Formation Google Analytics 4: Getting Started and Beyond

Google Analytics 4 is a powerful tool that helps you understand your website or app's performance. It's a significant upgrade from Universal Analytics, offering more accurate and detailed insights.

To get started with Google Analytics 4, you'll need to set up a new property, which is a container for your data. This process is straightforward and can be completed in a few steps.

Google Analytics 4 uses a new data model that's based on events, rather than sessions. This means you'll be tracking specific actions taken by users, such as button clicks or form submissions.

Setting up Google Analytics 4 requires some configuration, including adding a tracking code to your website or app. This code is used to collect data and send it to the Google Analytics servers.

If you've had a Universal Analytics account, there's a good chance you already have a pre-generated GA4 property. Most users will find an initial, incomplete GA4 setup ready for them unless they have opted out.

You can start by checking if there is a pre-generated property in your account. If you haven't used UA before, you'll start by creating a new GA4 account.

To set up GA4, you can either create a new account or use the GA4 Setup Assistant if you already have a UA property. The Setup Assistant will help you link your UA property to a new GA4 property.

Here are your options:

You can install the GA4 tracking code to your website manually, or use a CMS or website builder, or Google Tag Manager.

Google Analytics 4 is a powerful tool that helps you understand how people interact with your website. It shows you where your visitors come from, what they do on your site, and who they are.

With GA4, you can track how visitors find your website, including search results, paid ads, social media, third-party websites, and other sources. This information can help you optimize your content and marketing strategies.

GA4 also tracks what visitors do on your website, including the pages they visit, actions they take, and how much time they spend on each page. This data can help you identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions.

You can use GA4 to get insights into user behaviors, navigational patterns, and the customer journey. With its data, you can optimize your content, fine-tune your marketing strategies, and build more effective marketing funnels.

Here are some specific ways you can use GA4:

GA4 is completely free and fully automated, making it easy to get started. Even if you have a brand new site, it will start monitoring and collecting information immediately after connecting.

The "Explore" section in GA4 is where the magic happens - you get to dive into the data and create custom reports that help you understand your users' behavior. You can start a custom report from scratch, or use one of the many ready-made templates that GA4 provides.

One of the most useful templates is the funnel exploration template, which allows you to visualize the journeys your users take on your site. This can be super helpful in identifying pain points and areas where you can improve the user experience.

You can also use the path exploration template to track and display the routes users take on your site. This can give you a better understanding of how users are navigating your site and where they might be getting stuck.

But that's not all - the "Explore" section also includes a free-form template for customizable, ad-hoc analysis, as well as a segment overlap template to compare different segments. These templates can be really helpful in giving you a deeper understanding of your users and their behavior.

Here are some of the ready-made templates you can use in the "Explore" section:

Once you've set up your GA4 account and property, it's time to start exploring the data. You'll want to check if there's a pre-generated property in your account, as Google automatically added GA4 properties to existing accounts when UA was phased out.

To get started, you'll want to add your GA4 tag to every page on your website to collect data. You can do this manually, through Google Tag Manager, or via a plugin for your CMS.

The next steps involve exploring the SEO metrics used in Google Analytics. You can start with Users, which displays the total number of users who interacted with your website. Sessions provide an overview of how many sessions your website has, assisting you in evaluating traffic volumes and detecting user behavior trends.

The Engagement Rate metric is also crucial, as it helps determine the appeal of your website and content to users. GA4 considers sessions engaged if they lasted longer than 10 seconds and had one or more conversion events, or two or more page/screen views.

Here are some key metrics to focus on:

By monitoring these metrics, you'll gain insights into the user experience you provide and how you can improve it.

Setting up GA is a straightforward process that can be done in a few steps. You can start by linking your existing Universal Analytics property to a new Google Analytics 4 property using the GA4 Setup Assistant.

To do this, go to your UA property and navigate to Admin → GA4 Setup Assistant, then click the Get Started button. Your existing UA property will remain unaffected, and your new GA4 property will not be populated with any historical data.

You can import tracking configurations from your UA property if you're using Google Tag Manager or gtag.js implementation. However, if you're using an older implementation like analytics.js, you won't be able to do this and will need to reinstall Google Analytics on your website or reconfigure all your tags from scratch.

If you're setting up a new GA4 property, you can create a new account and property by clicking Admin → + Create Property. Give your property a name, choose a time zone and currency, and select your business objectives. You'll also need to configure your first data stream, which can be a web stream, and enable or disable Enhanced Measurement features.

Creating a new Google Analytics 4 property is a straightforward process. You can do this by logging into your Google account at analytics.google.com/analytics/web/ and clicking the "Start measuring" button.

You can also create a new property by clicking on Admin → + Create Property in the Google Analytics interface. This will take you to a new form where you can enter the name of your property, choose the reporting time zone and currency, and select how you want to use Google Analytics.

If you want to create a Universal Analytics property, click on Show advanced options during the first step, Property Setup. You can flip a switch that will create a Universal Analytics property, then choose whether you want to create a linked GA4 property along with your UA property.

