Definition:
Yandex Metrica is a Yandex web analytics service that collects and organizes information about visits and interactions on a website. It uses a tag or counter, usually implemented with JavaScript, which sends data to the service when pages load or configured actions are recorded.
It can analyze metrics and dimensions related to sessions, pageviews, traffic sources, devices, and behavior. It also supports goals, events, and ecommerce measurement, as well as visual tools such as maps and session recordings.
It can be used as the main system or alongside other web analytics solutions. Results do not have to match those from another platform: each tool applies its own collection, filtering, attribution, and metric definition rules.
Yandex Metrica components
The available features depend on the tag configuration and the data sent by the website. Its components include the following seven:
- Click map: represents where clicks occur on a page. It helps observe interaction with visible elements, although a click alone does not prove that a user understood the content or completed an action.
- Link map: displays information about clicks received by links. Its interpretation depends on the page loading correctly in the viewer and on links being identifiable.
- Scroll map: visualizes how far recorded sessions reach on a page. Scroll depth does not automatically equal reading or attention.
- Form analysis: helps observe interaction with forms, including fields used and certain abandonment points. Reports depend on the information available in Session Replay and on the form structure.
- Session Replay: reproduces a representation of actions recorded during some sessions, such as scrolling, clicking, and navigation. It is not a video recording of the visitor’s screen and requires a review of which content or fields should be excluded.
- Alerts and monitoring: can report relevant changes detected in traffic or data availability. An alert identifies a variation but does not necessarily establish its cause.
- Outbound links and downloads: can record clicks to other websites and downloads when the tag and its options are configured accordingly. These events do not replace measurement on the external destination.
Yandex Metrica also provides reports, segments, filters, goals, and ecommerce features. Goals represent configured conditions, such as a page visit or event, but completing them does not by itself prove a valid sale or explain why it occurred.
Yandex Metrica characteristics and limitations
These six characteristics help explain the service’s capabilities and the limits of comparing it with other tools:
- Access to the service: Yandex presents Metrica as a free web analytics solution. This does not remove the implementation, maintenance, validation, and analysis work needed for reliable measurement.
- Reports and segmentation: metrics can be broken down by dimensions, segments, and periods. A report only reflects the information that the tag was able to collect and process.
- Filtering: it can apply filters and identify part of automated traffic. No filter guarantees the removal of every bot or all referral spam, and an incorrect configuration can exclude valid activity.
- Bounce calculation: Yandex Metrica considers pageviews, duration, and certain events together. The default duration threshold is 15 seconds, but it can be configured. This definition should not be transferred directly to another platform’s bounce rate.
- Use alongside other systems: it can coexist with Google Analytics, Matomo, or other solutions. Installing several tags can increase requests and does not guarantee matching figures.
- Conditional measurement: blockers, consent choices, implementation errors, browser restrictions, and connection problems can prevent some interactions from being recorded. Reports do not necessarily represent every person who used the website.
Session Replay features require particular attention because they can represent page content and interactions. Yandex allows fields to be masked and elements to be hidden through settings and CSS classes. The Session Replay documentation describes these controls, but their availability does not replace a review of the implementation or of the information and consent requirements that apply to the website.
How to install Yandex Metrica
Installation involves creating a tag, configuring it, and adding its code to the pages to be measured. It can be summarized in four stages:
- Create the tag: sign in with a Yandex account, specify the domain, and configure information such as its name, time zone, and reporting currency.
- Select features: decide whether to enable Session Replay, maps, form analysis, link tracking, and other options. Enabling a feature can change the data collected and the required code.
- Insert the code: add the tag directly to the website, through a CMS, or with a tag manager. It should load on the pages included in the measurement without duplicating the same counter.
- Check collection: verify that the tag runs, that the expected pages and events reach the service, and that internal tests do not distort the reports.
The guide to creating and installing tags contains the current steps and options. Code placement, use of the noscript element, and additional settings depend on the installation method; pasting a fragment in an unspecified location is not sufficient.
Goals and ecommerce require additional data when they cannot be detected automatically. Websites with dynamic navigation or single-page applications should also be checked because changing the view without loading a new document may require specific configuration.
Integration with Google Tag Manager
Yandex Metrica can be implemented through Google Tag Manager. The counter code can be added through a custom HTML tag or a current template whose fields and permissions can be reviewed.
The trigger should correspond to the pages to be measured. If loading depends on a consent choice, that condition should be included in the configuration. Publishing the container without checking the trigger can cause the tag not to run, to run earlier than intended, or to load more than once.
Events configured on the website or in the tag manager must use the identifier and parameters expected by the counter. A working base tag does not prove that goals, ecommerce data, or custom interactions are arriving correctly.
After publication, checks should be performed on the live website and in Yandex Metrica reports or diagnostic tools. A third-party template may facilitate configuration, but it does not guarantee support for every feature or continued compatibility with service changes.