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Aug 25, 2022
A person in front of a door learning to migrate to google analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has been around for some while, yet even though it's continuously upgraded with the latest features, many users were not happy in specific regions or didn't be able to fully get acquainted with the most recent interface.

Since privacy concerns concerning the google's Universal Analytics (UA) have been highlighted in addition to Google having set a deadline to turn off UA and when it will be disabled, this is the ideal opportunity to log in and start using GA4.

What exactly is GA4?

Google is able to accomplish the feat of increasing its efforts using machine learning employing techniques to "fill any gap" for users who choose not to permit cookies. It basically gives GA4 an opportunity to keep giving information on user interactions and also keep their privacy-conscious users' data.

Although it's impossible to download Universal Analytics GA4, GA4 is the preferred method of develop fresh GA properties.

What year was GA4 the first one to be launched?

Google initially announced the launch GA4 for testing GA4 towards the end of July, 2019. (available to test). GA4 was officially launched in July of 2019 (available to try). GA4 launch then preceded an official launch in the month of October in 2020. Then it became the default platform for all new properties.

Although GA4 is yet to be recognized by the vast majority of companies, they are more cognizant of the significance of privacy. Several issues have been raised about the way Universal Analytics (UA) deals with it.

What did Google change in their UA during GA4?

Businesses have relied on the insights of Google Analytics for more than 10 years. They've studied the degree of interaction with users in order to gain the understanding of their website's performance. Furthermore, they utilize the data to make informed choices.

Even though GA4 could give similar insights, Google completely overhauled Universal Analytics and the data model it was built upon which means that it's not possible to transfer information from UA to GA.

There was outrage from those working in the business of marketing on web due to the fact that many webmasters have been gathering data and observing seasonal patterns over a period of time. It is a mistake to begin with zero points in an ideal situation.

GA4 is Google's plan for a world without cookies. GA4 promises to enable companies to continue tracking users' interactions using AI and machine learning to "fill the gaps" for individuals who choose not to provide their permission to be tracked.

Cookie message requesting users to accept or deny marketing cookies
Cookie request on .com

What implications does this have implications to GA customers?

Google announced that it would be discontinuing Universal Analytics at the beginning of July 2023. The company plans to end access to old data by the end in 2023.

Oh boy...this can cause headaches.
Universal Analytics (aka the regular GA) will be gone by the month of July, 2023.
https://t.co/vAwVNmBJ8cpic.twitter.com/tDf5YDC1qw
16 March 2022

If you started using Google Analytics after October 14 in 2020, it's most likely to be a GA4 property. The property that was created prior to the date of this post is likely to be a UA property.

Are you ready for the change to GA4 and you are heavily dependent upon UA It is recommended to begin with the opening of a GA4 account in order to build the historical records. A minimum of one calendar year's worth of information can allow you to analyze the data you have against the prior year. It is crucial to determine the changes in seasons.

GA4 Privacy

With the evolution of websites as users are more cognizant of privacy issues, even choosing not to have their data analyzed Google Analytics needed to change the way it operates to give relevant information to owners of websites.

GA4 has addressed the issues mentioned above with the help of AI to develop models that are based on data they've got to present a clear picture of the way that people who aren't being tracked use websites.

Does GA4 GDPR Compliance Meet the Standards?

This is a problem that webmasters across the globe are seeking for solutions for. Even though GA4 is more secure in its privacy policies than its predecessor and has numerous privacy choices that are able to be set to restrict the extent of monitoring.

In reality, a Twitter survey conducted by SEO specialist Aleyda Solis stated that up to a third of the users might be thinking about abandoning Google Analytics altogether.

Today, it was announced today that Universal Analytics will stop processing hits starting on July 1st, 2023. The question is, then, what's your strategy?
March 16 , 2022

The Italian Data Protection Authority, Garante, found that Google transfers illegally user's personal data in the US including IP addresses, details of browsers Operating system screens and resolutions along with selected languages and the date and time that users visit websites. They are also in breach of the GDPR laws.

What's the difference in GA4 and Universal Analytics?

Google was introduced for the first time to GA in the year 2005. While it's been updated over time, however, it's still built upon the bases which are not designed to support internet usage the way that we do today.

Google Analytics 4 is a complete overhaul that is an overhaul of Universal Analytics designed with a the goal of tracking all user interactions across different gadgets, and giving users the ability to monitor their time when they switch between mobiles, laptops and tablets. etc.

Data Models: What's New?

Data models help assist Google Analytics on how to handle the data gathered by visitors to specific web pages. The main distinction between GA4 and UA is the way in which the models for data function, which is why Google cannot effortlessly move users from UA to GA4.

The UA data model uses pages and sessions, both of which were created more than 15 years ago in the era in which tablets and smartphones were not entirely made.

