What is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics 4, also known as GA4, is the latest version of the Google Analytics platform that replaced Universal Analytics. It can track and measure activity on websites and mobile apps, providing a complete view of how people engage with your site or app.
One of the key features of Google Analytics 4 is cross-platform tracking, which enables activity tracking on your website and mobile app. This makes it easier to understand the customer journey and optimize your website to improve the user experience. Even if you’re not an expert, you can gain valuable insights through simplified reports using Google Analytics 4.
Google Analytics 4’s event-based model is what makes it unique. Every user action on your website or app is considered an event. You can use events in Google Analytics 4 to comprehensively view user activity and improve your website or app.
How Does GA4 Work?
Google Analytics collects user data from every website visitor by using page tags. A JavaScript page tag is inserted into the code of each webpage, which runs in the web browser of every visitor. It collects data and sends it to one of Google’s data collection servers. Google Analytics can then generate customizable reports to track and visualize data such as the number of users, bounce rates, average session durations, sessions by channel, page views, goal completions, and more.
The page tag is a web bug or web beacon to gather visitor information. However, the system relies on cookies, so it cannot collect data for users who have disabled them.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool that helps website owners analyze visitor behaviour and identify trends. It offers a range of features such as data collection, analysis, monitoring, visualization, reporting, and integration with other applications. Some of the key features of Google Analytics are:
- Data visualization and monitoring tools such as dashboards, scorecards, and motion charts display changes in data over time.
- Data filtering, manipulation, and funnel analysis.
- Data collection APIs.
- Predictive analytics, intelligence, and anomaly detection.
- Segmentation is used to analyze subsets, such as conversions.
- Custom reports for advertising, acquisition, audience behaviour, and conversion.
- Email-based sharing and communication.
- Integration with other products such as Google Ads, Google Data Studio, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Google AdSense, Google Optimize 360, Google Search Ads 360, Google Display & Video 360, Google Ad Manager, and Google Search Console.
Users can save profiles for multiple websites within the Google Analytics dashboard. They can view details for default categories or select custom metrics to display for each site. The available categories for tracking include content overview, keywords, referring sites, visitors overview, map overlay, and traffic sources overview.
The dashboard can be accessed through a widget or a plugin for embedding into other sites. Customized Google Analytics dashboards are also available from independent vendors.
Important metrics
A metric is a standard unit of measurement used to quantify data. Google Analytics can track up to 200 metrics that help website owners evaluate and improve their performance. Although some metrics may be more relevant to certain businesses than others, below are some of the most popular ones:
- Users: A user refers to a unique or new visitor to the website.
- Bounce rate: The percentage of visitors who viewed only a single page and left the website without further interaction. These visitors only triggered a single request to the Google Analytics server.
- Sessions: A session includes all the interactions a visitor has on a website within a 30-minute time frame.
- Average session duration: This metric shows the average time each visitor spends on the website during a session.
- Percentage of new sessions: This is the percentage of website visits that are first-time visits.
- Pages per session: This metric shows the average number of pages a visitor views during a session.
- Goal completions: The number of times a visitor has completed a specific action on the website, such as filling out a form or purchasing. This is also known as a conversion.
- Page views: The total number of pages viewed on the website.
Metrics vs. dimensions
Google Analytics reports comprise dimensions and metrics. It is crucial to understand the distinction between them to interpret reports accurately.
Dimensions refer to qualitative attributes or labels that describe and organize data. For instance, if you measure the average session length across different regions, “Region” is the dimension. On the other hand, “Average session length” is a quantitative measurement and an example of a metric.
You can customize dimensions in Google Analytics. Examples of common dimensions include:
- Language
- Browser type
- City and country
- Device models
- User age group
Metrics, on the other hand, are quantitative measurements of a single type of data. They enable you to compare measurements across different dimensions. Examples of metrics include average session lengths, page views, pages per session, and average time-on-site
User acquisition data vs. user behaviour data
Businesses can use Google Analytics to obtain various data types for marketing purposes. The user acquisition data provides valuable insights into the channels from which customers are arriving on the website. These channels may include paid and unpaid search engine results, social media links, or simply typing the URL into the browser. Understanding user acquisition data is crucial in maximizing website traffic.
On the other hand, user behaviour data tracks the actions of customers on the website. This data shows how customers engage with the site, how long they stay on each page, how many pages they visit, and whether they interact with videos and graphics. By analyzing user behaviour data, businesses can create web layouts that better connect visitors with the content they are looking for, leading to a more effective user experience. With optimized user experiences based on user behaviour data, businesses can increase the chances of creating sales and conversions.