Using a Data Layer to set Page Name and Other Variables via Experience Platform Launch

Using a data layer for Analytics and other Experience Cloud solutions is considered a best practice. In this video, you’ll see how to pull your values out of the data layer and use them in Experience Platform Launch to populate variables in Adobe Analytics.

Data Layers

It is a best practice to use a data layer when working with data on your site and Adobe Experience Cloud solutions, especially with Adobe Analytics. A data layer is a framework of JavaScript objects that developers insert into pages. The data layers can be used by tracking tools (including tag management systems like Experience Platform Launch) to populate reports. Find additional information about data layers in the Experience Cloud documentation or on the W3C site.

In addition, see the blog Data Layers: From Buzzword to Best Practice,, which gives you some great information about data layers, as well as a couple of examples.

Data Layers, Experience Platform Launch, and Adobe Analytics (oh my?)

  1. Create a data layer standard to use on your site, which can be referenced by Experience Platform Launch.

    1. Put this data layer as high as possible in the head of the page, before the call to Experience Platform Launch, so that the values can be used immediately by Launch, and by Adobe solutions that need to be high on the page, like Adobe Target.

  2. Populate the data in the data layer.

  3. In Experience Platform Launch, create “data elements” that reference the data points in the data layer, and which can be used throughout Experience Platform Launch in rules, extensions, and so on.

  4. Use the data elements in either the Analytics extension global variables or in a rule, assigning the values into props, eVars, pageName, or other Analytics variables.

  5. Trigger a beacon that sends the data into Analytics.

The following video walks you through the process.

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