The model that is based on sessions collects information through analyzing the user's interactions over the specified period of time. It has been in error because users could be affected by a variety of goals in that same session. However, it is just one of the purposes thought of in UA.

The GA4 data model is based on events and variables, as well as the concept of cross-platform tracking in its foundation. This means that you'll have more precise reports as customers move between gadgets.

What's the difference between my traffic? GA4 What's the Difference?

The methods employed to collect data from the users have changed and it's likely that your user information will change between the two variants that use Google Analytics, which is why there's not a simple method to change from UA GA4 to GA4. As with other metrics like bounce rates and conversion rates.

Google Analytics 4 vs Universal Analytics Comparative analysis of Attributes

There's a chance that GA4 includes some exciting new alternatives, however, certain UA functions you've come to are familiar with haven't been transferred to GA4.

GA4 Conversion Tracking

For UA goals, the objective could be established with the help of the events or locations. It is possible to set the goal up by using duration, time and. For example, you can create the goal "Form Submit" and connect it to the event that occurs after a person fills out a form. Additionally, you can include an "Checkout Completion" goal, that is activated whenever a user arrives on your checkout website.

GA4 is, by itself eliminated 'goals' rather the system tracks conversions. It brings the number of conversions listed to thirty. GA4 conversions have to be made by making use of an event-based tracker that relies on Pages, Scrolls and Outbound clicks and search results on the site for video, engagement with the site, and the downloading of the file.

In order to set up conversion tracking in GA4 it's enough to connect an individual event with the conversion.

GA4 includes every single conversion event regardless of how many of conversions that occur by an individual user within the course of a single session. This is why there are several differences in GA4 data on conversions and UA.

How do I add the conversions in GA4?

Start by selecting Configure then Events on the left menu. Choose each event you wish to record in terms of conversions and mark the occasions as converted.

GA4 report showing all events, with toggles to mark events as conversion events
GA4 Conversion Events

Click Conversions to view the conversions you've made.

Similar to UA modifications, GA4 converts can only be monitored from the time they're first made. That means you won't be able to track recent changes to the historic information.

How do I create custom Conversions with GA4

If you want to create a custom-made change, click the option to create an Event to create a New Event or modify an existing event in order to modify any current events. Make sure to type the event's name in the appropriate enclosure. When you save, you are able to create your event as the conversion.

Read the complete Google guide to find more information on the procedure of setting customized calendars.

GA4 Conversion Rate

It is possible to track the percentage of conversions in any given time that lead to conversion making use of the rate at which users convert that is the percent of users who initiated an event of conversion, as well as the rate at which sessions convert which represents the ratio of sessions that occurred during the time where a conversion took place.

GA4 Ecommerce Tracking

The Monetization reports included in GA4 let you know the revenue that was earned by your site. These reports will also provide other information to aid you in understanding which parts of your site performed the best, generating the highest revenues.

Check out the report on Monetization For a review of these reports on Monetization select Reports from the left navigation and select Monetization.

The overview report of your financial performance report offers a short review of the earnings you have earned on your application as well as your web website.

This Ecommerce purchase report allows you to look up more specific data regarding the earnings made from certain items as well as the interactions with those items.

Learn more about setting up the feature of event tracking of E-commerce on your site or apps.

GA4 Reports

GA4 includes a range of reports built in which can be used to track your websites and apps.

GA4 Reporting is now available in UI

GA4 reports are available within every report section of the menu left. However, they're also included in the snapshot reports provided within the dashboard for Home. home dashboard. Ability to expand any snapshot report by clicking the hyperlinks on reports cards.

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As with UA GA4, each of the GA4 reports GA4 has an overview dashboard with important reports. They are completely adjustable with the ability develop reports that will be specifically for the specific parameters and dimensions that can be crucial to your company.

In addition to these in addition, you have the ability to make the comparisons by using filters to are based on the standard variation of the data. They can also add other series into the chart. It allows you to analyze the trends of different segments across time. Each chart can include several filters (e.g. country, device, operating system, etc.)

Saving Reports are included in GA4

It is possible that you have noticed there isn't any report that you could personalize in the GA4 tab in GA4. For custom reports to be created within GA4 it is required to navigate to the Explore section of the left menu , and begin by making an inquiry. You can either create completely new reports using either the option of a blank option, or you could use any template that are pre-built.

What do you need to create Your Landing Pages Report in GA4

We're all familiar with figures that show the amount of people who have a frequent visit to specific landing pages throughout the course of time. regardless of whether you're trying to find the best landing pages in a specific period of time or employing filters to narrow your search to landing page that have been specifically designed for.

While GA4 has no website that can be accessed via its default dashboards however, it's very easy to do this.

