what is ga4

Google Analytics 4 (GA4): A Comprehensive Overview

ByJittipong Loespradit

This post is also available in: Thai

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is Google’s latest iteration of its web analytics platform, succeeding Universal Analytics (UA) which ceased operations in 2023. GA4 serves as the modern cornerstone for website performance measurement, essential for marketers, data analysts, and business owners to master.

Path to Success with Google Analytics

To maximize the benefits of GA4, it’s crucial to understand the comprehensive path to success, which begins with data collection and culminates in informed decision-making:

  1. Collect Data: Install the tracking code and configure it to encompass all interactions you wish to measure.​
  2. Create Goals: Translate business objectives into conversions or events within GA4 to effectively measure success.​
  3. Measure Insights: Utilize reports and visualization tools to comprehend user behavior and the effectiveness of each touchpoint.​
  4. Take Action: Use the gathered data to enhance user experience (UX), optimize marketing campaigns, and continually refine various funnels.

What is GA4?

GA4 is a data analytics system that employs an event-based model, replacing the traditional session-based approach. Every interaction—such as clicks, page_views, scrolls, and video_starts—is recorded as an event, providing a more precise understanding of the user journey. GA4 excels in cross-platform tracking, real-time in-depth analysis, and leverages machine learning to predict user behaviors, such as churn rates or revenue forecasts.

Getting Started with GA4

  • Create Property: Begin by visiting analytics.google.com, creating a new property, and setting up your domain.​
  • Tracking Setup: Use the Measurement ID to embed in your website or connect through Google Tag Manager.​
  • Event & Conversion Configuration: Utilize predefined or custom events to track behaviors aligned with your business objectives. GA4 offers a flexible and detailed event system, categorized into four main types:
  1. Automatically Collected Events: Events like first_visit, session_start, and page_view are automatically tracked upon installation.​
  2. Enhanced Measurement Events: Events such as scrolls, outbound_clicks, and site_searches can be toggled on or off without additional coding.​
  3. Recommended Events: Suitable for specific use cases like logins, purchases, or sign_ups, GA4 recommends standard naming conventions.​
  4. Custom Events: Users can define event names and parameters to measure behaviors crucial to their business.

To set up conversions, navigate to Admin > Events and toggle the status to Conversion, or create new ones from scratch. These Conversion Events become fundamental in measuring ROI and analyzing funnels.

Understand the 4 Main Areas of Reporting

GA4 organizes reports into four primary categories, covering all aspects of the user journey:

  • Realtime: Displays data on active users currently on your website or app, ideal for monitoring live behaviors such as campaign participation or new event activations.​
  • Life Cycle: Comprises four sub-sections—Acquisition, Engagement, Monetization, and Retention—to analyze everything from user acquisition to retention strategies.​
  • User: Presents data on demographics, interests, devices, and technologies used, aiding in identifying your website’s primary target audience.​
  • Explore: A space for analysts seeking to delve into custom user behavior analyses, employing techniques like path analysis, segment overlap, and funnel exploration.

GA4 Integrations

GA4 integrates deeply and comprehensively with other Google tools:

  • Google Ads: Track cross-platform campaign performance.​
  • BigQuery: Export raw data for in-depth analysis or to build additional machine learning models.​
  • Search Console / AdSense / Firebase: Combine these tools to understand performance across organic search, ad revenue, and mobile apps.

YouTube Integration

If you have a YouTube channel and embed videos on your website, GA4 can track video viewing behaviors:

  • Determine whether viewers start, stop, or complete videos (via events like video_start, video_progress, video_complete).​
  • Integrate data with YouTube Analytics to assess how website traffic influences YouTube view counts.​
  • Utilize this information to plan content strategies more accurately, especially for funnels requiring educational videos.

Attribution Model & Conversion

Attribution Modeling in GA involves assigning conversion credit using various models, each with unique characteristics suitable for different contexts:

  • First Click: Assigns all credit to the first channel the user clicked before conversion, suitable for measuring channels that create awareness.​
  • Last Click: Assigns all credit to the final touchpoint before conversion, ideal for immediate outcome assessments.​
  • Linear: Distributes credit equally across all touchpoints in the conversion path, appropriate for businesses where each step plays an equally important role.​
  • Time Decay: Gives more credit to touchpoints closer in time to the conversion, suitable for funnels with longer decision-making periods.​
  • Data-driven Attribution (DDA): Utilizes machine learning to analyze data from each touchpoint and assigns credit based on the actual impact of each channel. GA4 recommends using this model for the most accurate analysis.

Selecting the appropriate attribution model helps identify which channels genuinely influence conversions the most and where to allocate additional resources.

Cross-Device Tracking

GA4 supports Cross-device measurement, a crucial feature in a world where users switch between multiple devices, such as starting a search on mobile and completing a purchase on desktop or tablet. Cross-device analysis helps businesses understand the complete customer journey:

  • Use User-ID to accurately identify the same user across different devices, provided there’s a consistent authentication system in place.
  • Reports such as Device Overlap help visualize how many users access the site using more than one device, while Device Paths show the sequence of device usage, e.g., starting on mobile and moving to desktop.
  • Cross-device Conversions can be measured using GA4 and Google Ads, allowing you to analyze the performance of campaigns where users engage on one device but convert on another.
  • The User-ID Coverage Report displays the proportion of traffic tracked with User-ID, which helps assess the quality of persistent user data collection.
  • GA4 also supports cross-device remarketing and audience segmentation by leveraging combined behavior across multiple devices.

