Updated: Sep 29, 2023
What is Google Analytics 4 (GA4)?
Google Analytics, a free service provided by Google, enables tracking and analysis of website and app traffic and engagement. With the introduction of GA4, a new property within Google Analytics, brings significant advancements and replaces the previous Universal Analytics. GA4 has been specifically designed to prioritise customer privacy, aligning with the growing importance of privacy regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
GA4 sets itself apart as the most advanced property available, offering a comprehensive suite of features to address the ever-growing concerns surrounding privacy. Privacy-first tracking is at the forefront of GA4, ensuring that user data is collected and managed with the utmost care, adhering to stringent privacy regulations. One of the standout advancements in GA4 is its AI-driven predictive analytics capabilities. Powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, GA4 provides businesses with valuable insights into user behaviour and engagement patterns. Through the application of sophisticated algorithms, GA4 empowers businesses to predict future outcomes, enabling them to make informed decisions, optimise marketing strategies, and deliver personalised user experiences.
What’s New with Google Analytics 4?
GA4 introduces several new features that make it a cutting-edge property for future measurement needs. One of the significant advancements is its ability to collect and analyse data from both websites and apps, providing a comprehensive view of the customer journey across multiple platforms. Unlike the session-based approach of its predecessor, GA4 utilises an event-based data model, enabling more granular tracking and analysis of user interactions. Privacy controls are also a key focus in GA4, with features like cookieless measurement and behavioural and conversion modelling to ensure compliance and protect user privacy. Additionally, GA4 offers predictive capabilities that provide valuable guidance without the need for complex models. Moreover, GA4 integrates directly with various media platforms, facilitating seamless actions and optimisations within your website or app. These features collectively position GA4 as a powerful and forward-looking tool for data-driven decision-making in the digital landscape.
Why is it Important to Switch to Google Analytics 4?
Until the 1st of July 2023, businesses can continue to use and collect new data from Universal Analytics as normal, however, some properties may find that they can process data for a short period after this date as the shutdown of Universal Analytics occurs. It is recommended to make the switch to GA4 as soon as possible to make sure you don’t lose any data or business continuity. After July 1st, you will only be able to access your historic data within your Universal Analytics property; you can view this data for at least 6 months, but Google is yet to confirm when the Universal Analytics properties will no longer be available. During this 6-month period, it is recommended that you export your previously processed data to ensure you can keep hold of your company’s data. Finally, when Google announces this final date after the 6-month period, you will no longer be able to see any reports or data held in Universal Analytics.
Is Your Analytics Property Affected?
Some users might already be using Google Analytics 4 without realising it. If you created your Google Analytics property after the 14th of October 2020, it is likely that your account is already set up with Google Analytics 4 and you won’t have to make any changes. However, if you have been using Google Analytics since before October 14th, 2020, your Google Analytics property is most likely to be set up on Universal Analytics and you will have to make the switch to GA4. If you are unsure of what type of Google Analytics property you are using, you can check by viewing your property’s ID. By entering your Google Analytics account and viewing ‘properties and apps’, you can see the name of your property with a code beneath it, if this code looks like UA-XXXXXXXXX-1, then it is a Universal Analytics account and if it looks like just numbers, XXXXXXXXX, it is a GA4 property.
How to Migrate Google Analytics to Google Analytics 4
Everyone who is migrating their account to GA4 will need to create a new property and then import their data from their Universal Analytics property. To do this, you will have to go into your account and click ‘Admin’, then select ‘Create Property’ and choose GA4. Google Analytics will then give you prompts on how to finish creating the new property. After this, you have to install the global site tag into your website to connect GA4 to your site. To find that Global Site Tag (gtag.js), go to Admin > Property > Tracking Info > Global Site Tag, you will then copy and paste this code into your website. To verify your tag is working, you can use Google Tag Assistant, a free Chrome extension made by Google, which will automatically detect any Google tags on your page and inform you if they are working correctly.
To maintain a complete historical record of your data, you can migrate your existing data from Universal Analytics to GA4. If you want to migrate your data to keep continuity, log into your account and go to Admin > Property > Data Migration, you can now select what data you wish to transfer to GA4 and when you want the migration to occur.
