Google Analytics has announced a major update to their analytics product. Google Analytics 4 (called GA4) is the default for all Google Analytics accounts moving forward and includes some major changes. We plan to use GA4 to benefit our clients ahead of other companies and are installing both classic analytics and the new GA4 product in anticipation of these big changes.

The new Google Analytics product (GA4) offers a host of new features for marketers and businesses alike, including many that were previously only available to premium accounts like GA360. Compared to earlier versions of Google Analytics, the latest update places more emphasis on an event-driven data model. Early transition to this product offers a competitive advantage and greater data use.

GA4 is analytics in a cookie-less future. As third-party cookies are phased out, Google anticipates that data sparsity due to political pressures will become the new norm. Without cookies, many will rely on machine learning to fill in the data gaps and that is the crux of this new analytics product. Google recommends site owners set up both analytics and run them in parallel, for now.

Is your PPC agency on it? We are.

Major Updates For GA4:

·      Emphasis is now on users and their interactions, less on mundane metrics.

·      Driven by new privacy laws and cookie-blocking user preferences.

·       Help companies comply with current and new privacy regulations - a trend globally.

·       Tracks both web and app data.

·       No more Audience, Acquisition, Behavior, and Conversion menus.

·       New“Lifecycle” section focused on Acquisition, Engagement, Monetization, and Retention.

·      Artificial Intelligence (AI) to predict customer actions and value, like purchase probability.

·      28 days from GA4 installation for predictive models to deliver tracking insights.

·      Bounce Rate (largely overvalued metric) is gone& replaced by better user engagement metrics.

·      Optimized PPC ad spend for audiences that are most likely to convert to customers.

·      Get expert advice to upgrade to GA4 and run in parallel with exiting GA for now.

·      Fresh data across the board. GA4 collects new session/user data and won’t have historical data.

·      Existing Universal Analytics won’t lose data so it’s best to maintain it and GA4 on site.

·      No “Goals” in GA4, just conversions that are event-based (not URL based) & all hits are events.

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