A Guide to the Standard Reports in Google Analytics 4 ( Part 1 )
We’ve set out to tackle the ambitious task of configuring the core setting of GA 4 and the required resources you need to know. In this instalment, we will look at the standard report: how it has been wholly re-envisioned with a new model and core features, how it differs from UA, and how you can get the most out of the data they offer.
New Reporting UI Overview
GA 4 is a relatively new product undergoing rapid development, so the UI in GA 4 is likely to change and evolve at a fast pace. You will notice significantly that what it used to show on the left nav( the audience, acquisition, behaviour and conversions ) has now been replaced with the breakdown of the lifecycle, user, events, analysis, and configure. Not to mention the intelligent search, the new concept of report cards and share/customise, all of these features have been updated in the new UI. Since Google is reimaging the UI to become more customisable, a few iterations could happen in the future, so be prepared and take it easy!
UnSampled Standard Report
Sampling has been available in all of the reports in UA, and how it usually works when you add an audience or a secondary dimension to the report. If you have enough data, e.g. more than 500k sessions in the date range, then a tiny shield with the tick ( sampling) would indicate in your report. In the UA, there is a high chance that the report might end up being sampled. However, this is not the case in GA 4 since sampling doesn't happen in the core standard reports except the analysis module, which we will cover in the following article. But, generally speaking, the new standard reports in App + Web are never sampled.
That being said, GA 4 allows users to send 20 billion hits per month per account with the Firebase model supported. Previously, UA has a limit of 10 million hits that users have to upgrade to GA Enterprise 360 if they want to send more data to the report.
Key Features in Standard Reports — Page and Screen
To find page and screen, go to lifecycle > engagement and click it. You will bring to the dashboard that contains many data around the page title and screen class. And this is where a variety of critical features are available in the newest version.
First, the data range.
Whenever you are looking for an analyzing report, you would likely go over to the top right corner selecting the date range where the data applies to your analysis. Some tips and tricks for your data range selector are that you can now choose predefined data periods or enables comparison by either clicking to choose the data range or manually typing in the data search.
Secondly, the page title and screen class.
This is a fair departure from UA because GA 4 makes the page titles the new default instead of showing page URLs. If you click on the dropdown at the top left corner, you can access other primary dimensions; if you want to add the secondary dimension, just towards the right-hand side and click on the Plus button to select the desired dimension. Otherwise, trying the search bar will be another option.
Thirdly, the change rows and sort settings.
You can also have options to customise how many rows are being shown, select which rows that you would like to show.
New column filters added — Event count, Conversions, and Average Engagement Time.
Another cool thing is that GA 4 brings in Event and Conversion count into the content performance. Why is this cool? Previously in UA, it is about interactions where there is no concept of conversions anywhere for content. GA 4 uses a different data model to empower users to interact and connect between pages, events, and conversion.
In addition, the average engagement time, which tracks how the user was engaged, how long the user had the page open, or how long the user was between interactions, is measured significantly different in GA 4. Engagement is measured by ensuring that the apps or page is in the foreground and actively interacting with.
Change attribution and customise
The next component we want to show is the customization options. So in the top right-hand corner, you can click customize a variety of components, i.e. change the primary metric, reorder or drag the different widgets, or hide or remove specific components.
Nevertheless, the concept of attribution has shifted dramatically from the last touch or last non-direct touch approach in UA to different kind of attribution model, meaning you can change the default attribution type for all of your reports directly in this new attribution type dropdown.
Comparisons
Now, the last component is the comparisons, where you can access the feature at the top of the report. If you’re familiar with advanced segments in UA, this is sort of similar, allowing you to customize types of audience/users/ events that youwant to look at. By default, you can build up the five conditions and do it in real time which is not available in UA version. Do aware that advanced segments is a little bit limited in GA 4 at the moment, so hopefully, Google will roll out more features in the future time.
That is it! You can see all the key features highlighted in the diagram below.
I hope after reading, you can save time by learning all the tips and tricks needed to get data quickly and understand how the Analysis module is essential to you. If you do have time, please don’t forget to go through the following provided by the CXL course, as these are all the good bunch of resources that help you achieve your milestone!
