On the 21st of July 2023, Google brought an end to the UA (Universal Analytics) tracking tag. This caused enormous pain for many marketers & business owners; mainly because no-one really likes change, do they?
Google Analytics 4 has a lot more benefits than the previous Universal Analytics. Firstly, it is more customisable; permitting you to track what you would like it to, rather than Google just giving you all the data.
What is Google Analytics 4?
Google Analytics 4 allows marketers and business owners to analyse customer usage metrics across multiple platforms (websites & apps). Allowing you to analyse the entire customer journey. Google Analytics 4 also uses AI and machine learning to help provide more precise insights. Lastly, GA4 focusses on customer privacy with privacy-first tracking, to help with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Differences between Universal Analytics (UA) vs Google Analytics 4 (GA4)?
You will likely already be familiar with the Universal Analytics dashboard, since its release back in 2012. So, let’s compare some of the old phrases with the new ones in Google Analytics.
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UA Metric
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GA4 Metric
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Bounce Rate
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Engagement Rate
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Avg. Session Duration
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Average Engagement Time Per Session
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Page Per Visit
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Event per Sessions or Engaged Sessions per User
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Page Views
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Views (page views + screen views)
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Pages per session
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Views per user
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You will have noticed that in GA4 they have removed a few familiar phrases, such as ‘bounce rate’. This is mainly because GA4 focuses on the concept of ‘engagement’ rather than just visits to a page. The main metric behind GA4 is ‘Engaged sessions’. Google describes this as a session that lasts longer than 10 seconds, a session that had a conversion event, or a session that had two or more screen or page views.
Another major difference between UA & GA4 is that GA4 is very focused on ‘events’. In fact, almost everything you used to track in UA is now considered an event; as you can see from the screenshot below from MOZ.
If you would like to compare more metrics on both GA4 & Universal Analytics, Google have created a comparison guide to help improve your Google Analytics dashboard knowledge.
How to setup Google Analytics 4: Simplified
Now you know more information about Google Analytics 4, it’s time to give you a simplified guide on how to setup your GA4 account.
To use the Google Analytics 4 dashboard, follow these basic steps:
1. Set up your account and property: You will need to create a new account and property to start using GA4. You can do this by logging into your Google Analytics account and clicking on the “Admin” button in the bottom left-hand corner. From there, you can select “Create Property” and follow the prompts to set up your new GA4 property.
2. Install the GA4 tracking code: Once your account and property are set up, you will need to install the GA4 tracking code on your website or mobile app. You can do this by going to the “Data Streams” section of your GA4 property and following the prompts to set up a new data stream.
3. Explore the dashboard: Once your tracking code is installed, you can start exploring the GA4 dashboard. The dashboard is divided into several sections, including “Realtime“, “Audience“, “Acquisition“, “Behaviour“, and “Conversions“. Each section provides different insights into your website or app performance.
4. Customise your reports: GA4 allows you to customise your reports, so you can focus on the metrics that matter most to your business. You can create custom reports by clicking on the “Customisation” tab in the left-hand menu and selecting “Custom Reports“.
5. Use events to track user behaviour: GA4 is very focused on tracking user behaviour through events (as we mentioned previously). An event is any user interaction with your website or app; e.g clicking a button or watching a video. You can set up custom events to track specific user actions throughout your website or app.
How can you customise reports?
Within Google Analytics 4 you can create customised reports by clicking on the “Customisation”tab in the left-hand menu and selecting “Custom Reports”. From there you can then create custom reports by adding the dimensions and metrics that you want to see; as well as setting filters and sorting options. For example, you may want to track data from a social media channel, or a landing page that you’ve created on your website. Custom reports gives you more flexibility and control over the data that you want to see and that best suits your business.
How can you add conversions within Google Analytics 4?
1. Go to the “Admin” section of your GA4 property and click on “Goals“.
2. Click on the “Create Goal” button to create a new conversion event.
3. Choose the type of conversion you want to track, such as a purchase or a form submission.
4. Set up the details of the conversion event, such as the name, value, and URL destination.
5. Click on “Save” to create the new conversion event.
Once you have set up your conversion event, Google Analytics 4 will automatically track and report on the number of conversions and the conversion rate for each goal. You can view this information in the “Conversions” section of the GA4 dashboard.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Google Analytics 4 is a powerful tool to track and analyse customer usage metrics across multiple platforms. With its customisable process of data tracking, you can focus on the metrics that matter most to you and your business; allowing you to hone your approach and marketing efforts.
By following the simplified guide above, you can easily set up and customise your GA4 dashboard to gain valuable insights into your website or app.
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