider show different totals. Compare collection settings, consent, filters, date windows, processing delays, and duplicate tag installations. Different systems can count visitors, sessions, and events differently. Do not add their totals together as if they represented separate visitors.
A Cedros report is missing one kind of activity. Check its Built-in switch and whether the relevant feature actually produced an event. Click heatmaps need clicks; form activity needs a supported form. Turning on a switch cannot fill an earlier gap.
You need search-performance or backlink data. Those connections are separate from visitor tracking tags. Use Connecting search-performance services for Google Search Console and Monitoring backlinks for Ahrefs. A working Google Analytics tag does not establish either connection.
You cannot change the settings. Ask the site owner to review your feature and settings access. Viewing reports and changing what the site collects are different permissions.