Google Analytics 4 (GA4) vs. Universal Analytics (UA): 6 Key Differences Explained

In this video we explore GA4 vs. Universal Analytics (UA) across 6 key areas. This includes:
- The data model: based on sessions and page views in UA and events in GA4
- Some new verbiage about account structure: There are no more Views in GA4 as there were in UA. Instead, we need to become familiar with Data Streams.
- Some changing metrics: Bounce Rate no longer exists in GA4. In it's place, the closest corollary is something new called "Engaged Sessions"
- A new philosophy on reporting: UA seems as though it was built as a collection of reports. GA4, on the other hand, has far fewer standard reports and relies on building custom explorations in GA4 or exporting data out of the platform
Events in GA4 vs. UA: There are 4 types of events to know in GA4. Learn more about what this means since they are set up in different ways (some of them automatically)
Conversions in GA4: Setting up conversions is different in GA4 than in UA.
Have questions or comments? Leave them in the comments. I've been learning / struggling with GA4 over the couple of years, and I'm always up for learning more...and for new video ideas.
There's typically a new video every week or two about GA4 or Google Tag Manager or Looker Studio or sometimes Google Ads or SEO. If you want to follow along with what I'm learning (trying to learn) you can subscribe at the link below:
kzbin.info...
🔗 Links to 📖📖📖 BLOGS: These are the most popular blogs on the Root and Branch site from KZbin visitors
✭ Do These 10 Steps to Install AND Configure GA4 Properly: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga...
✭ Events in GA4 and How it Compares to UA: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ev...
✭ GA4 Reports Explained: Standard Reports, Explorations, Custom Reports: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga...
✭ Google Analytics 4 vs. Universal Analytics: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/go...
✭ A Practical Guide to Event Parameters: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga...
✭ GA4 Problems (And What You Can Do About Them): www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga...
✭ Google Analytics 4 Link Click Tracking: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/go...
✭How to Install Google Tag Manager (GTM) on Wordpress: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ho...
✭And Some SEO! How to Edit robots.txt on Wordpress!
www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ed...
🔗 Links to 📹📹📹 VIDEO TUTORIALS: These are most popular GA4 instructional videos as measured by views or watch time
📺 How to Set Up GA4 in 5 Minutes With GTM: • Set Up GA4 (in 5 Minut...
📺 How to Properly Configure Your GA4 Property: • 10 Steps to Configure ...
📺 6 Key Differences Between GA4 and UA: • Google Analytics 4 (GA... 🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑
📺 The Truth About GA4 Event Parameters: • The Truth About GA4 Ev...
📺 GA4 Hits, Events, Sessions, and Users Explained: • Google Analytics Event...
📺 How to set up GA4 FORM SUBMISSION tracking with a thank you page: • How to Set Up a GA4 Fo... 🙏
📺 How to set up BUTTON CLICK tracking with GA4 and Google Tag Manager: • Button Click Tracking ...
📺 How to set up PAGE TIMER tracking with GA4 and Google Tag Manager: • Set Up Page Timer Trac... ⏲
📺 How to Set Up LINK CLICK Tracking with GA4 and Google Tag Manager: • How to Set Up GA4 Link... 🖯
📺 How to Set Up SCROLL DEPTH Tracking (25%, 50%, 75%, 90%) with GA4 and Google Tag Manager: • Scroll Depth Tracking ...
📺 How to Build a Link Click Tracking Report Using GA4 data and Looker Studio: • Google Data Studio GA4... 📊📊📊
📺 Campaign Tracking in GA4 to See UTM Tagged Traffic: • Campaign Tracking GA4 ...
📺 GA4 Conversion Tracking Compared to UA: • GA4 Conversion Trackin...
📺 Registering Custom Dimensions in GA4 Explained: • GA4 Custom Dimensions ... -
📺 How to Link GA4 and BigQuery: • Google Analytics 4 + B...
📺 Users in GA4 Explained vs. UA Users: • GA4 Users Explained: N...
📺 All about the GA4 Certification: • Google Analytics 4 Cer... 🏆
Follow Root & Branch on LinkedIn: / root-branch
Or
Connect with me (Hey there!)
/ zackduncan
About Root & Branch: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ab...
Thanks for coming by!
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Google Analytics can be hard, but there is someone whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.
Rest easy. Mathew 11: 28 - 30
Meeting the Real Jesus - Tim Keller: • Meeting the Real Jesus...

