Google Analytics GA4 Beginner’s Guide,

Universal Analytics

Universal Analytics (UA) is no longer the current version of Google Analytics, but it is the version that made Google Analytics famous.

It became widespread in the digital marketing world after the beta version was released in 2012.

How widespread was it? The various versions of Google Analytics account for more than 70% of the web analytics software market, according to our data.

But you won’t see this Google Analytics today.

That’s because it is Universal Analytics stopped processing new data in standard accounts on July 1, 2023 .

So marketers have started to adapt to the new Google Analytics 4.

Google Analytics 4 or GA4

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the new standard for the Google Analytics platform.

The platform was originally released as a beta version in 2019 and called an “App + Web” property.

At first glance, it might not look much different, right?

But there are some basic differences between GA4 and UA, especially for those who are used to the previous version.

Understanding the differences between GA4 and UA will help you better understand modern Google Analytics.

Difference 1: Data is now event-based

Google Analytics measures user interactions on the site. Each of those interactions is called a “hit” and becomes part of the data visible in your Google Analytics reports.

GA4 collects all interactions as “events”, meaning all hits in GA4 are collected as events.

Universal Analytics collected data through multiple hit types, such as pageview, event and transaction. GA4 uses an event-based data model, resulting in different metrics and reports.

Differences like these can be confusing to some marketers, but Google Analytics is still an extremely useful tool for those who learn to use it.

Difference 2: New account structure and new data flows

Google Analytics 4 has a different account structure compared to UA and introduces the concept of “data streams”.

Universal Analytics had an account level, properties and views. The account level was associated with an organization, the property level with a specific digital asset (like a website or app), while the view level was where the data was actually viewed.

GA4 has an account level and a property level, but no review level. The account level works the same as in UA, but the property level is different.

GA4 combines data from the website and the application into a single entity. Both a website and an application can have their own unique data streams that feed into the overall picture of user behavior within a GA4 property.

How does Google Analytics 4 work?

Google Analytics 4 works by collecting data from your website or app and then creating reports to analyze that data.

To enable data collection, it is necessary to install a small tracking code on your website.

For this very reason, we will explain the basic steps in the data collection process:

1. Installation of the code: When the user arrives at the site with the tracking code installed, Google Analytics places a cookie in the user’s web browser.

2. Tracking interactions: While the user interacts with the site, Google Analytics tracks their actions.

3. Data processing: User interactions are then processed on Google Analytics servers.

4. Access to reports: After processing, the data is available for review and analysis in Google Analytics.

How to use Google Analytics (GA4)?

Now that you understand the basics, you’re ready to start using Google Analytics.

Here’s how you can use the platform to analyze key metrics and improve your marketing strategy based on the results.

Analysis of important pages using Google Analytics

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) allows you to easily see information about your most successful and least successful content.

We use the “Pages and screens” report for this.

1. Click on “Reports” in the left navigation menu.

2. Expand the “Engagement” area and click on “Pages and screens”.

You will see a list of the most viewed data pages sorted by total views in the “Views” column.

You can analyze these metrics to understand the following performance:

• Views per user: The average number of page views per user

• Average Engagement Time: The average time the page was in focus in the web browser

• Conversions: The number of conversions from each page

Improve your marketing strategy based on performance

You’ll see a breakdown of how your site drives traffic by channel, such as organic search, direct traffic, referrals, etc.

Analyze these metrics to improve your strategy:

Analyzing competitor performance with SEMrush Traffic Analytics

As you begin to understand your site’s performance, you’ll probably want to find out how your main competitors are doing.

SEMrush Traffic Analytics solves this challenge by comparing competitor data based on the actual behavior of over 400 million anonymous internet users.

This allows you to get a clear picture of your competitors’ web traffic and compare your site’s performance to theirs.

The only downside to SEMrush is that it’s not free, but it’s worth every penny!

With its help, you can solve many other problems related to the website.

How to use SEMrush Traffic Analytics?

1. Go to SEMrush and enter your competitors domain name. The tool will suggest additional relevant competitors after you enter the first domain.

2. Click on “Analyze”.

You will see data on visits (equivalent to sessions in Google Analytics), unique visitors (users), and pages per visit.

You can also see who is growing and who is declining.

SEMrush Traffic Analytics provides information on competitor visits, unique visitors (users) and pages per visit. This is just part of the report overview.

However, mistakes are possible so take everything with a grain of salt.

You can dig deeper into audience statistics and top performing pages to see what’s working for your competitors.

So you can learn from their best results and adjust your strategy.

With SEMrush Traffic Analytics, you can explore audience statistics and top performing competitor pages in detail. This allows you to see what works for them and how you can improve your strategy.

We always take care of the following, if we don’t want to go too deep:

1. Audience overview: Research the demographics and interests of your competitors’ visitors.

2. The most successful pages: Identify the pages that attract the most traffic from competitors and analyze their content and structure.

