GA4: Test Implementation of Trailing Slash Issue

[johnny-jesensky-adhoc]

Description

An identified issue in GA4 is that the many pages have 2 versions -- one with a trailing slash and one without -- which complicates the reporting for many users. While this really should be fixed on the backend/server side (there's SEO considerations here too), it was "fixed" for reporting in UA using View filters but GA4 does not offer those types of filters. Instead, we have to look for a solution at the point of data collection using GTM. I [Jamie] think I've found a relatively simple solution that will work for HTML page views in this Reddit thread.

If this JS does work, I can look at modifying it for history change page views -- how most dynamically loaded pages are tracked.

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Tasks

• [x] Implement the JS solution on the lower environments using GTM
• [ ] Check after a week to see if it is working as intended

Acceptance Criteria

• [ ] Solution implemented in the lower VA.gov environments
• [ ] If confirmed in the lower environments, implement in VA.gov production environment

[johnny-jesensky-adhoc]

@jestutt -- Can I move this to In Progress?

[jestutt]

The code has been implemented to the lower environments. Will check back in 5-7 days (maybe sooner) to see if it worked or not.

[johnny-jesensky-adhoc]

Thanks for the update @jestutt. We'll plan to monitor the fix next week, before we implement in production. Then will look to close this out.

FYI @jwoodman5, @raywangoctova

[jwoodman5]

Copy, thanks.

[johnny-jesensky-adhoc]

Our team got pulled into an audit this sprint which has dominated a lot of Jamie and I's time -- we took some things out of the current sprint to account for this, but kept this -- this one will roll into the next sprint.

FYI @jwoodman5, @jestutt

[johnny-jesensky-adhoc]

Jamie was out today (8/28) and yesterday (8/27), and I've been unable to verify the latest on this fix. I will check back in again with her tomorrow, if she is back and determine if this will carry over, or if we can move to Done.

FYI - @jwoodman5, @jestutt

[johnny-jesensky-adhoc]

Keep this in the backlog until the audit is finalized.

FYI @jestutt