Following is an example of PAA (People Also Ask) on Google SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages):

For PAAs on Google SERPs, many of the URL paths contain #:~:text=.

For example, when you click on the link below:

You will be redirected to the following URL:

https://www.wrp.team/blog/why-is-google-moving-from-universal-analytics-to-ga4-amp-what-is-going-to-change#:~:text=Privacy%20has%20been%20a%20big,privacy%20front%2Dof%2Dmind.

The #:~:text= in the URL above is called Text Fragments. 

This feature allows a link to specify a text snippet in the linked document, and upon clicking the link, the browser will scroll to and highlight that specific text snippet if it is found on the page.

This feature is particularly useful for highlighting specific parts of long articles or documents online.

In its SERPs, Google often uses text fragments for ‘featured snippets’, ‘People Also Ask’, or other highlighted search results. 

This feature primarily enhances the user experience by directly pointing them to the most relevant part of a webpage based on their search query.

This functionality is a part of Google’s ongoing efforts to make information more accessible and to improve the efficiency of search results by reducing the time users spend looking for specific information on a webpage. 

For PAA tracking in GA4, follow the steps below:

1) Create a JavaScript variable in GTM to detect the ‘#:~:text=’ fragment in the URL:

function() {
    var url = window.location.href;
    var textFragmentIndex = url.indexOf('#:~:text=');
    if (textFragmentIndex !== -1) {
        // Extracting and decoding the text fragment
        return decodeURIComponent(url.substring(textFragmentIndex + 11));
    }
    return undefined; // Return undefined if the fragment is not present
}

Name this variable something like ‘URLTextFragment‘.

2) Create a ‘History Change’ trigger that listens for changes to the URL fragment.

This type of trigger listens for changes in the URL after the page loads (useful for single-page applications or instances where the URL fragment changes after the initial page load).

Name your trigger, such as ‘HistoryChangeForTextFragment‘.

3) Create a GA4 Event tag to send an event to GA4 whenever the trigger (‘HistoryChangeForTextFragment’) fires.

Set the event name to something indicative of the action, like ‘paa_click‘.

4) Test the tracking setup by visiting your website and simulate the conditions for triggering the tag (like navigating to a URL with the #:~:text= fragment).

5) Check that the trigger fires and the tag sends an event to GA4.

6) Once you’ve confirmed everything is working, publish your changes in GTM.