What is Google Analytics 4? Why do You Need to Switch?
Google Analytics 4 is the newest version of Google’s popular analytics platform. It’s a completely reimagined product from the previous version. GA4 brings a wide range of features to make it easier for your businesses to gain insights into how users interact with your website and help you make informed decisions about improving your site’s performance.
GA4 makes it easier for website owners and Digital marketers to get the most out of their web properties by understanding customer behaviors more clearly and taking actionable steps toward optimizing user experience and increasing conversions.
So, is there any necessity to switch from Universal Analytics to GA4?
For those who already use an older version of Google Analytics, switching to GA4 will provide even more granular and useful data about user behavior on their sites. This data makes creating targeted marketing campaigns or identifying customer segments for personalized experiences much easier.
Universal Analytics is Being Replaced with Google Analytics 4.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) replaces Universal Analytics, launched in 2012. GA4 has several important changes that make it an invaluable tool for businesses and marketers who want to understand their customers better.
The main reason why Universal Analytics has been replaced is due to its outdated data model. The technology behind it must stay on track with today’s constantly changing internet landscape. Google recognized this issue and began work on the replacement – Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
Overall, switching from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 was the right move for Google, given the changes in the industry since UA’s launch in 2013. With its powerful reporting tools, easy-to-use interface, flexible customization options, and greater scalability than its predecessor – GA4 is well-positioned to meet the evolving needs of webmasters now and in the future.
How is Google Analytics 4 Different from Universal Analytics?
The biggest difference between GA4 and Universal Analytics is its ability to capture customer data from all business channels, including web, app, offline, display, and paid media sources. Businesses can get more comprehensive insights into how customers interact with their brand across different platforms and touchpoints.
GA4 has enhanced machine learning capabilities that help identify customer segments and behaviors more quickly and accurately than ever before. Businesses can develop targeted campaigns tailored to each segment or user journey for maximum results by providing marketers with more detailed insights into customer actions and preferences.
In addition to tracking data across multiple channels, GA4 includes new features such as predictive analysis, real-time streaming of analytics data, goal tracking and measurement tools, improved reporting capabilities, and advanced visualization options.
Another major difference is the added flexibility that comes with GA4 Unlike Universal Analytics which had limited customization options, GA4 allows users to tailor their reports according to their needs by adding custom parameters or removing existing ones. This makes it easier to track things like website visits, page views, user engagement, events, conversions, and more – without having to write extra code.
These improvements make it easier for businesses to better understand their customer’s needs and create experiences that are more personalized and engaging.
What are the New Terms in GA4? (GA4 Glossary)
1. Attribution – the crux of attribution is how you choose to give different traffic sources credit for conversions on your site.
2. Automatically Collected Events – Google Analytics 4 automatically gathers data for various occurrences. Due to its events-based architecture, GA4, by default, monitors several events. The following incidents only apply to websites and not to apps:
- page_view
- scroll
- session_start
- user_engagement
- video_complete
- video_progress
- video_start
- view_search_results
3. Average Engagement Time – Instead of focusing mostly on bounce rate, Google Analytics 4 emphasizes engagement. The measure from Universal Analytics, known as average time on site, has been replaced with average engagement time. It refers to how long, on average, people stayed on your website.
4. Data Stream – The data stream describes the data Analytics receives from your website. A data stream is obtained once you add a tracking code to your website or app. There will be a stream specific to each property you establish.
5. Default Reporting Entity – The default reporting entity is how you monitor and report on users. You may select to follow someone using their User ID, Google signals, and device, or just the device.
6. Events – Any interaction with your website is now referred to as an event, including page visits. Under the event, we can add two more glossaries. They are
- Event count – The amount of events monitored on your site is referred to as the event count
- Event parameter – event parameters refer to the data gathered about the event.
7. Explore – Creating bespoke reports (or “Explorations”) and funnels utilizing tables and graphs is called Explore.
8. Life Cycle – It describes where your users interact with your website and includes information on user growth, engagement, monetization, and retention.
9. Monetization – unlike e-commerce reports in universal analytics, monetization covers the reports of overview, E-commerce purchases, in-app purchases, and publisher’s ads.
10. Purchase – GA4 records purchases rather than transactions. A purchase is recorded,
Every time a customer makes a successful purchase of a good or service through your website.
11. Traffic Acquisition Report – Since the traffic acquisition report is about sessions, you’ll get information about all sessions, whether the users are new or returning.
12. User Acquisition Report – The user acquisition report includes information on how you brought new website visitors.
How does GA4 Impact your Business?
It’s time to start thinking about how Google Analytics 4 (GA4) can help your business succeed. GA4 offers an entirely new set of analytics capabilities and is designed to provide a better understanding of how users interact with your digital products and services.
Adopting Google Analytics 4 has numerous benefits for businesses, both big and small. Gathering more accurate insights about user behavior and preferences and simplifying reporting processes can improve website performance and customer experience overall.
The added layer of privacy protection is also a major plus for companies wishing to ensure compliance with applicable laws. Ultimately, incorporating GA4 into your business strategy can help your organization stay ahead in today’s competitive market!
If you want to upgrade from universal analytics to Google analytics 4, look no further. Send us a word to Greenwill Techs, and we will be ready to hold your every marketing endeavor.