[@rooted-digital]

Hey! Thanks for watching. If you want to get hands on with GA4, these are the 3 videos I'd recommend next: 1.) The GA4 Beginners Tutorial: what you need to learn the platform and get it set up correctly: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYHRmHWAqN2Io6s 2.) 8 Ways That GA4 Is Better than UA (and how to use them). Published Summer 2023: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b2PbfXqclph6nqs 3.) The Truth about GA4 Event Parameters (this was the most confusing part about GA4 for me before it finally made sense to my brain): kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3-qnoKZiJV2gpo Good luck and Godspeed to you in all things GA4! 😎

[@yescenehai4864]

the video has not head or tails. the guy seems to be on crack

[@michelangelomatteoda4814]

1. Data model: everything becomes an event 2. No more Views: only data streams 3. No more behavior metrics. Only engagement metrics 4. Fewer reports available. 5. Events data is becoming more important but less customizable. 6. Conversions and goals became less flexible with fewer types.

[@suemarquet749]

Zack is great to work with. He didn't have time to take my project on but he generously offered to do site audit and made recommendations on improvements and even scheduled a follow-up call in case I had any questions. Thanks Zack!

[@rooted-digital]

Thank you, Sue. I really appreciate it. Wishing you and your business all the best!

[@hannahmurray1441]

You should have so many more views, you're really clear and straight to the point. Thanks for another great video Zack! 👏

[@rooted-digital]

Hey, that is super kind of you. Thanks Hannah! Feel free to let me know if there’s a specific topic down the road you’re interested in. One of the best parts of making these videos is I always learn something new….and there’s lots new to learn. 😎 Have a great one!

[@MeerNahro-ss8nw]

Thank you for clearing most of my confusions

[@rooted-digital]

Glad it was helpful. Thanks for coming by to watch.

[@jerclarkedotorg]

Extremely helpful! I appreciate how you tried to convey the mutations in the way of thinking about things. I have a lot of work ahead of me converting all my custom events and dimensions!

[@rooted-digital]

Jer, thank you for the feedback. And you're totally right: this whole concept of a "migration" is really a misnomer. It's more like a total rebuild. Also, here are some recommendations for when you get started with converting your custom events! I know this is a lot. Feel free to keep me posted if you have any questions or other feedback along the way. Best of luck! Zack Setting up internal link click tracking in GA4 (since GA4 will only log external link clicks by default): kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXfCfIOGnd95Y7s Setting up scroll tracking in GA4 (If you want more than the 90% scroll depth that GA4 will give you by default): kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2LNh5WebJ6NpK8 Setting up page timer tracking in GA4 (not always needed but helpful in some cases): kzbin.info/www/bejne/sIWUf42Ym5WUpNk Form submission tracking in GA4: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5Scc3t3otOlg6s Registering event parameters as custom dimensions in GA4: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZTRkHxjra2hrLc Building a Data Studio report with your GA4 link click data: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6OufYt-rpmbfs0

[@NirmalAmbroseJ]

Very cool video. Thanks for posting.

[@rooted-digital]

Thanks for the feedback. Best wishes to you on your GA4 journey!

[@SmallBizGeekUK]

In the Description of this video there is a mention of scroll depth tracking which is actually pointing to the video on link tracking.

[@rooted-digital]

Thanks for the catch! Updating this now. By the way, here's the link to the scroll depth video if you're still looking for it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2LNh5WebJ6NpK8 Cheers! And here's a bonus video if you're looking to use Looker Studio to build a report with your scroll data: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lauuhmapjJJ9pMk

[@creatorseo.official]

Great introduction, thank you!

[@rooted-digital]

Thanks Clinton. I appreciate the feedback. Keep me posted if you get stumped on any GA stuff and have questions. ( I might be stumped too, but looking for ideas for new videos). Cheers! Zack

[@brunoalc5422]

Well done video mate, thank you!

