Google is replacing Universal Analytics (UA) with Google Analytics 4 (GA4). As of July 1, 2023, UA data is no longer being processed. NIU’s past UA data will remain available until July 1, 2024, and we’re exploring back-up options.
We’ve installed and tested GA4 across the niu.edu domain and transferred the same people and access levels from UA to GA4. We’ll continue to manage access and determine data restrictions in GA4 at the account and property levels.
UA and GA4 track and present data differently. Ultimately, the shift to GA4 offers the opportunity to reevaluate priorities and goals regarding analytics and will provide a more accurate, in-depth understanding of user behavior.
Differences Between UA and GA4
There are several differences between UA and GA4. The main difference is that GA4 focuses on measuring engagement through active users and events, while UA focused more on sessions and page views.
Additional key differences include:
- Ability of GA4 to track data from apps, eliminating the need to track this data separately
- Ability of GA4 to anonymize IP addresses, which is better for user privacy
- Use of Active Users as the primary user metric in GA4, a more accurate indicator of engagement
- Option in GA4 to automatically measure pageviews for single-page applications (web applications that can update webpages with chunks of new content from a server instead of loading new pages), as opposed to manually adding custom tags
- A more nuanced way of collecting bounce data in GA4 that better reflects user engagement
- A different way of tracking events in GA4 that helps ensure the measuring of quality engagement on websites rather than quantity
How GA4 Data Is Reported
Since the ways UA and GA4 collect data are completely different, it’s nearly impossible to accurately compare the two. In addition, the UA interface offered ways to filter reports that aren’t available in the new GA4 interface. Going forward, dashboards created though Google’s Looker Studio will be the optimal way to not only filter but present data.
Dashboards are interactive reports of data and analytics created and curated to fit the client’s needs. By implementing dashboards, we’ll be able to provide a more thorough look into a site’s usage and engagement than that offered by a simple PDF.
GA4 and Specific Web Properties
GA4 is installed on all NIU websites. We’re also using GA4 to track engagement with NIU’s mobile apps and YouTube videos.
Frequently Asked Questions
What goals and events are we tracking?
Google Analytics 4 has an entirely different data model than Universal Analytics. Instead of being based on sessions and pageviews, the GA4 measurement model is based exclusively on events. An event can be almost any action by a user. Some events are recorded automatically by GA4, such as the first time a user visits our website. We can also create custom events, allowing us to gather data not automatically collected by GA4 as our needs change.
Have our UA goals been migrated to conversion events in GA4?
Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 use different data models. UA’s data model is based on sessions and page views. In contrast, GA4’s is based on events and parameters. This means that the two analytics platforms collect, process and report the same data differently. We’ll be able to monitor the same goals in GA4 that we did in UA, we’ll just access the data a different way (through dashboards).
How will we measure the effectiveness of website changes?
In GA4 conversion metrics shows the number of times a user triggered an event. Conversion data is the essential part of reports on a website’s performance through GA4. By tracking the key actions of users, we can identify ways to improve our websites and monitor the effectiveness of those changes.
What kind of customer journey information will we be able to report out on with GA4?
In GA4, a session is tracked automatically whenever a user first lands on our site(s). Through this event, a session ID is also generated which serves as the unique identifier for that session. Following a user’s path and interactions on the website in those sessions will reflect the customer journey.
