What the Industry experts should know about Google Analytics 4?

Have you heard of the new version of Google Analytics? Yes, Google Analytics 4 !! Data is not just stored differently but visualized differently as well, in this new version of Analytics making it difficult to understand for users. 

However, going against the direction, Google Analytics 4 (the latest version) has made it all easier and more advanced, and of course, more intuitive for all the users. 

What’s important is understanding Google Analytics 4 from a closer view, and once a user does that, they can just start working on it. There’s no doubt with the fact that the future of Google Analytics 4 is prospering and to get the hold of this powerful tool, one needs to get started with it. 

That is the reason, in the following sections, we are going to discuss the benefits of Google Analytics 4 as well as how to set it up and connect with your website to keep track of the users and site’s behavior.  

What makes Google Analytics so advanced and different?

Google Analytics reporting tool is used all over the world by website owners and digital marketers to track down the user interaction across the web domains, offline APIs, and others. 

But now the invention of Google Analytics 4 is completely different from the traditional one (the Universal Analytics), and when you start with the comparison of GA4 and Universal Analytics, then you can find the difference.  

Google Analytics 4 Benefits

When we talk about the benefits of Google Analytics 4, then we can start with the amazing features of this powerful analytics tool where it includes a new data modeling feature that uses AI to fill in the gaps between the data. 

Google defines it as a next-generation approach to privacy first, tracking, x-channel measurements, and AI-based predictive data altogether.  

Not to mention, the user interface of Google Analytics 4 is very different from the traditional one. Moreover, if any digital marketer decides to shift to the latest version would be rewarded with an analytics tool. 

Additionally, all this would be possible because of the three technologies that Google has been working on for the past few years. This includes Firebase Analytics, Google Signals, and Global Site Tag.

What are the new privacy controls that Google Analytics 4 offers? 

Wondering what are the new privacy controls that you would get in Google Analytics 4? Let’s walk through to understand them from a closer view. 

• “Disabled ad” personalization 

With Google Analytics 4, you would get the option to “disable ad” personalization which is highly useful for marketers. Moreover, it is perfect for those who have no plans of remarketing or building audiences for it. 

So all one has to do is go to the “Edit” section to disable the permission so that no one can turn it on. However, a user can flip it only if they are within particular geographies.

• “Not for” personalization 

Even though a user is within a specific geographical region and using ad personalization, they can have the access to exclude particular events. 

These events can be private and may not be meant for generating audiences. This feature is declared to be perfect for the ones belonging to the medical field.

How to set up Google Analytics 4?

If you are already amazed at what Google Analytics 4 can do, then you must have made up your mind to get started with it. Therefore, we have brought to you the steps mentioned below which you can follow and get going with your new project’s analytics. 

Step 1:  Sign into an analytics account

The first thing you can do is sign into your Google account, and open the Google Analytics account with the website’s existing property. 

Step 2: Go to the Admin section and Account column 

In the next step, try to reach the admin section. 

After this, visit the account column and choose an account where you want to create the property. 

Step 3: Visit property column 

Once you fill-up the account name, click on “next” and then you would get navigated to the “property” section and choose the desired universal analytics property for your website.

Step 4: Upgrade to GA4 

In this part, just before the “next” button, you would find an option available stating upgrade to GA 4(it should be mentioned as “show advanced options”). So just simply select it and follow the prompt. 

Note – if you do not find the option of Upgrade to GA4 available, then simply choose the create property button. 

Then make sure to follow the instructed steps to create a property for the web+app (or only web or only app as per your choice). Soon you will find this default action leading you to Google Analytics 4 property.  

Now, fill-up the URL placeholder with your website URL (without https /http)

Step 5: Setup Business profile

Fill-up the details of your business from the list given below as shown in the following image. 

Then, select the option “create”, when a pop-up window appears asking for the acceptance of Google’s Terms & Conditions, select “I accept” and check the box above. 

Step 6: Copy-Paste the site tag to your website’s <head> section

Then you’ll find a Site Tag (G. tag) code, which you need to copy from there and paste inside the <head></head> tags in the header section of your website. Then click “OK” on the Analytics panel.

Now it’s all done and you are good to go!

Note:  To see the analytics of your site and Google Analytics to show the results, you need to wait for about two to three days. After that, visit the Analytics account and select the newly added property to explore the site’s analytics. 

However, to examine whether the setup is working currently, go to the Analytics dashboard, select the “real-time view”, then just for checking, you visit your site- and here you’ll find showing as “1 active user right now”.