You’ve updated to Google Analytics 4 – Now what?

After a decade as the standard web traffic measurement tool, UA stopped processing data in July 2023, and will soon cease to exist entirely.

In its place is Google Analytics 4.

When GA4 was first announced, there was some trepidation from marketers and website owners. After all, any change in measurement systems means the risk of data loss – especially as you can’t transfer data from UA to GA4.

But still, July came and went and GA4 has taken its place on the analytics throne.

If you haven’t made the switch yet, it’s not too late. Get in touch with the team at mtc and they can migrate your site to GA4.

If you have made the switch, the next step is to familiarise yourself with the new system.

Reports

The Reports tab in GA4 will become your new best friend.

While the Home tab gives you a useful snapshot of site performance, Reports is where you’ll get the in-depth information that is vital to your business.

You can see real time information. This is useful if you suspect there are any issues with tracking. Simply open your site, go to the Real Time section in GA4 and make sure you can see your own activity.

Acquisition shows where traffic is coming from, which will let you know if SEO, PPC advertising or social media campaigns are a success.

The Engagement tab is where you can really analyse your traffic on-site.

See what pages are bringing people to the site using the Landing Pages tab. Events shows how people interact with the site and Conversions shows those all important KPIs.

For ecommerce sites, you’ll spend a lot of time on the Monetization tab. This shows what products are selling, what user tech brings in the most revenue and the journey users go through on the site before they buy.

A screenshot of what GA4 looks like – photo: mtc

Engagement v Bounce

One of the main differences between UA and GA4 is the lack of the bounce rate measurement in GA4.

That’s because the Bounce Rate was often misunderstood.

Bounce rate doesn’t show how many people go on the site and leave almost immediately. In fact, they could spend a long time reading an article, but if they don’t record a second hit in UA, they would contribute to the bounce rate.

GA4 measures engagement. Engaged sessions include ones that last longer than 10 seconds. If a page shows a low level of engagement, it indicates that it should be edited, as it could be causing people to leave the site.

Having issues?

GA4 is generally more accurate than UA, as it doesn’t depend on cookies, it can measure both web and app traffic easily and it is designed with mobile usage in mind.

However, if you’re having any issues with GA4 deployment or reporting, and you don’t want to risk losing data, mtc can help.

Their team in Bristol will be able to help your business stay on top of the data that is behind so many business decisions.

All photos: mtc

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