10 Google Analytics mistakes in the configuration that you should avoid

Avoid these common mistakes if you don’t want to mess your data up.
Over the years, I have worked with many Google Analytics 4 properties and these mistakes occurred quite frequently. The result? Missing or incorrect data.
=== TIMESTAMPS ===
00:00 Intro
00:47 Mistake #1
01:39 Mistake #2
03:40 Mistake #3
05:33 Mistake #4
07:10 Mistake #5
09:34 Mistake #6
11:33 Mistake #7
12:24 Mistake #8
13:33 Mistake #9
15:10 Mistake #10
21:34 Final words
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#googleanalytics4 #googletagmanager

[@AnalyticsMania]

UPDATE: Google just changed how GA4 tags are managed in Google Tag Manager. GA4 configuration tag is no longer available. Learn more about the update here kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z4GymmR4j92Lrck

[@yutoando357]

Great as always. thanks, Julius : ) Mistake#6 is a great tip to save limitation of custom dimension.

[@lidiannybotto6491]

Thanks, Julius. I'm using the free version of GA4, and I'd like your recommendation regarding subdomains. In the UA, I used to have a different view for each subdomain. In GA4, do you recommend creating a property for each subdomain (all web streams)? Also, once I set up internal traffic, there is no need to have a separate property with all traffic and another with only external traffic? I appreciate any guidance regarding this topic.

[@govanhillwarrior]

Thanks Julius, yet again your videos have helped me solve a massive headache!

[@JulienSimon1up]

Thanks Julius. Great content as always

[@oliver.n278]

Mistake #10 seems to be a big issue when dealing with Single-Page-Applikation Websites (like we do). Maybe worth an extra Video (SPAs with GA4?)

[@kevinruckstuhl2378]

Disable enhanced tracking and lookup SPA tracking. Should still work.

[@johnboy4809]

hi Julius, love your channel and have just subscribed. Do you have a video going over the tracking logged in users and status

[@anphung4214]

Great content as always!

[@dmitrypodoleev6992]

Julius hello. Thank you for your staff,it really helps us to work with GTM. I have 1 question with filters as I don't understand yet how are they working. So, for example I am configuring GA4 property and events using the GTM. I also have employees that work with site. Firstly I need to put all their ip in internal filter. But then What would be with my debugView as I use it if I put my IP to internal traffic filter also? Or i need to put my ip to developer filter traffic. Or to put nowhere? the question in general I need to use debugView and not to pollute ga4 data with my events.

[@danyangwu3236]

hi Julius, really great content, and super thanks for sharing as always! I am thinking about the 10th mistake. The login status to me seems more like a user property like it is not really an event scope thing to measure. Would it solve the problem if we set it as a user property? Maybe that value will stick to every event and also change the following events automatically if the status has been changed?

[@MarcinMilowski]

Yes it should work

[@jondal]

I have a question regarding number 4. I always create events additionally in ga4 because just setting events in gtm is not enough. The events rarely show in ga4 reports, even after couple weeks. I can even see them in debug view, but they are nowhere to be found in any statistic. I have to make Event, as well as conversion with the same name, to be able to track them correctly. I work with many accounts, and this has been my experience with custom events so far.

[@matteoboscolotube]

Smart stuff Julius, thanks

[@feedmystarvingchildren]

Thanks for your videos. I'm having an issue where I set up a GA4 event tag in GTM. It fires correctly when I test in GTM. However, it does not seem to be pushing to GA4. The debug mode in GA4 doesn't pick it up and it does not appear in my configuration>events list even after 2.5 days. Wondering if there's another common mistake that I may have made?

[@user-bl5xb4fs8p]

Much appreciation.

[@otismartin6088]

Regarding Google apps, since we can crate conversion events in GTM, Google Ads and GA4 - where is the best place to create/house those conversion events? I'm rather confused... Furthermore, I originally set up conversion events in Google Ads and GA4 before I started making tags in GTM. Would they be double counted as conversions if similar/same conversions events are in both GTM and GA4/Ads?

[@DanielWidjaja-ow4zt]

Hi Julius, I have question about mistakes #10. I think it's possible to return approriate login status in GA4 configuration, if we trigger it to fire on history change for example (so configuration will be fired multiple times). Is there any cons on doing this?

