What is Google Analytics 4 and why is it important to me?

Google Analytics 4 is an analytics service that enables you to measure traffic and engagement across your websites and apps.  Google Analytics Universal will stop collecting data on July 1, 2021 (and be sunsetted by the end of the year), at which point GA4 will be the only analytics property available through Google.  Our recommendation?  Set up your GA4 account now so you can have more data to work from when making digital marketing decisions.  This will help in becoming more familiar with the interface, and you’ll have much more data to work from.

GA4 is designed for the future of online measurement: 

• Collects both website and app data to better understand the customer journey
• Uses event-based data instead of session-based
• Includes privacy controls such as cookieless measurement, and behavioral and conversion modeling
• Predictive capabilities offer guidance without complex models
• Direct integrations to media platforms help drive actions on your website or app

How is GA4 different from Google Analytics Universal?

Appearance-wise, GA4 was created to be simpler. The dashboard looks different, and the data looks different too. More than that, the collection and modeling methods (and priorities) have shifted for Google Analytics in GA4:

Data Collection Method

GA4 collects both app and website data and uses events instead of session-based data. This means you’ll want to rethink your data in terms of page views rather than what happens within the session. Additionally, Google asserts that you’ll be able to see better distribution of data because it’s being reliably collected across devices and platforms.

Focus on Privacy and First-Party Data

With the rise of consumer data privacy requirements, Google has begun implementing its method of data collection. GA4 has a focus on privacy and the use of first-party data rather than third-party data that was acquired through tracking and web cookies. (It can work with or without cookies.)

Modeling and Behavioral Conversions

You can set up your specific type of conversion and track the way you want. For example, if you want to see whether your web visitor is going to their shopping cart and then checking out, or if they watch a video and then call you, you can track those visitor pathways.

Additionally, two more big changes come with GA4: 

• There is no limit to the number of sessions you can track (GA Universal had an upper limit of 500k web visits)
• The bounce rate tracking is being replaced with engagement rate tracking, which can be more valuable when determining what users are engaging with (rather than what they’re not).

It’s important to note: the results from Google Analytics Universal vs. GA4 will not look the same. Because of the differences (particularly in measurement/tracking) mentioned above, the results will definitely be different—so don’t panic when your page views don’t line up. For example, you might see a higher user count (active user data) for GA4 vs. Google Analytics Universal. Or, session counts may look lower because they’re being counted differently. You simply can’t compare your reports in Google Analytics Universal against your GA4 reports because they’re not apples to apples—Google is measuring things differently.