[@rooted-digital]

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. If you're looking for another, this comparison goes more in depth on the process to create goals / conversions in GA4 vs. UA. Just in case! kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKbIqoGdpsmekKs Best of luck to you!

[@SamanthaBryan2877]

How do we see traffic from social platforms like how Universal shows us in Acquisition > Social > network referrals? It looks like they removed ALL the deeper insights, like which urls users are visiting from each social platform and also which urls are getting the most traffic.

[@rooted-digital]

Hi Shanna. There isn't a dedicated report for this, but you can customize some of the standard reports to show traffic source / medium (this would show you the various social sources with the medium of social). Here's how to create a version of that Source / Medium report in GA4: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJ_JgnlrqLeNqNE Let me know if that's helpful. Best of luck.

[@michaelm8370]

Much appreciated on the video - great job. Any idea what happened to the date granularity setting (day/week/month)? Also, any way to export additional rows of data (like the plot rows function in UA?)?

[@rooted-digital]

Hi Michael, thanks for the kind words. I don't know what happened to that date granularity and ability to easily toggle between different date dimensions. I miss it too! In terms of exporting additional data, I've typically just been revising different Exploration reports and then exporting as needed. There may be a better way to do it, but short of using the BigQuery connection, I'm not sure what it is. Keep me posted if you find a good solution. I'd love to learn. Thanks again and good luck.

Nice explanation!

[@rooted-digital]

Thanks Mauricio. I appreciate the feedback!

[@niravparmar4618]

Good content, much appreciated. Have you come across a situation where Universal Analytics traffic numbers are different from Google Analytics 4? If yes, what should be the solution?

[@rooted-digital]

Hi Nirav, thanks for the kind words. I have definitely seen traffic numbers differ from GA4 vs. UA. Some of this could be in your session settings. If you're interested, this video shows some comparison stats for sessions and pageviews for the Root and Branch site for UA vs. GA4: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWK1Xmita7aKnbs Good luck!

[@hilarypost]

Great video and very helpful! Do you know what the difference is in GA4 Total Users between the Acquisition Overview report and the Events report (lists Total Users in the column header on the Events page)? Those totals haven't been adding up for me and just curious which number you recommend going off of. Thank you!

[@rooted-digital]

Hilary, first of all, thanks! Glad you found it helpful. Secondly, this is a great question. I had to do a little poking around to find the answer. I believe the answer has to do with the difference between "Total Users" and "Active Users". Check it out below. TOTAL USERS: total number of unique users during the time period. Unique users are identified by their unique identifier (a cookie, user_id etc). *This was the primary user metric in Universal Analytics. It is not the primary user metric in GA4. However, it is the user metric you're looking at in your Events reporting. You should see it called "Total Users". ACTIVE USERS: The number of users who visited your website (or app) during the time period you're reviewing when analytics collects one of the following: - the first_visit event or engagement_time_msec parameter from a website - the first_open event or engagement_time_msec parameter from an Android app - the first_open or user_engagement event from an iOS app *This is the primary user metric in GA4 and did not exist in UA. This is the user metric you're looking at in your Traffic Acquisition reporting. You should see it simply called "Users". Feel free to let me know when you have another question. Clearly, I've still got a lot to learn with this and good questions are a big help. Have a great one! Zack

[@hilarypost]

@@rooted-digital this is really helpful. Thank you!

[@rooted-digital]

@@hilarypost Quite welcome. Thank *you* for the idea for a new blog post. It will probably be published next week and you deserve the credit. Be well!

[@hilarypost]

@@rooted-digital that's awesome! Can't wait to read it.

[@rooted-digital]

@@hilarypost Nice. Made a video on the same. Hope you don't mind a little shoutout with my thanks for the idea and bringing it to my attention. Have a great one!

[@AkLaw79]

Love your presentation. Can you suggest a good solution to transfer annotation data from UA to new GA4?

[@rooted-digital]

Hey there, AK. Thanks for the kind words! I don't have a good solution for annotations but I'd be up for hearing about it if you come across something that works for you.

