Issue importing search events into Vertex AI Search for Commerce

[milicasudar]

Hi all,

I'm working on integrating GA4 data with Vertex AI Retail Search (Search for Commerce) using the GA4 schema and running into an issue when trying to import search events.

In our current GA4 setup:

The event view_search_results contains the search_term in event_params, but does not include any product impressions (items).

The event view_item_list contains the items array (product impressions), but does not include the search_term.

As far as I understand from the documentation Retail Search expects both search_term and items to be present in the same GA4 event to create a valid search event in the Retail schema.

So, how should I proceed in this case?

Is there a supported way to combine these events during import?

Or should we modify our GA4 tagging to ensure that view_item_list also includes search_term?

Has anyone faced this issue and found a working solution?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[ruthseki · Accepted solution]

Hi milicasudar,

Welcome to Google Cloud Community!

The Vertex AI Search for Commerce search event schema requires both the searchQuery and the productDetails (impressions) to be in the same event record. The standard GA4 tracking often splits this information across view_search_results (for the query) and view_item_list (for the impressions), making a direct import impossible.

Here’s how you can approach this:

To ensure compatibility with Vertex AI Retail Search, the best practice is to modify your GA4 tagging implementation so that the view_item_list event also includes the search_term parameter. This way, you’ll have a single event that contains both required fields:

• search_term (e.g., "running shoes")
• items (array of product impressions)

This can be done by:

• Passing the search term into the data layer when the search results page loads.
• Configure your GA4 tag (via Google Tag Manager or gtag.js) to include search_term as an additional parameter in the view_item_list event.

This approach aligns with Google’s guidance on user event requirements and ensures your events are properly joined with the product catalog.

Feel free to refer to implement Vertex AI Search for Commerce documentation for more guidance.

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