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      Go Overseas guide to GA4

      A guide to help our partners better understand the changes from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4.

      What's in this guide?

      1. Why GA4 and how to set it up
      2. GA4 fast facts
      3. Key differences between UA and GA4 (fast facts summarized)
      4. Table of UA vs. GA4 metric changes
      5. Tutorial for setting up a Dashboard to track Go Overseas traffic

      Why was GA4 created?

      GA4 was developed to better focus on customer privacy due to the recent implementation of privacy laws such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). 

      GA4 Set Up:

      Note: While UA will stop collecting data on July 1st, you can still access UA's data for around 6 more months. If you want to have access to this data past that 6 months, you'll need to export it.

      GA4 Fast Facts

      • Events-based vs. session based
        • In UA, sessions are the basis for all reporting. A session refers to different interactions (think pageviews, events, or eCommerce transactions) that take place in a given timeframe, and UA collects that information to evaluate your site performance. In GA4, Analytics will collect and store all that information as events. Events can give additional insight regarding details such as button clicks, pages a visitor viewed, and so on. 
      • Tracking across various platforms
        • In the past, UA only tracked website data. Now, GA4 will track app & website traffic together so you can see how people are interacting with your brand across different channels. 
      • More in-depth audience/user insights 
        • The new GA plans to use AI to create predictive metrics. These metrics are based on user behavior (think...what a user has clicked on or viewed), and they can be used to create custom audiences, making it easier to target specific users.  
      • No historical data
        • There won't be historical data when you first get set up, because GA4 will have just started tracking on July 1st, but it will accumulate over time. 
      • Goals are now conversions
        • What does this mean? In UA, you measured conversions by setting up goals. In GA4, a conversion will be a type of event that will replace goals, so you no longer need to set up goals that meet conversion criteria. All you'll need to do is name an event "Application-Started", and mark that it signifies a conversion, then each time that event happens, it will count as a conversion. 

      Note: You can convert your current UA goals into GA4 conversion events by using the GA4 goals migration tool. This makes the transition process easier, and you won't "lose" any of your previous goals. Goals do not exist in GA4, so you'll lose them if they aren't migrated over.

      TL;DR Key Differences 

      • Collects both website and app data to better understand the customer journey
      • Uses event-based data instead of session-based
      • Includes privacy controls such as cookieless measurement
      • Predictive capabilities through AI that help focus on user engagement
        • GA4 provides us with new user buckets like ‘Acquisition’, ‘Engagement’, ‘Monetisation’ and ‘Retention’

      GA4 Metric ChangeGA4 PDF (2) (1)Dashboard Tutorial

       

      Resources and References