What is Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – and other frequently asked questions

What is Google Analytics 4?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the new version of Analytics. GA4 should become the standard. It is the successor to the classic Universal Analytics (UA), which allows you to closely monitor your website’s statistics. However, GA4 is a completely new property that you’ll need to set up from scratch.

What has changed compared to Universal Analytics (UA)?

The biggest change when setting up Google Analytics 4 lies in the way Analytics measures the website. While UA focuses primarily on sessions and visitors, GA4 focuses more on events: an event-driven data model. This requires a bit more explanation: Measurement used to be done via sessions, linked to user data. User data refers to the information Google collects about visitors through means such as cookies, including gender, age, or location. Sessions encompass all events that occur during a visit, such as page views or downloads. In today’s era of mobile apps and single-page sites, this is not the best way to capture the full user experience. For example, apps and games do not load separate pages, which means you miss out on data. And single-page sites are websites built on a single page with tabs or another solution. GA4 separates sessions and page views. It measures a series of events by predefined parameters that collect the data. An example of an event is scrolling through a page, which is associated with a parameter such as "Percent-scrolled" (the percentage of the page that has been scrolled through).

What are the benefits for me as a website owner?

Thanks to this new measurement method, as a website owner, you’ll gain access to more accurate information and be able to take a much more targeted approach. GA4 also offers a number of new features that can support your online marketing efforts when setting up Google Analytics 4.

• GA4 is based onmachine learningcombined withbig data. You can use that data to make predictions and better understand your target audience.
• GA4 uses data streams. You can linkdifferent data streamsto track and combine data from your website and app, for example. This gives you an even more comprehensive view of your target audience’s behavior.
• GA4 is introducing newprivacyfeaturesthatallow you to track data without using cookies.

What steps should I take?

Unfortunately, due to the new measurement method, it’s not possible to transfer your current UA data to the new system. Why is it a good idea to start setting up Google Analytics 4 now? By running both systems side by side for a while, you’ll start collecting new data with GA4 while still being able to continue working with the familiar UA. Once UA is discontinued on July 1, 2023, and no more data is collected there, you will already have built up some data in GA4 that you can use moving forward.

How do I set up Google Analytics 4?

How do you set up GA4 if you already have a UA Analytics account? The first step is to create a GA4 property. Follow these steps:

• Step 1: Log in to Analytics and go to "Admin." Click the "GA4 Setup Wizard" option. Follow the steps and create a property.

• Step 2: You will then be taken to the setup wizard page. Click on “Tag Setup” and configure thedata stream. Using the tracking code under “General Site Tag,” you can set up the code on your website or have your web developer do it for you. This can also be done via Google Tag Manager.
• Step 3:Next, checkthe property’s settings: the currency and time zone. Also make sure that data collection via Google Signals is turned off under “Data Settings” so that the property doesn’t accidentally place advertising cookies.
• Step 4: Now it’s time to createconversions. Go to “Create Event” and enter the event and parameter. Then visit your landing page to test whether the event is being tracked correctly. Next, create a conversion event and enter the name of the event to track conversions.
• Step 5: Filter internaltraffic under “Management” and “Data Stream.” Scroll down and click “Tagging Settings.” In the menu, create a rule for each location you want to filter. Then save it as active under “Data Settings,” then “Data Filters,” and finally “Internal Traffic.”
• Step 6: You cantransfer events from UAto GA4 using Google Tag Manager.You can read moreabout thathere.
• Step 7: If you useGoogle Ads, you can link it to GA4. Go to "Admin" and "Setup Assistant" to link Google Ads. Turn off personalized advertising and click "Submit" to activate the link.