[@harrykekgmail]

Superb and thanks

[@rooted-digital]

You are most welcome, Harry. Thank you for the kind words! If you're looking for more hands on tutorials for GA4 setup down the road, here are 2 nominees for you to consider. Walkthrough of Setting Up Page Timer Event Tracking in GA4 and GTM (published today!): kzbin.info/www/bejne/sIWUf42Ym5WUpNk - How to Set Up a Form Submission Conversion in GA4: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5Scc3t3otOlg6s Thanks again and best of luck to you in all things GA4!

[@Y-xg2fh]

Thank you for your great video! Could you explain (or is there an video already?) why the pageview data from UA and views from GA4 are so different? On my website, I am seeing 5000 pageview on UA and only 2000 view on GA4. I don't have an app just the website. Thanks!

[@rooted-digital]

Hello there. First, thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you liked the video. In terms of your specific situation with the differing pageview counts, I would say two things. 1.) This variance is obviously quite high. I had differences as well (see #2 below), but not to this degree. I'd imagine you've already done this, but I'd double check your install to make sure it looks good. Also, something to consider: is it possible that the UA numbers were inflated or are you pretty sure those are solid? 2.) As I mentioned, I also had differences in my pageview and session count in GA4 vs. UA. For me, some of this (the session differences) were related to session timeout settings and the different ways that this is treated in GA4 vs. UA. This wouldn't explain your specific situation but I hope it does demonstrate that the two platforms are different and calculate data in different ways. Here's a video I had made showing some of those differences and my thoughts on it all: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWK1Xmita7aKnbs Also, if you're going to relook at your GA4 setup, here's a 10 step guide I had put together: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga4-setup/ Hope some of this is helpful. Good luck and Godspeed to you!

[@Y-xg2fh]

@@rooted-digital Thank you!

[@eshwarbg]

Hi. I want to compare conversion rates from this month to previous month, and understand why there is a dip this month. What all factors can I consider for reporting? Please help.

[@rooted-digital]

Hi Eshwar. Unless I'm misunderstanding (and let me know if I am), it sounds like there is a 2 part question you're asking. Part 1 is how to compare the conversion rates month over month. With UA (GA3), this is a built in metric to standard reports and you can easily see month over month conversion rates. For example, let's say you're looking at your conversion rates for completed contact forms in March vs. April. It's 3.5% in March and 2.5% in April. Doing that same basic comparison is a little more involved in GA4. You will need to create a report with a calculated metric to understand your conversion rate. The conversion rate will be the total number of Conversions (submitted contact forms in our example) divided into the total number of visits to the site during the time frame. You can also just export data and do this in Excel, Google Sheets, etc for a quick report. Part 2 is the harder part. That's where we get into WHY your conversion rate has changed. In this case, what is the factor or factors leading to our conversion rate dropping from 3.5% to 2.5%. If you care to share a bit more about what kind of site you are measuring and what your specific conversion is, I can give you some more targeted theories to check first. But I'll give you a couple of nominees right now. #1 is traffic composition. Did your share of traffic from a channel with a low conversion rate (like Display advertising) grow? That would cause your conversion rate to dip. Same thing goes if a channel with a high rate of conversions fell in traffic. #2 I'd also look at whether your prior month with the high conversion rate was a one month anomaly (these things happen), or if it represents the regular state of things. You want to make sure you're comparing to a relatively consistent baseline when understanding changes in trend. #3 Were there changes within your particular traffic channels month over month? For example, let's say you get a lot of conversions from Google Ads / Paid Search. Did you recently start bidding on new keywords that don't convert as well? Are you not getting the same search impression share for keywords that do convert well? There are any number of things that could be causing your dip. I'd try and isolate it to a traffic channel and dig in further from there. Good luck! Zack

[@eshwarbg]

@@rooted-digital Thank you so much for your answers. Actually I want to do the comparison of Mar and Apr conversions. I am able to look at the data by adding the dates/month. The thing is I don’t have experience with google data studio. I am just thinking of what attributes should I be mainly checking or how to create reports to my management. For example, should I consider channel/source for comparison? Like Mar month google traffic was X, and Apr month google traffic was Y. If it’s this way, what all attributes can I consider? Please let me know if my question is a bit brief now . And also, will I be able to understand how to improve any metric that could have been better? I’m just curious to know how to understand how it could have been better. For example - let’s say in March, organic was 5% and in April it was 3%. So is the answer, like, in April organic shud have been done better . ??? Please let me know .

