{"id":470,"date":"2024-10-25T14:50:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T13:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/?p=470"},"modified":"2024-10-25T14:50:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T13:50:21","slug":"letting-go-or-how-to-start-falling-in-love-with-ga4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/2024\/10\/25\/letting-go-or-how-to-start-falling-in-love-with-ga4\/","title":{"rendered":"Letting go (or how to start falling in love with GA4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Still pining for Universal Analytics? <\/span>We can help.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all been there: a relationship ends and even though you know in your bones that they weren\u2019t really all that and a bag of Tyrells <\/span>\u2013<\/span> that they could be inflexible, impossible to read at times, and downright gaslighting at others <\/span>\u2013<\/span> you miss them, the familiarity and ease of them. Sure, they were deeply imperfect, but you knew their foibles, could work with them and, nine (well, maybe seven) times out of ten, end the day on good terms.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is how many of us felt when Google finally ditched Universal Analytics (UA), escorting it into a cab and dropping its replacement, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) on our doorstep, eager-to-please smile on its face, clutching a bunch of Esso carnations and promising to sweep us off our feet, analytically speaking. Did it hell, though.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A whole new world<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

New party tricks \u2013 cross platform tracking! Flexible event-based metrics! AI assisted analysis! \u2013 were all very well, but where did deep last-page and next-page paths go? What happened to incremental scroll-depth analysis? Why can\u2019t I find bounce rates? And, why are Unique Page Views no longer a thing?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With GA4, we may have hoped for Steve\/Sophie 2.0, but what most of us experienced was an unconvincing lookalike who moved in, rearranged all the furniture and started calling forks \u2018handprongs\u2019 and towels \u2018un-moisters\u2019.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder a lot of us have come to use and eye GA4 with a deal-breaking blend of suspicion and aversion bordering on hopelessness. But, I\u2019m here to say that there <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> hope; that GA4 doesn\u2019t have to be a doomed rebound; that, with a little understanding and openness to change, it\u2019s possible to let go of our \u2013 let\u2019s face it \u2013 rose-tinted affection for UA and embrace what Google\u2019s new analytics platform can offer. Let\u2019s begin with the fact that makes moving on possible.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

GA<\/span>4 <\/span>isn\u2019t<\/span> UA<\/span> 2.0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

I know, I know \u2013 tell us something we <\/span>don\u2019t<\/span><\/i> know. But this is crucial. Google didn\u2019t just tinker away at UA, iterating and iterating until it was ready for relaunch with a new name. GA4 is a different platform altogether. In fact, if GA4 has a family resemblance to anyone, it\u2019s Google\u2019s mobile development platform, Firebase.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why you can\u2019t replicate the reports you used to use in UA. That\u2019s why certain beloved metrics (?) have either gone in GA4 or have been reframed. For example, if you\u2019re like me, you probably bemoaned the loss of the Bounce Rate metric. However, it\u2019s still there (sort of) as Engagement Rate. Engagement Rate is simply the inverse of Bounce Rate. A positive spin that gets you focusing on those who engage with your content rather than those who didn\u2019t. In fact\u2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

GA4 is <\/span><\/span>all<\/span><\/span> about engagement<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

Engagement is really what we\u2019re here for. We want people \u2013 ideally <\/span>all<\/span><\/i> the people \u2013 to not only see the University\u2019s website, but to engage with it. UA\u2019s Pageviews and Unique Pageviews told you that people had visited certain pages, but for all you knew they might have opened your page on a tab and then forgotten all about it. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

GA4\u2019s Engaged Session metric is much more useful. A Session in GA4 is only triggered <\/span>when a page is open on the active browser <\/span>tab<\/span>, and it\u2019s only an Engaged Session when the user is there for at least 10 seconds, triggers a key event, or has two further page views on the website. And so, while Engaged Sessions for your pages may be lower than UA\u2019s Pageviews, you can be more confident that the figures you have are more meaningful.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

GA4 is there for the whole journey<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

You know I mentioned that GA4 owes <\/span>some of it<\/span>s<\/span> features<\/span> to <\/span>Google\u2019s mobile development platform, Firebase? Well, <\/span>that<\/span>\u2019s<\/span> no accident. Unlike UA, GA4 is designed to <\/span>be able to <\/span>track<\/span> a user\u2019s journey <\/span>across platforms and devices<\/span>. <\/span>So<\/span>, if someone looks at our pages on their smartphone and switches to a laptop<\/span>, GA4 <\/span>is able to<\/span> identify<\/span> that as a single journey<\/span> whereas<\/span>, previously, each device would have <\/span>triggered a new and distinct session.<\/span> In this way, GA4 is much more user-focused than UA, making its insights <\/span>much more useful.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

GA4 <\/span>is <\/span>ready for the future<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

Nobody <\/span>loves<\/span><\/i> change. At least, not at first. But, a.) it\u2019s inevitable and b.) GA4 is trying to meet us halfway. Take its AI-assistant, Analytics Intelligence, in the GA4 search bar. Not sure where to look for the number of visitors from Zambia to our homepage? All you need to do is ask the question as you would another (very knowledgeable) person \u2013 \u2018How many people from Zambia visited our homepage last year?\u2019 and GA4 will give you the answer (it\u2019s 1,934 in case you\u2019re wondering). What\u2019s more, GA4 will also suggest other related reports and data you might want to see.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Try it. Have a play. Ask questions about your pages. I think you\u2019ll be surprised at how much useful information you can surface with simple questions asked in a disarmingly human and natural way. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s<\/span> time to let go<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

If you take one thing away from this <\/span>blog<\/span>,<\/span> I <\/span>hope<\/span> it\u2019s<\/span> this: <\/span>that GA4 <\/span>isn\u2019t<\/span> Universal <\/span>Analytics<\/span> and <\/span>it\u2019s<\/span> not supposed to be<\/span>. Your data may not look exactly like it did before, but G<\/span>DPR already changed how much data <\/span>we can expect to see about visitors to our site. GA4 is not only designed for that <\/span>new <\/span>normal but<\/span> has the features to <\/span>be a genuinely useful tool for anyone shaping content for an audience<\/span>. <\/span>So<\/span>,<\/span> take<\/span> a deep breath, <\/span>let UA go and give GA4 a try. You never know, it might be the start of a beautiful friendship<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Still pining for Universal Analytics? We can help.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019ve all been there: a relationship ends and even though you know in your bones that they weren\u2019t really all that and a bag of Tyrells \u2013 that they could be inflexible,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1613,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[48,29],"tags":[49,25],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analytics","category-content-design","tag-analytics","tag-content"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1613"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}