[@kevinruckstuhl9228]

Maybe mistake 7 should be number 1. Also is it possible that this still effects the standard reports when looking at source and medium outside the data retention period (more not sets)?

[@AaronAcosta410Strategy]

Is it best to create events in GA4 rather then using GTM so that page loads faster, tracking is light weight?

[@ethanbartolic2213]

So, the solution for number 10 is "There isn't a solution, just deal with massive overhead that wasn't needed with UA?" How do we revolt effectively to get Google to fix this?

¡Gracias!

[@raghav_sharma]

Hey Julius, please make a video about google analytics reporting API using Python

[@peterthillemann6352]

This is about GA4 vs variable Google Analytics settings! I’m trying to create a User-Defined Variable using the Variable type “Google Analytics settings”. But the tracking id insist on a UA tracking code which GA4 does not have. what to do?

[@PavelGlac]

Hi, the solution for 10th mistake is to create a reconfig tag (is the same as the config except it doesnt send a pageview event).

[@stevedangelo4647]

And then just use Tag Sequencing in each event to fire the “reconfig tag” before? I’ve wondered about this method, but have avoided it because I’m not sure of any unintended consequences.

[@giovaniortolanibarbosa]

​@@stevedangelo4647 Although this might work (I've already used this approach before) there's an overhead of reexecuting the config tag before each tag; some variables do not always behave well (i.e. their values could be wrong) in tag sequencing, such as {{Event}} and {{gtm.uniqueEventId}}.

[@abhishekarrk1660]

I am using android device sometimes i am not able to 2 or 3 events in debug view through out the day remaining events are triggered but not displaying

[@yuriykabanets7665]

Thank you! How would you track min 3 pages views by one visitor as a conversion?

[@AnalyticsMania]

With audience triggers

[@yuriykabanets7665]

@@AnalyticsMania I appreciate it!

[@erinfree2448]

Is there a blog about this?

[@LarsKops]

Hi Julius with #10 why don't you use User scoped or session scoped?

[@AnalyticsMania]

I don't see how that would solve the issue

[@LarsKops]

@@AnalyticsMania just wondering why you do not use it on user scoped since its it tied to the user IMO (does not fix anything - just from categorizing perspective)

[@ethanbartolic2213]

@@LarsKops login status is not user scoped. it cannot be. it can only be event scoped as the status can change during a session.

[@JDSmith-1]

Lars, it may help to understand user parameters as more permanent properties of the user. Properties that change frequently are not as helpful to track as user properties. Correct me if I’m wrong on this Julius!

[@smallbizcoachmarketingecom465]

Great info and valuable video. One request - I wish you'd slow down a bit when talking, and when transitioning from screen to screen. It's really hard to follow you when you go from screen to screen or link to link really fast. It would be helpful too if you used a highlighted mouse cursor.

[@emise7048]

Hi - Great Channel & Videos. But I couldn't find a way to see a live performance of my channels. For example: I want to see how good or bad my Newsletter-Kampagne performance since launch today. Or I want to see how good is my Google Ads Performance today. I found a way to see this performance but the figures aren't correct. Today I see my Google Ads performance with 10 Orders ... tomorrow my performance form today is 20 Orders ... and 2 more days later, my performance ist 30 Orders for today. That looks very unreliable if I want to ajust my Ads campaigns. I hope you can give me hint. Thanks Emi

[@oradmccullum3337]

good

[@mattayre5787]

I've just set up a GA4 Account and I'm seeing a disproportionate amount of traffic coming in via Direct. Does anyone know how to rectify this?

[@AnalyticsMania]

It is very difficult to troubleshoot like that. Many things could have gone wrong. This requires an in-depth audit.

[@armenadamyan5890]

pls video about user explorer section

[@laupeter4594]

I actually think this is an interface design problem not the user's fault.

[@ecanalyst]

A lot of this information is outdated. i.e. Send eCommerce Data via {source}, you don't need to define those tag parameters redundantly Have you considered making this video private? Now I'm questioning if I should review any of your content because you have old videos out. For a channel like yours where you teach how to use quickly advancing technologies, it doesn't make sense for you to keep videos listed that contain irrelevant information.