[@eshwarbg]

@@rooted-digital The website is into software services . And conversion Is a form fill. There is a drop from Mar to Apr on overall conversions.

[@rooted-digital]

@@eshwarbg thanks for the additional context. Given the situation with your decreased form fills, I'd look at how those total number of forms changed month over month by traffic channel. For example, let's say you had 100 form fills in the prior month and 75 in the decreased month. Did all traffic channel drop by a proportional amount? Or is most / all of the drop attributed to a specific traffic channel like Organic or Paid Search or Social etc. That would be the first answer I'd look for. Once you know that, it can lead you to where you should dive in next. If it's Organic Search that dropped, did you have a specific landing page that fell off the most or did all Organic Search fall of in a similar way? And you just keep diving down into greater granularity from there. It can seem really overwhelming at first (because there are so many factors to look at), but all I can tell you is that it gets easier over time as you get more practice. If it's helpful, here's a video showing how to replicate the Landing Pages report in GA4 (could be a useful part of your analysis) kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5a1mJxpl9-Glas I'd also recommend checking out Google Search Console if you're diving in more to Organic Search. If you decide to check that out, here's a link to a guide about how to compare your trends in Brand search (people looking for your company specifically) vs. Non Brand search (people looking for your service but not your company): www.rootandbranchgroup.com/brand-vs-non-brand-organic-search/ Hope this helps at least a bit. Wish you all the best!

[@eshwarbg]

@@rooted-digital thank you so much. This helps … i wish you get more and more views, Likes, subscribes, shares and comments .🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@alexjohntech]

Nice. Is there a tool to upload annotations from Universal to GA4?

[@rooted-digital]

Hi Alex. Annotations aren't available as a built in feature in GA4. There may be a tool available outside of the GA4 platform but I'm unfamiliar with that subject. Best wishes.

[@edwardtom900]

Could you keep using both UA and GA4 on the website? If i would like to use UA mainly but start collecting data on GA4 for future when UA will be disabled?

[@rooted-digital]

Yes, that would be my recommendation exactly. I'm using both UA and GA4 on my website right now and will continue to do so until July 1 of 2023 when UA no longer collects new data. Best wishes!

[@edwardtom900]

@@rooted-digital Thanks! Maybe you would know if that affects webpage load speed having both UA and GA4 analytics trough tag manager?

[@Nyeeeesh]

Is it possible to connect Google Optimize to GA4 like UA?

[@rooted-digital]

I haven't done this myself, but it is possible according to this Google help article I just found: support.google.com/analytics/answer/11378318

[@daisiesandpandas1218]

I was about to start using google analytics again due to new additions to my website only to find after refreshing my knowledge on how to read a bunch of the data, that i really should pay attention to the message at the top of the website screaming about GA4 lol Watching your video especially when you started talking about bounce rate, i started wondering why google were ruining everything but calmed down and thought the managers and employees must have had a great idea ... enough to complete up-heave the old one haha, so on second thoughts, the engagement thing sounds interesting, i actually like how the information is the opposite way around, who stayed vs who bounced ... i remember trying to come to terms with the bounce rate terminology an hour ago and the opposite definition seemed inefficient (because it's a number you want to lower, which is counter-intuitive because in marketing your mind is mostly thinking of increasing numbers...except company expenses ahha) but i thought it was a useful metric so i liked it, but engagement sounds better. hope the other changes are like this, that they're just removing strange ways of reporting or terminology that complicates learning and utilising analytics. an

[@rooted-digital]

Welcome to the GA4 party! It’s a sometimes confusing one, but as you’ve pointed out, there are some real upsides as well once you start getting acclimated. Thanks for stopping by and best of luck to you!

