Although Google was not a pioneer in analytics like they were in organic and paid search, they recognized early on that the seismic shifts the World Wide Web was delivering to so many aspects of business and life would ultimately be judged (and rewarded) by performance measurement. In April of 2005, Google acquired analytics software company Urchin and rebranded it as Google Analytics. Over the past fifteen years, Google has continually poured resources into making sure its analytics capabilities kept pace with the exponential growth and sophistication of Digital Marketing and E-commerce. It has been the go-to analytics platform for businesses since its inception.
With a digital landscape that is ever-changing – Google released its new flagship product, Google Analytics 4 (GA-4). Unlike incremental or lateral changes such as the GTAG collection API; this is a paramount change to how data is collected and processed.
In this whitepaper, we will walk through what GA-4 is and how to prepare your organization for the shift in data analysis and results. As an additional resource, you will also want to watch this recent video training session on Google Analytics 4.
GA-4 is the latest version of Google Analytics and the first major change since the advent of Google Analytics (Universal Analytics or UA) several years ago. It addresses a fundamental challenge for analytics deployment: Should analytics be engineered for mobile apps and devices or for websites? Allow me to explain.
Since the advent of smart mobile devices, GA was available as a mobile SDK to measure app interaction on mobile devices; however, it mostly used a web-based architecture and reporting that, apart from calling “pages” “screens”, didn’t really address the unique user interaction of these devices.
To address this shortcoming, several years ago Google introduced Firebase which was analytics for mobile apps that consistently evolved to feature an event-based environment that more easily measured true user engagement.
Ultimately, this morphed into a beta to consistently measure App and Web visits of users with a holistic and consistent approach; it was called App + Web properties, and it leveraged the Firebase event-based approach. GA-4 represents a renaming of this strategy, offering organizations cross-platform tracking capabilities into a single property.
The differences are striking and numerous so let us cover some of the main changes quickly and simply:
- New Data Collection Model: Event-Based
The data model is completely different. GA-4 has shifted from a session-based data model to an event-based data model. We no longer record user interactions in terms of sessions, rather each interaction with your website or application is measured as an event.
This improved data model is designed with privacy at its core and brings numerous benefits like improved data accuracy across platforms to measure true engagement.
- Changes in Account Hierarchy: There are No More Views!
It might come as a shock to UA advocates, but GA-4 does not leverage reporting views. Instead, it introduces the concept of “Data Streams” to allow businesses the opportunity to track website interactions across various touchpoints under one property. Data Streams are sources of data that feed into your property, like a website or an application (or both together). - Revamped UI and Reporting Structure
A substantial overhaul has been implemented to the user interface of GA-4; it is familiar but very different. The UI has been revamped to emphasize event-based tracking, which provides a more granular view of user behavior and the customer journey.
The new layout brings an impressive array of new features. This includes the inclusion of predictive metrics, Google’s data-driven attribution models, Google insights, and many more. - Conversion Tracking is Different: No More Goals
With GA-4, the process of tracking conversions has been simplified as any event can now be toggled as a conversion, eliminating the need for goal configurations, such as smart goals or custom goals. The only caveat is that they have to setup as an event first. - New Set of Metrics for more Accurate Engagement Tracking
GA-4 introduces new metrics such as engaged sessions and engagement rate. These metrics were not previously available in UA. The intention is to replace older metrics like avg. session duration, pages per session, as GA-4 is shifting away from a session-based data model. Additionally, metrics like bounce rate are being diminished.
The GA-4 platform brings several changes with it, including some significant differences and benefits. It is important to note that there are many other changes beyond those outlined here.
Absolutely not, we still believe that regardless of the data collection script of API, the best way to deploy your GA and other measurement tags is via Google Tag Manager. If your site is newer, and you are using GTAG (Google’s Global Site Tag) then you should consider the relatively easy move to a fully featured GTM instance.
On July 1st, 2023, all Standard Universal Analytics properties stopped processing data (registering hits), whereas 360 Universal Analytics properties will stop processing data and the property turndown will occur on July 1st, 2024. This property turndown date is the same for standard and 360 properties.
For Standard Universal Analytics properties:
- As of July 1st, 2023, you only have Viewer access (not editor) to the property to view historical data and reports in the user interface. This means there is no data processing, no updated reports, no bidding, or conversion data sent to Google Ads or third-party integrations.
- You will have until July 2024 to prepare a Universal Analytics Data Archival Strategy before losing access to the property if you choose to do so.
For 360 Universal Analytics properties:
- After the sunset date, July 1st, 2024, you will lose access to the Universal Analytics interface.
- Any time before the property turndown date, you can prepare a Universal Analytics Data Archival Strategy if you choose to do so.
The below will outline a few important features found within the GA4 platform, which may be especially helpful for new users or those still getting comfortable with the interface.
Understanding the main platform sections (found in the left rail navigation):
Home
- Essentially surface information that’s relevant to your business based on your behavior in Analytics.
Reports
- Is what we considered standard reports in the interface, which are prebuilt reports that deliver data in summary cards. Typically used to discover user trends or discrepancies quickly.
Explore
- Is what we consider custom exploration reports in the interface, essentially, it allows you to dive into deep analysis of your data that goes beyond your standard reports.
Advertising
- Provides insights into your most important user journeys. With data pertaining to ROI & media spend across all channels.
Standard Reports (found under “Reports Section” as shown above) are predefined reports in Google Analytics 4, which deliver data in four summary cards as explained below.
Acquisition Section focuses on how visitors arrive at your site.
Engagement Section focuses on how content is performing on the site & actions users are taking.
Monetization Section is related to the revenue you are generating, like e-commerce and total revenue.
User Section focuses on user age, gender, interest, & technology
How do I see Content Performance on the site?
Reports > Engagement > Pages and Screens
How do I find Organic Google Search Queries tied to the site?
Reports > Search Console > Queries
How do I find demographic data on my website users?
Reports > Demographics > Demographic details
GA-4 is very different and an inevitable change that reflects current trends and user behavior and allows for a more cohesive data set that leverages the best of Google AI. This AI-centric approach highlights anomalies, opportunities, and helps you target your prospective customers in a much more efficient manner; while allowing more granular control of privacy options and accounting for the increasingly harsh treatment of tracking cookies to help your company come out on top.
