Matomo Analytics can track much more than page views. With Matomo event tracking, you can measure how users interact with elements on your website.
Examples of such interactions include submitting a contact form, watching an embedded YouTube video, using an interactive tool such as a loan calculator, clicking buttons or navigation links, and downloading documents.
These interactions often provide more meaningful insight than page views alone.
With Matomo event tracking, you can answer questions such as:
- How many people submit the contact us form?
- How many users watch an embedded YouTube video?
- How many visitors interact with a loan calculator or another interactive tool?
Without event tracking, many of these interactions remain invisible in standard analytics reports.
In this guide, you will learn how Matomo event tracking works, how Matomo events are structured, and how to design event tracking that produces clear and interpretable analytics data.
What is Matomo event tracking?
Matomo event tracking measures interactions that occur after a page has loaded.
While page views describe navigation between pages, events capture interactions with elements on the page itself.
Typical examples of Matomo events include submitting a form, playing a video, clicking a button, downloading a file, or interacting with a calculator or configurator.
These events help you understand how users engage with your website, not just which pages they visit.
Unlike page views, event tracking is not automatic. It must be deliberately designed and implemented. This means deciding which user interactions are meaningful to track and configuring analytics to record them.
Implementation can be done either by developers adding tracking code to the website or by analysts configuring tracking through a tag management tool such as Matomo Tag Manager.
Because event tracking requires deliberate design, it is important to focus on interactions that help answer real questions about user behavior.
The structure of Matomo events
Matomo events use a structured model consisting of four elements:
- Category
- Action
- Name (optional)
- Value (optional)
In this guide, I present one logical and consistent way to structure Matomo events. It follows a fairly literal interpretation of the event dimensions. The category describes the interface component, the action describes what the user did, and the name identifies the specific element involved.
It is also possible to use a less literal interpretation of these dimensions and encode additional information in them. However, in my experience, a simple and consistent structure makes event tracking easier to implement, easier to maintain, and much easier to interpret in analytics reports. This approach may not maximize the amount of information stored in each event, but it greatly improves usability.
Event category
The category describes the type of interface component that the user interacted with.
Examples include:
- form
- video
- calculator
- menu
Categories group related events together in reports. For example, all form interactions could belong to the category form, while interactions with tools could belong to calculator.
Event action
The action describes what the user did.
Typical actions include:
- click
- submit
- play
- calculate
Using simple and consistent verbs makes analytics reports easier to understand.
Event name (optional)
The name identifies the specific element involved in the interaction.
Examples include:
- contact_us_form
- youtube_product_video
- loan_calculator
Technically, the event name is optional in Matomo. However, it is strongly recommended to use it whenever possible. Including the event name makes analytics reports easier to interpret and helps distinguish between different elements within the same category and action.
For example, multiple forms could share the same category and action:
- category: form
- action: submit
The event name then identifies the specific form.
Event value (optional)
The value field is used when the interaction has a numeric value associated with it.
Examples include video progress percentage, scroll depth, or the number of search results.
If there is no meaningful numeric value, the field can simply be left empty.
Examples of Matomo event tracking
Matomo events can be used to track many types of user interactions. The following examples illustrate typical use cases.
The JavaScript examples below show how events can be sent to Matomo.
In practice, the actual implementation requires developers to connect the tracking code to the relevant user interactions on the page, such as a form submission, video play event, or calculator interaction.
Alternatively, similar tracking can often be implemented through a tag management tool such as Matomo Tag Manager. Also in this case, I strongly recommend cooperation with developers.
Tracking contact form submissions
Many websites include a contact us form for customer inquiries.
Matomo event tracking can record when the form is successfully submitted.
Example event:
_paq.push(['trackEvent', 'form', 'submit', 'contact_us_form']);
This event records each completed contact form submission.
Tracking embedded YouTube video views
Many websites include embedded YouTube videos, such as product demonstrations or tutorials.
Matomo events can record when a visitor starts watching the video.
Example event:
_paq.push(['trackEvent', 'video', 'play', 'youtube_product_video']);
You could also track additional events such as when the video starts or when the video is watched until the end. These metrics help measure engagement with video content.
Tracking interactions with a loan calculator
Interactive tools such as loan calculators are often important engagement features.
Matomo event tracking can record when a visitor interacts with the calculator.
Example event:
_paq.push(['trackEvent', 'calculator', 'calculate', 'loan_calculator']);
These events help answer questions such as how many users interact with the calculator, how often the tool is used, and whether the tool increases engagement on the page.
After implementation, these events appear in Matomo under Behavior → Events.
Tracking events with Matomo Tag Manager
If you use Matomo Tag Manager, event tracking can also be implemented without writing JavaScript.
A typical workflow includes:
- Create a trigger, for example a click or form submission trigger.
- Create a Matomo Analytics tag.
- Select event tracking as the tracking type.
- Define the category, action, and name.
- Publish the container.
This approach allows analysts and marketers to manage event tracking without modifying the website code.
Best practices for Matomo event tracking
Effective event tracking depends more on clear measurement design than on technical implementation.
Track meaningful interactions
Each event should represent an interaction that helps answer real analytical questions. Examples include submitting a form, watching a video, or interacting with a calculator.
Avoid tracking events that do not provide useful insight.
Use consistent naming conventions
Use simple and consistent verbs for event actions.
Examples include click, submit, play, and calculate.
Consistency makes analytics reports easier to interpret.
Use clear event names
Event names should clearly identify the tracked element.
Examples include contact_us_form, youtube_product_video, and loan_calculator.
Clear naming improves report readability.
Track fewer but more meaningful events
Tracking every possible interaction often produces unnecessary data. Instead, focus on key interactions that reflect user engagement or intent.
Common mistakes in Matomo event tracking
Even technically correct implementations can produce confusing analytics data.
Using business outcomes as categories
Event categories should describe interface components, not marketing goals.
For example:
❌ conversion
✔ form
Events describe actions, not outcomes.
Tracking too many events
Overly detailed tracking can produce noisy datasets that are difficult to analyze. Focus on events that answer meaningful questions.
Inconsistent event naming
Mixing different naming styles can make reports difficult to interpret.
For example:
❌ click, clicking, button_click
✔ click
Consistency is essential.
Final thoughts
Matomo event tracking provides a structured way to measure user interactions beyond page views.
By using a clear structure of category, action, and name, you can create analytics data that is easier to interpret, maintain, and analyze.
When implemented carefully, Matomo events provide valuable insight into how users interact with your website and which features truly drive engagement.
If you are migrating from Google Analytics 4, read my guide explaining how GA4 events differ from Matomo events.