[@vladimirjelesic1413]

hello , can you give us link for ALL CAMPAINGS report ? Thx

[@rooted-digital]

Hello Vladimir. Here you go! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZTZmJJ-mM6EqZI Best of luck to you.

[@LinaSty]

Hi! Where can I find "Active Users right now" because I don't have that option! Thank you and great video btw!

[@rooted-digital]

Hi there! Are you referring to the "Realtime report" that shows what's taking place on the site right at the moment? Check out this recent blog with an overview of GA4 Standard reports and you'll see that explained towards the top: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga4-standard-reports/ If you're interested in the various Users metrics in GA4 (active users vs total users vs new users, etc), here's this one for you! www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga4-users-defined/ Best of luck!

[@seekersun7844]

Very useful video! The new GA4 will cause plenty of chaos, many businesses and webmasters will run to seek technical support from Google.

[@rooted-digital]

Indeed! It's going to be a crazy 2023 I think. : )

[@juliareid2446]

Sounds like GA4 isnt as good as UA so why have they done it?

[@rooted-digital]

That’s a very good question, Julia. Here’s my 3 part answer… 1.) Just to put it out there, I’ve definitely talked with people who say they like GA4 more than UA. I am not one of those people, but they exist. If you tend to use Google Analytics to export data (instead of using built in reports) you also certainly might find you like GA4 more. 2.) I think one of the reasons for the change is that the UA version of Google Analytics was getting Google in some hot water with data privacy legislation like GDPR. GA4 is apparently designed to be more compliant with that kind of legislation. I can’t say how much of the change is due to that vs. other factors, but I don’t think it’s crazy to assume it’s an important part of the rationale. 3.) If you’re interested, I just published a new blog last week on 4 of the challenges that I think exist with GA4. For each of them, I’ve included some initial thinking about about what additional alternatives might be worth considering. Here’s the link: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga4-problems/ Best of luck to you! Feel free to drop me a line if you have other questions. No guarantee I’ll be able to help, but I’ll do my best. - Zack

[@msanw]

Thanks, Zack.

[@belajarterus2192]

Please advise, what should we do for our keywords that are thrown from page one to page 2 or 3 and can even be thrown even further. Thank you

[@rooted-digital]

Hi there, Belajar. I’m not sure I understand your question. Are you referring to SEO keyword rankings? If so, this new Google Analytics property change from UA to GA4 doesn’t have any impact on that. Please let me know if I’m misunderstanding (I bet I am). If, for example, you’re trying to find where you can see your keyword rankings in GA4, it’s possible to integrate your Google search console property and see that data. Would be happy to point you in the right direction with that, if it’s useful. Thanks…and best of luck to you!

[@belajarterus2192]

@@rooted-digital in the last 2 years our web visitor decreased quite a lot. After we observed it turned out that many keywords with large volumes dropped to the search page on page 2 or even 3. What should I do? many thank for your kind attention...

[@rooted-digital]

This video you watched is about Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which is a platform to help you track your overall website performance. It doesn’t help to improve (or hurt) your keyword rankings. For that, you need SEO (search engine optimization). Here’s a link to a video from earlier this year about the 8 trends that I think are really important for SEO in 2022. I think that if you watch this you’ll find some things that will help your keyword rankings: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/ramwZmx4q5d7eM0 There’s an entire playlist on this channel all about SEO, so there’s some more if you find this initial video helpful. Best of luck to you!

[@ziniajannattuly5199]

nice video

[@rooted-digital]

Appreciate you checking it out. I hope it was helpful! Cheers, Zack

[@bobbybonam]

I have custom variables set up in UA how do I convert it into GA4

[@rooted-digital]

Hi there. Can you share a little about what you were tracking with these in UA? It’s possible they may need to be custom dimensions in GA4. It’s also possible that they might not be something you can (yet) track in GA4 since some functionality is still being developed. Wish I could be more immediate help. This is not an area where I know a ton. Best wishes.