How SEO Flatrate can Help Your transition to Google Analytics 4
By making the switch to GA4, you can unleash the future of measurement for your business and gain access to the most advanced reporting and measuring tools. Google will be phasing out Universal Analytics promptly, so you want to make the switch before it is too late.
At SEO Flatrate, we are Google Partners and experts when it comes to Google Analytics properties, if you need help migrating your account, then contact us on +44 (0)1202 911141 or email support@seoflatrate.co.uk.
It is extremely important for businesses to study their online data and analytics as it can help to optimise their website for the customer base and build more traffic to the site. By gaining insightful data a business can understand its customer’s behaviour and how to gain more clients and reach. There are some great resources and websites that can help a business track its site’s analytics, however, Google Analytics is arguably the best tool, with it cutting reporting times by up to 50%, and it’s free to use!
The intersection of Google Analytics and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) holds extreme potential for businesses aiming to boost their online visibility. By utilising Google Analytics, a business can gather valuable insights into its website’s organic search performance which can help make data-driven decisions to optimise SEO strategies. At SEO Flatrate we are experts in creating and developing Google Business Profiles and studying Google Analytics for Small to Medium Enterprises to help increase website traffic.
What is Google Analytics?
Essentially, Google Analytics is a service offered by Google which allows a business, or digital marketing agency on behalf of a business, to track and analyse a variety of statistics related to a website’s performance. Google Analytics provides a wide range of data such as the number of page views and the bounce rates of a website. More advanced information can also be tracked like where the traffic arrives from, the demographic of users and conversion rates. Google Analytics produces an abundance of data, but the real value lies within the interpretation of this data, this is where digital marketing professionals such as SEO Flatrate can help. Taking action upon these insights can grow a business’s customer base and reach. This can be achieved by identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) which align with a business’s aims, tracking user behaviour, and identifying webpages that have high bounce rates while continuing to optimise these successful pages. Setting up Google Analytics is straightforward and there are many guides online to help businesses get started.
Understanding Organic Search Traffic
Unlike paid search, where traffic is drawn to a business’s site as a result of paid advertising, organic search traffic is where visitors reach a company’s website naturally through unpaid search engine results. With Google Analytics, businesses can track the performance of their organic search traffic which can provide crucial insights into the keywords and phrases that drive visitors to the site. If a business understands what search terms generate this organic traffic, a business can then optimise its content to target those certain keywords. This will improve the website’s visibility on the search engine results page (SERP). Within Google Analytics there is a report feature called ‘Organic Keywords’ which presents an overview of the search terms which have drawn traffic to a website. As well as tracking keywords that you are intentionally ranking for, a business can also identify new keyword opportunities.
Evaluating Landing Page Performance
With the use of Google Analytics, you can track your ‘landing pages’ which are the pages on your website a user has organically found due to their searching terms; these pages can also be known as ‘lead capture pages’ or ‘destination pages’. With the use of Google Analytics, you can view data on how much time is spent on a landing page, this lets a business know if their landing pages are successful for the search terms a user has entered. Furthermore, with Google Analytics you can also study the bounce rate, this is where a user enters a site and then immediately leaves rather than continuing to other pages within the site. Finally, Google also supplies the conversion rate of these landing pages. This is the percentage of users who have undertaken the desired action of the website such as: making a call to the business, filling out a contact form, getting directions to the business or purchasing a product.
Integrating Google Analytics with Search Console
Google Analytics helps a business to understand who is using their site, the user’s behaviour and how a user discovered the site. Whereas Search Console is more focused on SEO performance and the technical health of a website. As a business, you can integrate your Google Analytics with Google Search Console which unlocks even more organic search insights. Search Console allows a business to access data on user impressions, click-through rates (CTRs), and the site’s average position in the SERPs. The two tools were created by Google to work seamlessly together to create a complete understanding of a business’s marketing efforts and to enhance performance. At SEO Flatrate we use both of these tools together to identify strengths and weaknesses as well as to uncover future opportunities. By integrating Google Analytics and Google Search Console a business can successfully refine its SEO strategies and gain more traffic towards its site.
Building Organic Searches for Businesses
At SEO Flatrate we are experts in optimising websites to gain more organic searches and building a larger customer base. If you require SEO services or assistance with your digital marketing, then contact us on +44 (0)1202 911141 or email support@seoflatrate.co.uk.
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