The Next Level for Google Analytics – GA4 is Here

April 14, 2021

The cards in Google’s hand are about to change the Analytics game.

A new standard in the world’s most popular analytics tool is coming – and without action, your website will not keep up. Shifts in tracking policies across platforms necessitate changes in how user data is collected and presented. That’s one of the reasons Google is rolling out their new, privacy-centric Google Analytics 4 properties to continue providing insights to millions of connected businesses. Google is playing their hand and changes are coming – here’s what to prepare for and how your business can keep leveling up with GA4.

GA4 vs UA – What are the Benefits?

UA stands for Universal Analytics, it’s the older Google Analytics property that may be hamstrung when new privacy measures crop up. It’s not obsolete yet, though, so what are some of the benefits to creating a GA4 property for analysis?

• Predictive modeling of user behaviors. Even as third-party cookies are phased out and hard data becomes scarce, you can still make informed decisions.
• GA4 organizes data by the user lifecycle, providing a view directly into the customer journey rather than just reports on sessions and goal completions.
• Allows for easier tracking of certain events, like video starts, file downloads, and whenever a user scrolls 90% down the page.
• GA4 offers a debugging mode.

Changes are Here, With More on the Way

So what’s the big deal, why is it important to set up GA4? Well Apple, for example, is already making changes to how apps can collect data – we did an entire write-up on how to prepare your business for the impact the changes in iOS 14.5 will have. Industry leaders like Apple are the litmus – it’s highly likely that other sweeping changes are on the way following their lead. Of course, ad blockers and privacy tools already here – and they already interfere with online advertising. GA4’s new design works around all of these roadblocks, providing machine learning-led insights and analysis of the data you are able to collect – hedging your bets and creating a more robust future for your site in Analytics.

What you can do to Prepare Your Website

Getting a GA4 property established on your website is straightforward, but it’s not as easy as pressing a button and having everything roll over perfectly. If you already have Google Analytics properties set up, the idea is to create a connection between existing Universal Analytics (the old analytics property) and GA4 – smooth transition for settings, views, etc. Google has a step-by-step guide on integrating GA4 into a site with a preexisting UA property, and that guide actually includes details on how to set up GA4 on a completely fresh site as well – but we have a much easier way of doing things that will get you started fast.

Here’s what we at RVADV suggest:

• Watch this video brief from Google on the benefits of the new GA4.
• Have a talk with your in-house marketing team about how they can use the new data.
• Establish the value for your business and make a use case to your management / ownership team – they may need your input in order to allocate resources.
• Then, have your tech team set up your website for GA4 – or for an even easier method, simply call Rearview Advertising, sit back, and let us take care of it.

We’re supreme analytics geeks, we love getting data and learning the latest about the platform – and GA4 has capabilities to track more events than ever. That means soon we’ll be able to bring new insights to our clients. That means they’ll be ready for any changes that may come to advertising data collection, and they’ll adapt to the current roadblocks that are creating small (but growing) blind spots in standard UA data. If you want to stay ahead, GA4 provides the latest in analytics and is a great way to prepare for any data collection changes that may be on the horizon. We’re happy to help you make the most of Google Analytics, call Rearview Advertising to find out what’s possible.