[@fenkafas8234]

thank you

[@rooted-digital]

You're welcome! By the way, if you're getting rolling with GA4, this 10 step installation walkthrough might be worthwhile. This only took me about 12 months of trial and error (a lot of error) to finally feel good about: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3WVn4Cod7qBbpI

[@SLee-qo5fc]

Soooo basically Google threw Analytics into a meat grinder, shredded up a fantastic product and is now selling cheap composite meat bits as an decompiled Angus burger. Where one part of the burger is sold at the butcher counter (GA4), but the flavor/binder/bits are sold in the aisle (tag manager). Who’s on the product teams for GA? How was this green-lighted as a good idea?

[@rooted-digital]

I don't disagree with you. And I like the analogy. I think it all comes back to two things: limiting legal liability (GA4 is less reliant on cookies, and therefore less prone to privacy related legislation), and being more enmeshed in the Google ecosystem (integrations with Google Ads, and Google BigQuery, etc seem more essential in GA4). So I guess it all comes down to one thing: money. Womp womp. From one like minded person to another, I wish you all the very best with it. If you decide to go forward with it, these are the 10 steps that I went through in the set up when things started making a little more sense to me: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga4-setup/ Good luck. Ps. On the plus side, your comment has me ready for lunch. Burger time.

[@jasryrm6678]

Does the UA and GA4 display the same user count?

[@rooted-digital]

Hello Jasry, there are differences between GA4 and UA in terms of users. UA uses "total users" as the primary user metric and GA4 uses "active users" as the primary user metric. This comparison explains the differences, including where different user metrics show up in GA4 reports. Hope it's useful for you. www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga4-users-defined/ Good luck and Godspeed! Zack

[@jasryrm6678]

@@rooted-digital thank u

[@rooted-digital]

@@jasryrm6678 You are very welcome. Have a great day and best wishes in all things GA4!

[@batman-yk9jh]

hey, GTM Hero, when are u gonna make video wth Firebase and GA4?

[@rooted-digital]

Well, hello there! I'm not a Firebase expert, and that's putting it mildly. I was poking around online and found this article which details the 5 steps for integration. Hope it's somewhat useful. hevodata.com/learn/ga4-firebase-integration/ Feel free to let me know if there's something else specific you're looking for, and I can keep you posted if and when I learn more about it. Best of luck to you! Zack

[@batman-yk9jh]

@@rooted-digital thanks my Gtm hero, i curious what i need for landing page setup events

[@rooted-digital]

@@batman-yk9jh I see. I am not going to be the best resource for you on that. I think this blog might be helpful. There's a good table about 2/3 of the way down that compares "Your Current Tracking and Requirements" for both Web AND Mobile and then shows a "Recommended Implementation Path" : www.cardinalpath.com/blog/google-analytics-4-firebase-the-evolution-of-mobile-app-measurement Seems like a good place to start. And just to confirm, have you already integrated your Firebase project with GA4? I'm guessing that's a yes, but here's the Google support article just in case: support.google.com/analytics/answer/9289234?hl=en Best of luck to you!

[@BinitooInternet]

thanks

[@rooted-digital]

You’re certainly welcome. Thanks for stopping by to check it out. If you’re interested, here’s a video from yesterday talking about the Source / Medium traffic report and how to replicate it in GA4: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGqufH-Vm8pjnLc 😎

[@MoonDesignDev]

Great video, but why you got paint open? Pretty sus.

[@rooted-digital]

Ha! My entire (and very limited) photo editing skill set is based on Paint, PowerPoint, and Canva. Lots of CTRL + Printscrn and then pasting into Paint to grab an image. It’s a meager offering for sure. Keep me posted if you’ve got any pointers for an amateur like me. 😄

[@MoonDesignDev]

@@rooted-digital just messin’ around:)

[@rooted-digital]

@@MoonDesignDev Fair enough...but the offer stands though. Just saying. ; )

[@jasoneg3]

Thank you, and thank you for not saying the obvious: GA4 * sucks * and isn't an improvement on UA for mere mortals who just have a simple, small business webiste. What a mess and pain in the rear to have to transition to this heap of garbage.