You will see data on visits (sessions), unique visitors (users) and pages per visit. You can also see who is growing and who is declining.

Examples of use

• Learning from competitors: Use insights from Traffic Analytics to improve your content and strategy.

• Identify opportunities: Find areas where you can improve your performance based on competitor data.

Traffic Analytics provides information on competitor visits, unique visitors and pages per visit.

This is just part of the report overview.

Google Analytics 4 comes in two versions: GA 4 is the free version and there is another paid version called Analytics 360.

For small and medium-sized businesses, the free version provides all the necessary functionality.

Analytics 360 starts at $150,000 per year (billed monthly) and the price goes up if your site gets more than a billion visits per month.

Free version of Google Analytics

The free version of Google Analytics provides a rich set of tools for monitoring and analyzing web traffic. For these needs, there is no better or more accurate tool than GA4.

This version includes core functionalities such as:

The free version is ideal for most small and medium-sized businesses as it provides all the basic tools needed to monitor and optimize web traffic.

Analytics 360

Analytics 360 is an advanced version of Google Analytics aimed at ultra-large businesses with high levels of monthly web traffic.

This version offers:

1. Advanced functionalities: Additional metrics and report customization capabilities.

2. More data space: A higher limit for the number of hits you can track per month.

3. Integrations: Better integrations with other Google tools and platforms such as Google Ads and BigQuery.

4. Support: Priority support from Google.

Pricing for Analytics 360 starts at $150,000 per year and increases with higher traffic levels.

Google Analytics offers five main reports that can give you insight into your site’s performance.

You can find these reports on the left side of the screen. Depending on the version of Google Analytics you are using (Universal Analytics or GA4), you will see different reports.

Universal Analytics (UA) reports:

1. Real-Time Report

– Provides insight into current site activity, including visitor numbers, pages they visit and traffic sources.

– Used to track traffic from new social or blog posts, current sales or events, and to validate URLs and custom events.

2. Audience Report

– Provides an overview of the audience that visits your website. It includes demographics, interests, geographic data, behavior, technology, mobile devices, cross-device data, custom reports and benchmarking.

– Active users: Shows the number of users who visited you in the last 24 hours, week, two weeks and four weeks. If you have more one-day users than long-term users, then you have a problem with keeping users on your website.

3.Acquisition Report

– Shows traffic sources, including organic search, direct traffic, referral, email, social media and paid search. It shows the landing pages, sources and keywords that brought users to your website.

4. Behavior Report

– Analyzes user behavior on the site, including the most visited pages, time spent on the site and exit pages. It displays the content of the site and allows identification of the most visited pages and areas for improvement.

5. Conversion Report

– Track goals and conversions you’ve defined, such as purchases, newsletter sign-ups or form completions.

There are four main types of goals:

1. Destination: When the user reaches a specific page.

2. Event: When a predefined event occurs.

3. Duration: When the user’s session lasts longer than the set time.

4. Pages/Screens Per Session: When a user views a specific number of pages per session.

Google Analytics GA4 reports:

1. Real-Time Report

– Provides insight into current site activity, including the number of visitors and their interactions with the site.

2. Lifecycle Reports

– Includes reports on user acquisition, engagement, retention and monetization. They show the entire cycle of user interactions on the site.

3. User Reports

– Show demographic data and interests of users, as well as their interactions with the site. They allow detailed analysis of the user base.

4. Events Report

– Focuses on tracking specific site events, such as clicks, downloads and video views. Allows tracking of user interactions with the site.

5. Conversions Report

– Track key actions that users take on your site, such as purchases or logins. Allows tracking and optimization of conversions.

Google Analytics GA4 Tools

GA4 offers a variety of tools that provide detailed insight into your site’s performance.

Here’s an overview of the key tools we place the most importance on:

1. Home

– Customizable dashboard with reports and statistics. It allows you to customize the display of key metrics such as users, new users, engagement time and total revenue.

2. Reports

– Displays an overview of site performance with reports such as Realtime, Life Cycle, and User. Contains “Reports Snapshot” with summary information.

3. Explore

– Enables detailed research of visitors’ navigation through the website. Provides predefined or customizable views to uncover new insights.

4. Advertising

– Shows channels and touchpoints that generate the most conversions. In order for this tool to be as useful as possible, it is necessary to set up goals and conversions in Google Analytics.

5. Configure

– Allows you to adjust key parts of the report, including events, conversions, audiences and other custom definitions. Customizing these settings provides detailed insight into data to help you troubleshoot, answer questions, and make decisions specific to your site.

Google Analytics (GA4) is a valuable tool for any business because it provides concrete data that can be used to grow the business. This guide can be very useful for beginners as a tool to improve your data tracking.

If you have any questions related to GA4, write to us at info@smartthink.rs

Good luck on your journey with Google Analytics!