Interpreting Google Analytics Reports
Mindshift: Moving from Reporting into Analysis
At Western Washington University, we upgraded all accounts from Universal Analytics (UA), to Google Analytics 4 (GA4). The latest version of Google Analytics features an abundance of new tools like predictive insights, better cross-device measurement, and more data privacy controls. But if you’re used to looking at your old analytics account, the information that GA 4 provides looks a lot different. The key mind shift to understand is that Google Analytics is no longer a reporting tool – but an analysis tool.
The Four Big Changes in GA4
You can read about all of the newest updates to Google Analytics on Google’s blog, but the four updates to GA4 that benefit us here at Western include:
- Smart insights and predictions improvement
- Improved focus on customer-related data
- Better event tracking
- More comprehensive data controls
Insights and Prediction
While machine learning-powered insights in Analytics have been available for some time, the new insights and predictions making their way to GA4 can automatically alert site owners to data trends. Those insights can help folks anticipate actions that site visitors might take in the future and help you to focus on higher-value audiences. (Higher-value audiences being those visitors more likely to enroll or register for Western’s offerings.) Identifying these higher-value audiences is useful for targeting campaigns and building audiences for remarketing.
Focus on the Customer Journey
One of the biggest differences between GA4 and UA is the organization of reports. The new reports are designed to help website owners drill down into the particulars of the customer journey. The new GA4 experience also aims to give site owners a more holistic view of how users are engaging with the website across devices as well as the various channels that bring them to the website in the first place.
Event Tracking Without Extra Code
Better codeless features make it easier for site owners to track and measure on-site actions that matter — in real-time — such as a student clicking a "Register" button, watching a tour video or downloading an application, without having to add code or set up event tracking in Google Tag Manager. Within UA, event tracking requires additional code, and the data was typically not available until the following day.
Better Data Controls
GA4 also includes options to help us comply with data regulations such as GDPR and CCPA, regarding personal information collected from students.
How to Understand and Interpret GA4 Automated Insights
- Understanding Automated Insights by Optimize Smart
- Overview of Reading GA4 Properties by Loves Data
- GA4 Event Tracking / The Complete Guide by Loves Data
- Best ways to use GA4 by DataBox
- What’s new and different about Google Analytics 4? by MeasureSchool
Additional Reading
- Screenshots of Old (UA) and New GA4 Home Screens and explanation of the user interface by Radd Interactive
- Overview of GA4 by Ruffalo
- Universal Analytics versus Google Analytics 4 data by Google
Do It Yourself Resources
Still intrigued by all this talk about data, reporting, market segments and more? Excellent! Read on to discover more DIY guides and tutorials. We believe in empowerment.