You can add up to 2,000 properties to your GA4 account. To create a new property, enter a Property name, choose the reporting time zone and currency, and click the Next button to proceed to the new form.

You'll need to choose how you want to use Google Analytics. Tick the relevant objectives, but remember that if you want to get multiple types of reports (Get baseline reports), you can't choose any other objective from the list. Click the Create button.

Here are the steps to create a new Google Analytics 4 property:

1. Log into your Google account at analytics.google.com/analytics/web/

2. Click the "Start measuring" button

3. Enter the name of your property

4. Choose the reporting time zone and currency

5. Select how you want to use Google Analytics

6. Click the Create button

By following these steps, you can create a new Google Analytics 4 property and start tracking your website's data.

GA Types are a crucial part of setting up Google Analytics (GA). There are four types of events in GA4.

Automatically Collected Events are collected without any additional setup. You can use them to track basic interactions on your website.

Enhanced Measurement Events are used for more advanced tracking, such as scrolling and outbound clicks. They provide more detailed information than Automatically Collected Events.

Recommended Events are not explicitly mentioned as a type in the GA4 documentation, but we can infer that they are events that are suggested or recommended by GA for specific use cases.

Custom Events allow you to track events that are unique to your business or use case. They can be set up using the GA4 API or other tools.

Here's a summary of the four types of events in GA4:

Configuring GA involves several key steps to ensure you're collecting the right data. First, you need to create a Google Analytics 4 property and data stream, which involves selecting your business objectives and configuring your first data stream.

To configure your data stream, you can enable or disable Enhanced Measurement, which automatically tracks events such as page views, scrolls, and outbound link clicks. You can also adjust settings for file downloads, form submissions, and video engagement.

Here are some events that are automatically collected with Enhanced Measurement enabled: Page view (event name: page_view)Scroll (event name: scroll)Outbound link click (event name: click with the parameter outbound: true)Site search (event name: view_search_results)Video Engagement (events: video_start, video_progress, video_complete)File Download (event name: file_download)Form submissions (event name: form_start and form_submit)

To select the stream for your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) property, you'll need to decide where you want GA4 to collect data from: web, Android app, or iOS app. Click on the most relevant platform.

You can choose one platform or multiple platforms, depending on your needs. For example, if you have a website and an Android app, you can create separate data streams for each.

If you choose a web platform, you'll need to provide your website's address and stream name. You can also adjust enhanced measurement settings to automatically collect more insights on user engagement with your website.

Here are the options for selecting the data stream:

You can also add a stream later through the Admin settings, if you prefer to skip this step for now. Simply select the relevant account and property from the drop-down lists, click on Data Streams, and follow further instructions.

To complete the setup, press the Create stream button.

Configuring the Google Analytics 4 tag involves several key settings. You'll need to specify the Measurement ID, which is a unique identifier for your property.

The Global Object setting allows you to choose the global object name for your tag. This is typically set to "ga".

The Data Layer Name setting is used to specify the name of the data layer for your tag. This is usually set to "dataLayer".

You can also choose to Send Page View, which will send a page view event to Google Analytics every time a page is loaded.

Additionally, you can Clear Vars, which will clear any existing variables in the data layer before sending the page view event.

Here are the key settings for configuring the Google Analytics 4 tag:

You can use GA4 to send a custom event if your event doesn't fit one of the predefined event types. For example, if you're tracking a specific user behavior, you can send a custom event.

To modify a report in GA4, you'll need to adjust the default dimensions. This can be done by clicking the "Customize Report" icon at the top right.

You can customize reports in GA4 to resemble the Universal Analytics reports you're used to. For instance, you can modify the "Traffic Acquisition" report to include session source/medium as the default dimension.

To save a custom report in GA4, click "Save" at the top right, then "Save as a new report." You'll be prompted to name the report and click "Save."

If you want to see custom event parameters in reports, such as Funnel exploration or Free Form, you must register them in the GA interface. This involves going to Admin > Custom Definitions and creating a custom dimension.

Here's a step-by-step guide to creating a custom dimension:

You'll need to register a second parameter if you have more than one custom event parameter.

GA4 is designed for a cookie-less future, which means it's not reliant on cookie-based tracking like UA was.

This change is significant because it allows for more user control over their data.

User-provided data is also a key aspect of GA4, enabling customers to supply additional data to send consented, hashed first-party data to GA4.

This data is then matched with Google data in a privacy-safe way to power Enhanced Conversions and demographic and interests reporting.

The user-provided data destinations available in GA4 include email address, phone number, first name, last name, and more.

Here's a list of the available user-provided data destinations:

These destinations allow for more flexibility and control over the data that's sent to GA4.

In Google Analytics 4, you can enable enhanced measurement options to measure interactions with your content. This feature sends additional events that provide information on user activity such as file downloads and searches. For more information, see the GA4 documentation for Enhanced Measurement Events.

To enable enhanced measurement options, no configuration in Tealium iQ is required. This means you can start collecting additional data without any extra setup.

