Walkthrough of the new Google Analytics 4 property user interface, looking at how reports and data are organized in Google Analytics 4. Check it out for an overview of what to expect in reporting when you get started with the new Google Analytics 4.
Google’s Analytics reporting tool is widely used by millions of businesses and websites to track user interaction across web domains, mobile apps, and offline APIs. Most businesses know this platform as the tool that helps them track the amount of web traffic they get, monitor important marketing channels, and to measure their main KPIs. And now with Google Analytics 4, Google is offering a new version that’s very different from the traditional “universal” Analytics.
The new Google Analytics 4 comes with a bunch of key features that make it very different from the old version. One of the biggest differences is the new data modeling feature that uses AI to fill in gaps in data where traditional Analytics may be blocked by cookie-consent rules, blocked JavaScript and a focus on privacy.
Highlights of the New Google Analytics 4
- It’s built with machine learning as the main form of data measurement, using “modeling” that can extrapolate from existing data and make assumptions about site traffic/user behavior. The new AI powered “Insights” feature is meant to automatically highlight helpful information for marketers.
- It’s focused on giving marketers a “more complete understanding of the customer journey across devices.” And it seems that it’s more focused on measuring an end-to-end shopper journey, and not just individual metrics across devices/pages/segments.
- It’s designed to be “future proof” and work in a world without cookies or identifying data.
- Google Analytics 4 features “data streams” instead of the views and segments used by old Universal Analytics properties.
- There is no “view” level section of GA4. Whereas traditional Universal Analytics famously has three levels (Account, Property, and View), GA4 only has Account and Property levels.
- Whereas “event tracking” in classic Analytics required modified Analytics code or gtag.js script, Google Analytics 4 claims to enable editing, tracking and fine-tuning of events within the UI. This means interactions like clicks, page-scroll, and more.
New Capabilities of GA4
- GA4 will allow marketers to edit, correct and fine-tune the way events are tracked in their analytics without having to editing on-site code.
- Data Import can now include a wide range of data from non-website sources (like apps for example) all within one property.
- Cross-domain tracking that does not require code adjustments either, can be done within the UI.
- A “Life Cycle Report” which seems to be one of the biggest changes in Analytics and focuses on user journey. Plus “templated reports for ecommerce funnels” give marketers a way to display and visualize data – a feature that before was only available in Analytics 360 accounts.