{"id":54783,"date":"2022-04-07T11:13:48","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T05:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/?p=54783"},"modified":"2022-03-17T17:17:15","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T11:47:15","slug":"ga4-migration-step-up-your-analytics-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/ga4-migration-step-up-your-analytics-game\/","title":{"rendered":"GA4 Migration – Step up your Analytics Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s up with this Google Analytics 4? Is it worth implementing? How exactly will it enhance our existing processes? How to get started with it?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Announcing GA4, Google had this to say:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo help you get better ROI from your marketing for the long term, we’re creating a new, more intelligent Google Analytics that builds on the foundation of the App + Web property we introduced in beta last year. <\/span><\/i>It has machine learning at its core to automatically surface helpful insights and gives you a complete understanding of your customers across devices and platforms\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Sounds pretty promising, doesn\u2019t it?<\/span><\/p>\n

We all know how finite the space of digital analytics is. After all, with just the help of two strong tools, we can unleash the great power that lies within the user engagements with our websites and apps. Google Analytics plus Google Tag Manager. And if there are updates and changes in these tools, you definitely will never want to lay back and not know how to maximize your Revenues with these new superpowers, right? \ud83d\ude1b<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, so the craziest thing about GA4 is, it\u2019s just a matter of a few minutes that will fly you directly to analyzing all your basic website\/app data in the Google Analytics 4 interface without any external help from any Analyst\/Developer. Sounds unreal, I know. But it\u2019s just as easy<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) vs Universal Analytics – What\u2019s the Difference?<\/b><\/p>\n

Different Measuring Models<\/b><\/p>\n

In UA properties, Analytics groups data into sessions, and these sessions are the foundation of <\/span>all reporting. A session is a group of user interactions with your website within a <\/span>given time frame.<\/span><\/p>\n

During a session, Analytics collects and stores user interactions, such as page views, events, and e-commerce transactions,<\/span> as hits<\/i><\/b>. A single session can contain multiple hits, depending on how a user interacts with your website.<\/span><\/p>\n

UA is a session-driven Model<\/b><\/p>\n

In GA4 properties, you can still see session data, but Analytics collects and stores <\/span>user interactions with your website or app <\/span>as events<\/i><\/b>. Events provide insight into your website or app, such as page views, button clicks, user actions, or system events.<\/span><\/p>\n

GA4 is an Event-driven model<\/b><\/p>\n

This Picture can be better cleared with the help of this table below.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What can be confusing is that in Universal Analytics (and all previous version of GA) an event has a category, action and label and is its own hit type. In GA4, there is no category, action, or label. Every hit is an event, and events can (but do not have to) contain parameters.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, in GA4 there is an event called page_view and this event contains the parameters page_location (page URL), page_referrer (previous page URL) and page_title.<\/span><\/p>\n

Awesome!\u00a0<\/span>Now we know how analytics foundationally differentiates and collects the data in GA4.<\/span><\/p>\n

Removal of Monthly Hit Limits<\/b><\/p>\n

Another significant difference between Universal Analytics and GA4 is the removal of monthly hit limits. The free version of Universal Analytics had a monthly limit of 10m hits. That\u2019s gone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, GA4 limits the number of different events that can be captured (500).<\/span><\/p>\n

Analysis explorer\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a data analyst, you\u2019re going to freak out over this feature. <\/span>Google Analytics 4 lets you track the user journey in ways that were never possible before.<\/span><\/p>\n

Google has always let you set up checkout funnels and user flow maps that let you see the user journey that leads to purchases or conversion goals, but now you can do that for literally anything.<\/span><\/p>\n

Want to see how people reach your contact form? Want to see if there\u2019s a step making them drop out before they get in touch?<\/span><\/p>\n

You can see a user flow map for that now\u2014and for pretty well anything else you can imagine.<\/span><\/p>\n

How can I know it\u2019s a GA4 UI?<\/b><\/p>\n

There is one major visual differentiator: how you can just look at the UI and tell whether it\u2019s your same old UA or a GA4 property. So save this up, just click that settings gear, head towards the Admin section, now if it\u2019s a UA View you\u2019re into, you will be looking at three different columns (Account, Property, View).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But if it\u2019s GA4, there will only be two columns( Account and property), as shown in the picture below. Yes damn. <\/span>There are no Views in a GA4 property<\/b>(Crisp and less Cluttered Panel). Views are replaced by \u201c<\/span>Data Streams<\/b>\u201d. For just a clear picture, Like we used to create separate Views to collect Android, iOS or Website data in Universal analytics,<\/span><\/p>\n

Here we will be creating separate Data streams for the same within a single GA4 property.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So, by now, I can easily imagine all those neurons popping up in your heads and asking about \u201c<\/span>Why do we need GA4<\/i><\/b>\u201d when we have UA already implemented and in place. So let\u2019s straight-up head towards the answers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why GA4?<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe new Google Analytics is now the default experience for new properties and is where we\u2019re investing in future improvements. We know there are capabilities many marketers need before fully replacing their existing Analytics setup, so we encourage you to <\/span><\/i>create a new Google Analytics 4 property<\/span><\/i><\/a> (previously called an App + Web property) alongside your existing properties.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

-Vidhya Srinivasan, <\/b>VP, Analytics and Measurement, Google<\/b><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s have a look at some convincing points regarding the question.<\/span><\/p>\n