Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4

02 June 2022 |

Data, Insights, Privacy

Google has recently released its latest version of Google Analytics (GA4), with the aim to replace the older version of Universal Analytics (UA) by July 2023.

 

Google hopes to improve the functionality of its Analytics offering which is designed to provide better analytics and insights as we approach a cookieless word. It was also built with privacy concerns in mind; the platform no longer stores a user’s IP address and does not rely exclusively on cookies.

 

Other improvements & differences between to the two versions include:

 

How users are tracked

With Universal Analytics (UA), users are tracked by their sessions or the set period of time that they are on site.

While in GA4, its event based – so instead of creating a new session when a user goes to site, it records all the events completed on site. This also allows for users to be more accurately & easily deduplicated and to see what they do on site, rather than just focusing on how the user got there in the first place.

 

Reporting

There are several set reports in UA that allow for some customisation.

However, GA4 has only basic & top-level reports with the more detailed reports found in the analysis tab. This allows for greater freedom in how your reporting looks & lets you pull only the data that’s most important & relevant to you.

 

The set up

GA4 allows you to combine different streams of data from a variety of your properties such as your apps and websites – and its consistent across websites, iOS and Android apps. This allows for a more complete and unified view of the consumer journey.

It also means that GA4 is eliminating the blind spot for app traffic and activity, making your marketing more accurate as consumers turn to mobile apps at increasing rates.

 

While July 2023 sounds far away, there is no better time than now to move away from UA and over to GA4 – as this will also help you have year on year comparison of data as well as get more familiar with the baseline reports & changes coming in the following months.

 

If you would like to learn more about Google Analytics 4 and how it can help your business, our team of dedicated experts are willing and eager to help.