GA 4 - Google Analytics Crash Course

GA4 is the latest version of Google Analytics (GA) that combines data from both apps and websites. GA4 is the new name for the beta reporting platform App & Web and has been renamed for clarity. All Universal Analytics (UA) properties can be ‘upgraded’ to GA4, meaning a new Analytics property will be created for collecting the new data and your current GA account will not be affected. If you previously had a Firebase Analytics account (for apps), this will have been automatically upgraded to GA4.

From now, any new Google Analytics accounts will be GA4, with old versions of GA, called Universal Analytics, eventually being depreciated. You can set up a GA4 property if you have an app, a website or both – it’s recommended you set up a GA4 account alongside existing GA accounts if you have them, giving you time to collect data in GA4 without losing any data currently held in your GA accounts.

With the introduction of GDPR, websites require users to consent to cookies to track website performance. GA4 will start reducing this reliance on cookies to record certain events across platforms/devices by using machine learning to ‘fill in the gaps’ where user consent is not given for tracking, making it more stable to industry changes and preventing future gaps in your data. GA4 is built with the future in mind, so scalability and growth have been factored into the new design, along with a wider focus on tracking the complete user journey, as opposed to splitting user interaction into sessions, devices or platforms like Universal Analytics.

Universal Analytics v GA4

UA uses a session-based model to collect and report on data, meaning user interactions are grouped within a given timeframe. GA4 properties use a more flexible, event-based model, which allows for more accurate reporting and for additional information to be passed into Google Analytics with each interaction such as value for purchase, page title, user location. In this model, each user interaction is sent to GA as a standalone event meaning it is not contained within a session, as hit events are in UA properties. This means you can send up 25 additional event parameters with each event sent to GA4 – far greater than the current 4 UA allows (Category, Action, Label, Value). Up to a maximum of 500 distinctly named events can be sent to GA4, giving you a much wider set of data to monitor engagement with.

Goals/conversions

‘Goals’ in UA are now called ‘Conversions’ in GA4. In the free version of Google Analytics, UA allows a maximum of 20 goals, but this has been extended in GA4 to 30 Conversions. Goal set up differs in both, with UA allowing goals based on Duration, Destination, Events, and a custom set up (Event Category =) etc. GA4 only allows Conversions based on events – meaning any pageview goals will need to be sent as an event to GA4 before being used as a conversion. This again reinforces the recommendation of setting up GA4 alongside any existing Google Analytics account you currently have.

It’s all about events…

GA4 automatically tracks some events such as ‘first_visit and ‘session_start’. When Enhanced Measurement is enabled, it will automatically collect more events including: ‘view_search_results’, ‘video_start’, ‘file_download’, which all have their owns set of additional parameters sent with each event. This means you will start collecting useful data as soon as you set up a GA4 property, without setting up any additional tags or modifying your code. Enhanced Measurement events are not included as part of the 500-event limit.