What is Google Analytics 4?
GA4 is the complete replacement for the Universal Analytics (UA) you are using now.
Discover why Google Analytics 4 is the future and why you’ll like it more than UA.
When Will Universal Analytics End?
UA will cease to track hits to your site on July 1, 2023.
Plus, you can’t migrate your UA data to GA4.
So now is the time to set up GA4 so you can start gathering data anew and compare the two until the cutoff date.
GA4 is NOT a UA Upgrade
Google Analytics 4 is a whole other animal.
It was built from scratch due to the need for:
- better privacy settings
- easier custom report building
- better integration with web and apps
- better 3rd party data integration for enterprise Analytics 360 customers
Totally New Data Focus for GA4
The best way to wrap your head around the differences in UA and GA4 is to think of it as a product from another vendor.
Some of the terminology uses the same words, but they have different meaning.
Plus, UA was all about tracking page hits and Sessions.
GA4 is all about tracking Users and Events, which are the actions those Users take while they are on your site.
The best GA4 course for bloggers!
- Get it setup right
- Tour default reports
- Create 20+ custom reports
- Accurate metrics
Totally New Reporting
Google Analytics 4 has a new Dashboard.
There are now two types of reporting – the Default Reports and Explore reports, which allow you to easily build your own custom reports.
Most of the default reports focus on First User, which are new visitors to your site.
Misunderstanding this critical point is the main reason why many site owners say their GA4 and UA analytics don’t match. They don’t match because they are showing different User metrics.
This is also why building your own custom reports is so critically important in GA4.
Fortunately, GA4 has multiple Explore Report templates that make it easy to create your own custom reports. Gone is the need to purchase templates just to see the data you find most useful.
Lots of New Terminology in GA4
There are tons of new Dimensions and Metrics to learn about in GA4 to help you make sense of the reports.
In fact, there are 156 Dimensions and 160 Metrics.
Unfortunately, some of them are the same words used in UA, but have different meaning.
A few examples include:
And there are 4 different types of User metrics in GA4 as well that help you really break down who is visiting your site.
The 4 User types include:
Not knowing what these metrics are is what leads many site owners to complain that their UA data does not match their GA4 data.
It’s not that GA4 is inaccurate. It’s that it is measuring and reporting differently than UA.
This is another reason why you want to learn how to create your own custom Explore reports so that you can see the data that is the most meaningful to you.
Google Analytics 4 is the Future
Most folks are resistant to change.
But like it or not, GA4 is the future of analytics.
Once you see how powerful the reports are, especially the new custom Explore Reports, you’ll be able to take better action on your content.