  1. Choose Explore from the left menu and then click "Blank to start a fresh exploration.
  2. Be sure to provide your report with a proper name (e.g. your report is on the webpages) prior to choosing the desired date.
  3. Click Dimensions and search for the website. Be sure to tick the box before pressing to click the Import button.
  4. Click Metrics, then select every single one of these metrics that you would like to include within the report. Some examples include Total users along with Conversion Rates, Bounce Rates and conversions with the Total Revenue.
  5. Double-click every dimension or metric that you've added to include them in the report.
  6. If you're looking to filter sites to display certain pages or pages in groups then click the tab Settings. Then select the filters and then select the dimension, metric or dimension you'd like to erase. In this case, if you want to view the blog's entire content you can change an URL on the blog's websiteto contain"/blog/".
example of a filter set to include landing pages containing the text /blog/

It's possible to choose the kind of report that you would like to be able to see (e.g. table, donut chart, line chart, etc.) when you select any of the options under the section Visualization.

GA4 screenshot showing visualisation settings

If you want to add more than one visualization (e.g. charts and tables) It is possible to copy the report first, and then change the visualization to the original report.

screenshot from GA4 showing how to duplicate a table

It is possible to alter the names of forms to give them the proper title. This can be done by pressing the name with a double click.
   

GA4 screenshot showing updated title

Views, Data Streams and Views, Data Streams, and

In the universal Analytics view, these views enable users to construct specific subsets of properties that have unique settings that they need that they require for their setup. For GA4 views the views are replaced by data streams.

What exactly is GA4 stream of information?

Data streams could provide GA4 with a solution for UA Views. As per Google Data streams is " A flow of information that comes directly from your website or application to Analytics." Data streams can be classified into three groups:

  • Web (for websites)
  • iOS (for iOS apps)
  • Android (for Android apps)

In GA4 it is not possible to build the capability of having multiple views. Instead, it is possible to create several streams of data.

What do I need to learn about setting up Data Streams?

To add a data streaming on your account, select the button Admin on the right side of the menu left. Choose your account and the property that you'd like to alter, and then select the Data Streams button in the column for properties. Then, click to create a brand new stream by selecting iOS applications, Android app, or web.

If you're looking to add an information stream for your site, type in the URL of your website (this is your domain name, e.g. domain.com) and then create the stream's title, e.g. " streaming on the web".

Enhanced measure is the most popular option, that automatically records webpages viewed as well as events. It's possible to deactivate this option by simply selecting the switch (this can be done later on if you'd prefer to).

Google suggests that, in the majority of situations it is best to have the same data stream in each type of account (web/app) because adding multiple streams in a web account could produce uneven outcomes. More information on this issue on Google's guidelines on creating the design of GA4 accounts. GA4 account..

It is necessary to include an Analytics tag on your website prior to having data being displayed on your new GA4 property. Learn the process of including the GA4 tag on your WordPress website.

Monitoring Subdomains GA4

One of the main advantages of the brand latest gtag.js component is that it is able to make cookies on the highest possible level of domain. It means GA4 can monitor users on all subdomains without the minimum of setup.

GA4 UTM Tracking

Google is able to support most of the tracking parameters utilized by UTM It means you're able to continue including these parameters in your campaigns that you monitor in GA4. They can be found in the Traffic Acquisition Report.

The search bar in GA4 lets you access immediately reports that correspond to the query you typed. Auto-suggest can help you find similar problems before you begin typing which can reduce time and effort while helping you find reports.

The GA4 search box can also provide instant response This means that you are able to inquire about things like "how many conversions we receive in the last week?"

Example of a search box query asking "how many conversions did we get last week?" with the answer showing as 519

GA4 Search Bar GA4 search bar can also provide Google assistance documents that can be very helpful to answer any questions you have regarding the best way to create your GA4 account.

What do I need to do to switch over GA4

Do you want to jump and open GA4 account? GA4 account? Before you cut any connections to UA make sure to transfer your historical data out of UA.

How do you download Your Historical Data from UA

Google previously stated in the past that it's not possible to move your data over to UA for GA4 because of the new platform, which uses a different model of data (We talked about this issue in a brief manner earlier, but Google offers more details in the documents). It is possible to download historical data from UA.

For manually exporting data, export data manually . To manually export data, go to the GA report you would like to download. Similar to Acquisition, All channels. Select the filters and segments you would like to apply and then select EXPORT in the menus located on the right. You can download it in the form of pdffile, Google Sheet, Excel document or CSV.

While it is useful to keep valuable information, however there are some restrictions:

  • At present, there are only two dimensions at once.
  • Rows are limited to 5 kilometers
  • data could be samples (the check-mark in green on the left hand side can be seen when data isn't being sampled)

The article in SEJ provides a range of various ways of downloading your information.

