More than two years after it was first announced, Google’s latest analytics platform, GA4, is here. So what does this mean for your business? Compared to its predecessor, Universal Analytics (UA) GA4 has introduced several new features and changes to how data is tracked, organized and made available to users.
But working through a list of Google’s changes would take far longer than we have and, frankly, would make for rather dull reading.
On July 1, 2023, Universal Analytics will be phased out, and businesses will be forced to adopt GA4. As part of this switch, Google has already announced that GA4 will not be backwardly compatible with UA, meaning that it won’t carry over any data and information you’ve acquired over the time you’ve been using UA.
The sooner you can switch to GA4, the better off your business will be. As GA4 uses data-powered machine learning to offer you insights, the more time and data you can give it to learn, the more powerful it will be and the greater the benefits to you and your business.
One of the most significant differences between UA and GA4 is a shift from session-based data models to event-based data models. In UA, a session comprises a series of user interactions, such as page views.
With events, you can track user journeys much more precisely and gain deeper insight into a customer’s actions once they reach your website. This will allow you to develop more effective strategies for making changes to increase conversion.
Additionally, GA4 has much greater cross-device recognition, allowing it to de-duplicate users more easily. This means that a customer visiting your website on their computer before switching to their phone won’t appear as two different users/sessions, as it used to in Universal Analytics, ultimately giving you a more granular view of who is visiting your site.
Log in to your current GA account and
Then enter the name of your property. It might be the name of your website, company, a brand, etc. Choose your company’s country, reporting time zone, and main currency your business operates in.
Fill in your business information:
Once this is completed, you will be asked about where you are collecting data from. Select Web:
By default, this feature is enabled and will automatically track the following events:
Add your URL and stream name hear
You will see a Measurement ID when you create a data stream (web).
This is what needs to be added to your website.
If you are using Google Tag Manager (GTM), log into GTM and create a new tag.
Select the GA4 Configuration tag.
Paste the measurement ID.
And add page views as the trigger, name the tag and publish.
You now have a GA4 Account live. The next step is configuring GA4 to track the events important to your business.
A good way of breaking up your site is by bucketing events along the path to purchase
What events would be classed as:
This will allow you to see where users are on the path to purchase and develop different strategies and messages for each.
Although the switch to GA4 comes with its own headaches, the level of actionable insight it offers business owners will leave you wondering why you waited so long to migrate. As machine learning and artificial intelligence infiltrate more aspects of the digital landscape, business owners that are quick to see their value and add them to their toolkit will benefit the most from their potential upsides.
To date, GA4 is the most accessible form of machine learning to hit the market, but more are bound to come. To ensure that you are keeping up to date with the latest digital developments and that your business won’t get left behind, get in touch with one of our team today to find out how we can help you take advantage of GA4 and the changing world of technology.
Retain Media
Retain Media is a digital media agency focused on helping dealers, manufacturers and related industries get the best results from their Google ads, SEO and Social media investments.
To learn more about how they can help your business visit their website https://retainmedia.com.au/, call 1300 451 401 or email leon@retainmedia.com.au or book a meeting with Leon here: https://calendly.com/leonpumpa/30min-meeting