[@rooted-digital]

I hear you, Jason. It's really only been (very) recently, that my attitude towards GA4 has started to change slightly for the better. But I agree with you that UA seems to be objectively better, especially for us mere mortals with small business websites. The enterprise level folks might get very excited about the Google BigQuery connection, etc, but that doesn't really apply for most businesses. In terms of getting a little more comfortable with the platform, one of the big steps for me was understanding the reporting interface more. Not sure if that might be helpful for you, but here's a blog on the subject to check out if you're interested: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga4-standard-reports/ I wish you all the best on the bumpy, and often frustrating, journey. Zack

[@SLee-qo5fc]

Enterprise folks aren’t happy as well.

[@bettycooper369]

On one hand, I hate these platform transitions. I remember when Google Ads was updated and a lot of my favourite features were lost and learning a new UX felt like another unpaid task. On the upside, this will probably be a great opportunity for digital marketers who need to help business owners through this and can upsell them on some SEO/PPC. This is a great breakdown, thank you so much for this. I've been putting off "selling myself" on GA4 for too long.

[@rooted-digital]

Hi Betty, First of all, your comment brought me back to my bad attitude on the Google Ads platform change. I remember relishing leaving my salty feedback every time I was prompted by the platform to share what I thought about about. Kindred spirits! Secondly, thanks for the kind words. I think you're right that there will be opportunity here for digital marketers. If you continue with your GA4 journey, these are 2 resources that I wish I had back when I first started trying to wrap my head around this. Sharing them just in case they might prove helpful for you as well. #1 - 10 Step Tutorial to Setting up GA4 Properly: You might already know this, but I had a series of false starts in configuring my property correctly before I finally understood the various things I needed to be thinking about. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3WVn4Cod7qBbpI #2 - Event Parameters: This was the biggest mystery to me in GA4 since event parameters (and the connection to custom dimensions) are so different than in UA. Events finally made sense to me once I started grasping this. www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga4-event-parameters/ If you come across other challenges (and / or resources that you find especially useful), please feel free to let me know. I still feel like I'm in the early days of learning the platform and I'm grateful for chances to learn from others. Wishing you all the very best! Zack

[@Jimmyco]

Set playback speed to 1.25, much much better.

[@rooted-digital]

Solid feedback, thanks Jimmy. Ps. If you're looking to really go all in on GA4, I think this tutorial has the best stuff I've learned over the past couple years of wrestling with GA4: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYHRmHWAqN2Io6s But be warned, it's a longer one you might want to go to 1.5x speed. Cheers!

[@ibrahimagueye608]

reconded to use headphone for best experience

[@rooted-digital]

Thanks for the heads up! Apologies if the voice quality is a little poor. I'm going to be working with a new mic in the future so hope the sound will be a bit better. Cheers! Zack

[@mightylotan]

Ok now I need a video on alternatives to this clusterfk; how is google this incompetent

[@rooted-digital]

It gets better in time (really), but I absolutely hear you. They are not making it easy on us. There’s a tool called Piwik PRO that has a great free option and is similar to the prior version of GA. You can learn about it in the video that’s embedded in this linked blog post: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga4-problems/ Good luck.

[@everythinggeekdotcom]

I feel like GA4 is a massive downgrade. It doesn't seem to display the traffic I'm getting accurately until the day after.

[@rooted-digital]

Yea, I hear you. I have the same issue sometimes with the data processing delay. And I also still prefer UA and wish it wasn’t going away. If you search for “GA4 problems” you should see the blog I linked below towards the top. BUT, I have started to come around on GA4. It actually has some advantages over UA in certain areas, even if it is weird to me to get used to. Not sure, but there are some links in the article below that might be relevant or helpful. www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga4-problems/ Wish you all the best either way. Too bad Google didn’t ask us before they made this change. 🙃

[@slkfjariao]

Google Analytics 4 sucks so bad

[@rooted-digital]

It definitely feels like a step backward for many of us who really liked the prior version. I'm guessing you're in that boat too. Part of my issue was that I never configured it properly from the beginning and didn't understand things like the engaged session settings or data retention settings or any of that. Not sure if any of that is true for you, but if it sounds like it could be helpful I made this video last week detailing the 10 steps to set up and configure GA4 properly. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3WVn4Cod7qBbpI Wish you all the best.

[@masterclass6504]

[@rooted-digital]

🙌 ty!