Migration from GA4

Although Google provides a range of tools to assist you in achieving your goals to GA4 however, you'll need to begin again to configure your account.

How do I create the Google Analytics 4 property Using the already existing U.A. Tracking Code

If you're already making use of Universal Analytics with gtag.js, it's easy to connect this feature to your brand new GA4 account, by linking tags on your site and avoiding the hassle of adding an extra tracking tag.

How do I add Connected Website Tags

  1. It is possible to go through the Administrator at the top of the menu on the left. Select your login and the property you wish to buy.
  2. Click Data Streams under Property
  3. Select the internet tab and then select the Web Data streaming..
  4. Select Manage linked websites tags to get to the Google tag section.
  5. In Connected Tags, enter the tracking ID of the UA property you want to join (you will find it within the Administration section of your UA account ). You will find your property's Tracking Details and Tracking ID
  6. Name it (e.g. [Site name[Site name[Site name] UA ID)
  7. Click to connect.

GA4 Setup Assistant

GA4 Setup Assistant GA4Setup Assistant is utilized to establish your brand-new GA4 property. It's able to work in conjunction with the current Universal Analytics property. This means that you'll have an access point to UA property (for this moment! ).

The GA4 Setup Assistant Wizard does not contain any prior information on the property you're buying Therefore, the earlier you begin earlier, the quicker you'll be able to begin gathering the information.

Screenshot from GA4 showing the setup assistant in the left menu

Check out this post on Google for step-by-step directions about how you can use GA4 configuration wizard to create a GA4 Configuration Wizard to build an GA4 property for your site using Universal Analytics.

GA4 Goals Migration Tool

GA4 has a program that allows users to automatically transfer goals between GA4 and UA to GA4. To use this feature, is required to be on GA4's "Editor" Post.

Design your own brand-new GA4 property and then select the Administration button. Then, you need to set up the Assistant for the column which is assigned to your Property Then, navigate to your existing goals in the associated Universal Analytics property and click on Start. Select the goal you'd like transfer to your GA4 property.

Screenshot from GA4 showing option to import conversions from universal analytics

You can also track your current conversions in the GA4 properties. They are located under Settings > Conversions in the Conversion Event table. The duration can be as long as 24-hours until the conversion has been completed.

Additional information about this subject is available can be found in Google's help documentation.

Dimensions and Metrics of GA4

Many metrics and dimensions are automatically added in the setup process for GA4 However, some need an additional configuration to be able to be activated.

Users

Universal Analytics has two User variables: The Total User, which are users who had one or more sessions in the duration specified, and new users who are the first time users that accessed the website during the specified time periods.

Within Google Analytics 4 there are three user measures: Total Users, New Users, along with the active user.

"Active User" is by far the main measure of user activity within GA4 and is comprised of the number of users who have visited sites or an application. Active users may be created by any user that is currently in the active session or in the event that Analytics gathers:

  • The first-time visit occasion is also known as the engagement_time_msec value , is derived from a web site
  • The initial_open event or the engagement_time_msec parameter of an Android application
  • The first_open or user-engagement event that comes from an iOS app

Most reports in UA are based on Users. It is calculated based on the number of users. GA4 too is based on Users however it is calculated using Active Users and calculated differently and may cause confusion when combined with the use of the same metrics.

An equivalent metric for GA4 can be found on Explorations to glance at GA4's total GA4 users.

Engagement Rate

Engagement rate, which is dependent on the proportion of engaged sessions, is determined by the number of sessions lasting longer than 10 seconds. had the event of conversion or had at least 2 pageviews or screenviews.

Bounce Rate

The GA4 Bounce Rate refers to the percent of sessions with no engagement. Therefore, it's contrary to engagement rates.

In GA4 the users who have spent longer than 10 minutes on a site aren't considered to bounced, and thus are better.


GA4 Training Program

If you're seeking more details about the options with Google Analytics 4, and are interested in learning the best ways to make use of the most recent capabilities offered with GA4 while also benefiting from an internationally-recognized certificate, this is the perfect time to enroll on the Google Analytics 4 training program..

Today, we're officially launching Google Analytics 4 today. Google Analytics 4 training program and certification by Skillshop.
https://t.co/qzst6Am5uM
16 August 2022

Summary

If you've been putting off switching to GA4 it's the moment to start. If you're not yet ready to make the effort required to learn about GA4, you can easily use both versions at identical time. This gives you continued accessibility to UA reports you know and enjoy up to the point that UA disappears.

There is no doubt that Google will shut down in July 2023. It is therefore essential to switch over to GA4 whenever you're able, the quicker you'll be able to begin understanding the future direction of Google Analytics.

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