Behavioral Analysis

Behavioral Analysis is the process of studying user interactions on a website or app to understand what they do, where they click, what content they engage with, and whether they are likely to convert. With GA4’s event-based model, you can track behaviors at a granular level, enabling advanced segmentation and journey optimization tailored to individual user needs.

  • Session Path: Tracks the sequence of pages or actions a user takes before converting or exiting, helping you identify content flow and potential drop-off points.
  • Funnel Visualization: Analyzes movement through each stage of the conversion funnel, revealing where users drop off and which stages need improvement.
  • Landing Page Performance: Evaluates the effectiveness of the first page users land on, using metrics like bounce rate, engagement, and conversions to optimize key entry points.
  • User Retention: Assesses whether users return within defined time windows, providing insights into customer loyalty and product-market fit.
  • Audience Segmentation: Categorizes users based on behavior, acquisition channels, or attributes, supporting personalized experiences and better campaign targeting.

For example, in an e-commerce business, funnel visualization can be used to analyze where users drop off in the purchase process and optimize accordingly.

Data Visualization Integrations

Integrating GA4 with data visualization tools allows for clearer insight into user data through interactive and visually intuitive dashboards. This supports both analysts and stakeholders in making data-driven decisions with ease.

  • Looker Studio (formerly Data Studio): Connects directly with GA4 using a native connector to build interactive, shareable dashboards.
  • Tableau / Power BI: Use BigQuery to export GA4 data and create advanced visualizations and analytics.
  • Google Sheets: Utilize the GA4 add-on for creating custom spreadsheet reports and perform calculations or formatting before linking to other visualization tools.
Google Analytics 4 Looker Studio Template

GA4 & Member System Integration

For websites with a Membership System, integrating GA4 is critical for understanding users at an individual level and measuring long-term relationships such as LTV (Lifetime Value), CLV (Customer Lifetime Value), and retention—while maintaining compliance with privacy policies.

  • Use User-ID to link session data from multiple devices or multiple sessions of the same user, allowing for accurate long-term behavior tracking.
  • Implement hashed identifiers (e.g., hashed email or phone numbers) to collect PII-safe data that respects privacy policies while enabling anonymous association with events or conversions.
  • Integrate GA4 with CRM or CDP systems such as HubSpot, Salesforce, or Segment to track the user lifecycle, score leads, or trigger behavior-based automations.
  • Export audiences built from behavioral data to marketing automation or advertising platforms to enable personalized remarketing at scale.
  • Configure GA4 to recognize member IDs using Tag Manager and a well-defined login process, ensuring accurate session stitching and avoiding session fragmentation.

How to send User-ID to GA4 using Google Tag Manager (GTM):
You can configure the transmission of the user_id using several methods, such as pushing it through the dataLayer.

Important Notes on Using User-ID

  • Do not use Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as plain email addresses or phone numbers as user_id.
  • Use a randomized string ID, like 83asda9sa2, which can be looked up in your internal system but does not reveal personal data on its own.
  • user_id should not be registered as a custom dimension, as it could cause high cardinality issues in your reports.
  • Historical sessions prior to capturing user_id will not be stitched retroactively, unless you’re working with data in BigQuery to manually associate past interactions.

Cautions & Considerations

Although GA4 is a powerful tool, there are still important limitations and caveats to consider to ensure accurate data analysis:

  • Engagement Rate vs. Bounce Rate: GA4 replaces the traditional bounce rate with engagement rate, calculated based on sessions that last more than 10 seconds, trigger a conversion, or include at least two pageviews. This change affects how we interpret engagement performance.
  • Data Sampling: While GA4 reduces sampling in most cases, reports using advanced filters or long date ranges may still be subject to sampling, potentially leading to less precise insights.
  • Steep Learning Curve: GA4’s UI/UX is significantly different from Universal Analytics. Users will need to invest time in understanding the new flow, event structure, and interface layout.
  • Complex Configuration: Certain setups like cross-domain tracking, user-ID implementation, and enhanced measurement require careful configuration. Mistakes can result in inaccurate data that’s hard to retroactively correct.
  • Limited Built-in Reports: Some familiar reports from UA, such as behavior flow or detailed landing page reports, are not available by default in GA4. You’ll need to use the Explore feature or connect external tools to recreate them.

Conclusion

GA4 represents the future of digital analytics—spanning websites, mobile apps, and advertising platforms. Understanding each dimension of GA4 empowers you to make smarter, data-driven decisions that fuel business growth.

This article aims to give you a clear, confident understanding of the GA4 universe and help you unlock the full potential of your data analytics.

Credit :
https://www.catchr.io/template/looker-studio-templates/google-analytics-template
https://skillshop.exceedlms.com/student/catalog/list?category_ids=7879-google-digital-garage
https://ivanhoe.pro/google-data-studio-templates/google-analytics/
https://jsndesign.co.uk/blog/ga4-data-redaction-clean-pii-in-a-simple-way/
https://measureschool.com/google-analytics-4-attribution-models/

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