In this digital age, data is fundamental to understanding your customers and gaining insights into your business. That’s why Google Analytics is vital for many companies, allowing them to track their website performance and gain valuable insights about their user base.
Google recently released its newest version of Google Analytics—version 4 (GA4). This update brings many new features and advancements over the previous version—Google Analytics 3 (GA3).
Whether you’re just getting started with analytics or are an experienced user looking for a more advanced solution, switching from GA3 to GA4 could be a smart move for your business.
Let’s look at what makes GA4 important, the benefits of making the switch, and how you can easily transition.
What Is Google Analytics 4
GA4 is the next evolution in Google Analytics, focusing on machine learning-driven insights rather than pageview tracking. Unlike GA3, built around pageviews and individual sessions on your website, GA4 has been explicitly designed for mobile apps and uses more sophisticated event-tracking methods. This means that instead of focusing solely on pageviews, it collects data from various events as users interact with your app or website—such as clicks, scrolls, video views, etc.—and data about user demographics and interests.
The Benefits of Migrating to GA4
Aside from its improved event-based tracking capabilities, there are plenty of other benefits that come with making the switch to Google Analytics 4:
- Improved User Insights – GA4 can provide more detailed user insights than ever with its machine-learning capabilities. It allows you to see trends in user behavior regarding how they interact with your app or website over time and provides deeper insights into who they are by collecting demographic information like gender or age group.
- Better Conversion Tracking – The improved conversion tracking provided by GA4 enables you to understand better which products resonate most strongly with users. It also provides accurate data about engagement across different devices.
- Smoother Integration with Other Platforms – Thanks to the integration between Firebase and BigQuery tools provided by Google Cloud Platform (GCP), it’s easier than ever for businesses using both platforms to gather actionable insights from their data quickly without having to export it manually each time.
- Enhanced Goal Tracking – The goal tracking feature in GA4 allows you to set up custom goals based on specific actions taken by users, such as adding items to their cart or subscribing to newsletters. This helps you understand where users are dropping off in their journey through your site or app so that you can make improvements accordingly.
- More Detailed Reports – One major advantage of switching over from GA3 is that GA4 offers much more detailed reports than its predecessor. This allows you to gain deeper insight into how users interact with your site or app and helps you identify potential areas for improvement quickly and efficiently.
- Improved Security – Last but not least, switching over from GA3 will ensure that all your data remains safe. Thanks to increased security measures implemented in GA4, such as encrypted data storage and access control settings.
- Enhanced user privacy features – While GA3 allows you to collect data from users who have consented to share it, GA4 takes things one step further by anonymizing user data so that it can be used for analysis but remains secure. This helps protect users’ personal information while allowing businesses to gain valuable analytics about their website visitors.
- Improved cross-device tracking capabilities – With GA4, businesses can track users across multiple devices, which gives them a better understanding of how customers interact with their website and mobile app. This helps companies to understand how customers use different platforms and adjust their strategies accordingly.
- Integration with Google Ads – GA4 offers smoother integration with other platforms, such as Google Ads. This makes it easier for businesses to access customer data and create targeted campaigns tailored towards specific audiences or goals. The integration between these two platforms can also be used for more advanced goal tracking, allowing businesses to monitor how effectively their campaigns achieve set objectives.
- Improved event tracking – The reporting capabilities of GA4 are much better than those of GA3, which allows businesses to get an even deeper understanding of customer behavior patterns and trends over time.
Migrating from Google Analytics 3 (GA3) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) requires careful planning and consideration but, once completed, can provide immense value for your business or brand.
If you need help tracking your Google Analytics Report, web performance, and SEO Key Metrics, don’t hesitate to call us at +639 0964 99780 or email us at [email protected].