There are certain events that Google Analytics 4 tracks automatically. These include the first_visit event, which is triggered when a user visits a website or launches an app for the first time, and the session_start event, which is triggered when a user starts a new session.

Here are some of the automatically tracked events in Google Analytics 4:

Note that user_engagement is fired 10 seconds after the visitor has stayed on a page, and it might periodically fire while the app is in the foreground.

Reports in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) are a powerful tool for analyzing your website's performance. You can find your event data in various places within GA4, such as standard reports, custom reports, and the Explore section.

The Reports section is the beating heart of GA4's analysis capabilities, where you can find data about your website and/or app traffic. You can access it by clicking "Reports" under the home button. The Reports snapshot provides a condensed overview of your data, giving you quick access to metrics and trends.

To create custom reports, you can use the "Exploration" features in GA4, which allow you to combine, segment, and analyze data to craft tailored reports. This wasn't available in Universal Analytics (UA), where customization was possible but relatively limited.

Here are some key features of the Reports section in GA4:

Performance Insights are a crucial part of understanding how your website is performing. You can track visitor journeys to understand the path from initial visit to conversion.

GA4 links up with Google Search Console, helping you discover which keywords are bringing people to your site and seeing what visitors do once they arrive. You can answer questions such as: Are visitors sticking around? Or bouncing off?

To review keyword performance on GA4, you'll need to connect Google Search Console (GSC) to it. Click "Reports" > "Search Console" > "Queries" to find data on "Organic Google search clicks over time" and "Organic Google Search clicks by Organic Google Search query."

Here's a breakdown of the metrics you can expect to see:

You can also track visitor behavior, such as whether they're clicking on affiliate links or downloading an ebook. This information can inform your SEO strategy and help you optimize internal linking structures.

Reports are a crucial part of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and understanding how to use them effectively is key to unlocking valuable insights about your website or app traffic.

You can find reports under the "Reports" section, which is the beating heart of GA4's analysis capabilities. This is where you'll get a condensed overview of your data, known as the "Reports snapshot." The snapshot is designed to give you quick access to metrics and trends without having to create or explore more of your custom reports.

The Reports section also includes an overview of other reports, such as your top events, top conversions, top-selling products, and more. Under "Reports", you'll also find "Real-time" reports, which show the activities of visitors currently browsing your site.

Real-time reports provide a wealth of information, including the types of devices your active users are using, where your users are currently browsing from, and more. You can also review the "Users by First user source" section, which shows where users were before they arrived on your site, and the "Users by audience" section, which categorizes users into segments or groups based on criteria you've set.

You can also use the "Views by Page title and screen name" section to see which pages or screens are being viewed. The same details are available in the "Home" reports and the "Reports snapshot."

Here is a summary of the key features of the Reports section:

By leveraging the Reports section, you can gain a deeper understanding of your website or app traffic and make data-driven decisions to improve your online presence.

Customer Journey Analysis is a powerful tool in GA4 that helps you understand how users interact with your website or mobile app. With its cross-device and cross-platform tracking capabilities, you get an integrated view of the entire journey, from the moment a user lands on your site to the moment they convert.

GA4's ability to track behavior across different channels, including social media and search, gives you a clear picture of the entire customer journey. This means you're better equipped to fine-tune and optimize every step of that journey.

Before GA4, analyzing a user's journey through your site was a cumbersome process. You'd often have to stitch together separate sessions to get a comprehensive view of user interactions. But now, with GA4, you can capture user journeys more comprehensively and have an uninterrupted view of user interactions across your website.

Here's a breakdown of what you can expect from GA4's Customer Journey Analysis:

With GA4's Customer Journey Analysis, you can answer questions like: Are visitors sticking around, or bouncing off? Are they clicking on affiliate links or downloading an ebook? This information can then inform your SEO strategy and help you create targeted content and marketing campaigns that resonate with your audience.

Common issues with Google Analytics 4 can be frustrating, but there are solutions. Typos, errors, or extra whitespace in the Measurement ID or tag code can cause problems.

To identify tag installation errors, enable debug mode for your device. You can do this by installing the Google Analytics Debugger Chrome extension and refreshing the page. You can also use the Google Tag Assistant to enable debug mode by adding parameters to your website's address.

If you're having trouble with setup, find the relevant issue in the Troubleshoot tag setup and no-data issues. If data isn't showing up as expected, try using the Google Tag Assistant to check if the tracking code is correctly installed on your website.

To troubleshoot, follow these steps:

Data typically appears in GA4 reports outside of the Real-time section within 24 – 48 hours.

Advertising is a crucial aspect of any online business, and having the right tools to track its performance is essential.

Linking Google Ads to your GA4 gives you a clear picture of your ad performance, showing you which campaigns drive traffic and conversions to your site.

This helps you pinpoint what's working and what's not, allowing you to make data-driven decisions to optimize your ad campaigns.

By getting a clear picture of your ad performance, you can identify areas that need improvement and make adjustments to increase your return on investment.