1 Google Analytics 4

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1.1 What Does a Web Analytics System Do?

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1.1.1 What Is Google Analytics 4?

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1.1.2 Events Take Center Stage

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1.1.3 Where Is My Old Data?

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1.2 The New World of Measurement

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1.2.1 Components of a Marketing Technology Setup

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1.2.2 GA4 as a Central Database in Online Marketing

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1.2.3 The User’s Path in the Customer Journey

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1.2.4 Data Privacy and Cookies

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1.2.5 Taking Data Privacy Requirements into Account

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1.2.6 AI in Web Analytics

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1.3 Creating a Tracking Concept

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1.3.1 Recording Action Items

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1.3.2 Defining Conversions

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1.4 Documentation and Online Help

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1.4.1 Official Online Documentation

40

1.4.2 Skillshop from Google

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1.5 Summary

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2 Setting Up Google Analytics 4

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2.1 Creating an Account, a Property, and a Data Stream

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2.1.1 Creating a Property

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2.1.2 Example: Creating a Data Stream for the Web

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2.1.3 Structuring Google Analytics Accounts and GA4 Properties

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2.2 Embedding Tags on Websites

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2.2.1 Using a Website Builder, Content Management System, or Store System

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2.2.2 Google Tag Directly in the Source Code

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2.2.3 GA4 in Google Tag Manager

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2.2.4 Consent Mode for User Consent

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2.2.5 Checking Whether Data Is Arriving

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2.3 Events in GA4

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2.3.1 Structure and Use of Events

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2.3.2 Automatically Recorded Events

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2.3.3 Events for Optimized Analyses

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2.3.4 Recommended Events

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2.3.5 Custom Events

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2.3.6 Editing Events

70

2.3.7 Creating Events

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2.4 Defining Key Events

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2.4.1 Purpose of Key Events in GA4

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2.4.2 Defining Key Events

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2.4.3 Planning Key Events

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2.5 Using Custom Definitions

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2.5.1 Sending Parameters to GA4

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2.5.2 Creating Custom Definitions

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2.5.3 Limits of Dimensions and Metrics

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2.6 Details of the Web Data Stream

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2.6.1 Data Stream: The Measurement Protocol API and API Secrets

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2.6.2 Data Stream: Removing Data

84

2.7 Configuring Google Tag Settings

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2.7.1 Tag Quality

86

2.7.2 Managing Automatic Events

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2.7.3 Configuring Domains

86

2.7.4 Reading User Data

88

2.7.5 Tracking Universal Events

89

2.7.6 Marking Internal Traffic

89

2.7.7 Ignoring Unwanted Referrals

92

2.7.8 Defining the Duration of Sessions

92

2.7.9 Life Cycle of Analytics Cookies

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2.7.10 Changing the Default Consent Mode

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2.7.11 Automatic Consent to Data Collection

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2.7.12 Setting Data Usage for Other Google Services

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2.8 Summary

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3 Analyzing Websites

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3.1 The GA4 Home Page

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3.1.1 Snapshots in the First Overview

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3.1.2 Your Activity History

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3.1.3 Insights & Recommendations: Conspicuous Developments

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3.1.4 Insights: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

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3.1.5 The Search Function in GA4

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3.2 Reports: Analyzing Users

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3.2.1 Important Basic Terms

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3.2.2 General User Data

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3.2.3 Tracking User Activity in Real Time

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3.2.4 Demographics

111

3.2.5 Viewing Technical Data

117

3.3 Content: Events and Pages

121

3.3.1 The Engagement Overview

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3.3.2 User Actions in the Event Report

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3.3.3 Content Used in the Page Report

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3.3.4 Analyzing User Action with Events

133

3.4 Searching, Filtering, and Comparing

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3.4.1 Searching Within a Data Table

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3.4.2 Limiting a Report with Filters According to Specific Criteria

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3.4.3 Comparing Data from Different User Groups

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3.5 Summary

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4 Controlling Campaigns

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4.1 How Do Users Get to The Website?

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4.1.1 Source and Medium

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4.1.2 Explaining Channels

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4.1.3 User Acquisition and Generated Traffic

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4.1.4 Campaigns and UTM Parameters

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4.1.5 Examples of Using UTM Parameters

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4.1.6 Differences in Clicks, Sessions, and Users

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4.1.7 Editing Channels

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4.1.8 Payment Services as a Source in the Report

172

4.2 Creating Audiences

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4.2.1 Creating a New Audience

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4.2.2 Understanding Condition Scoping

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4.2.3 Series of Conditions as a Sequence

178

4.2.4 Duration of the Audience Membership

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4.2.5 Suggested Audiences

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4.2.6 Viewing and Using Audiences

181

4.3 Understanding Attribution in the Advertising Menu

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4.3.1 Attribution Models: Valuating Key Events

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4.3.2 Attribution Paths: Touchpoints Before Conversion

185

4.3.3 Planning: Displaying Costs and Successes

187

4.3.4 Advertising Segments

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4.3.5 Attribution Model for Report Generation

188

4.4 Setting Up a Link with Google Ads

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4.4.1 Linking Google Analytics and Google Ads Accounts

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4.4.2 Google Ads Reports in GA4

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4.4.3 Importing GA4 Key Events as Conversions

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4.4.4 Importing GA4 Audiences into a Google Ads Account

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4.5 Linking Google Search Console with GA4

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4.5.1 Enriching Reports with Search Console Data

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4.5.2 Linking GA4 and Search Console

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4.6 Summary

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5 Evaluating Stores

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5.1 Evaluating E-Commerce Data

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5.1.1 Which Items Are Users Interested In?

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5.1.2 Other Item Dimensions

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5.1.3 Displaying Item Lists

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5.1.4 Analyzing the Purchasing Behavior

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5.1.5 Shopping Carts and Wish Lists

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5.1.6 Mapping the Ordering Process

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5.1.7 Purchase as Completion of an Order

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5.1.8 Advertising within the Store

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5.1.9 Vouchers and Coupons

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5.1.10 Registrations and Logins

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5.1.11 Returning Users and Repeat Buyers

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5.1.12 The User Lifetime Value

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5.2 Measuring E-Commerce User Actions

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5.2.1 Transferring E-Commerce Data to GA4

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5.2.2 E-Commerce Events

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5.2.3 Information on Products

233

5.2.4 Defining Custom Dimensions for Orders and Items

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5.2.5 Uploading Item Data via Data Import

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5.3 Sample Accounts and Demos from Google

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5.3.1 The GA4 Demo Account

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5.3.2 The E-Commerce Demo Store

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5.4 Summary

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6 Analyzing Apps

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6.1 Collecting User Data in Apps

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6.1.1 Types of Apps

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6.1.2 What Is Firebase?

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6.1.3 Tracking for Different Platforms

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6.1.4 Flexible Integration

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6.2 Analyzing Content and Actions in Apps

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6.2.1 Events

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6.2.2 Screens

255

6.2.3 Custom Dimensions and Metrics

257

6.2.4 Key Events for Apps

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6.2.5 E-Commerce in Apps

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6.2.6 Audiences for Apps

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6.2.7 Data on App Usage

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6.2.8 Versions and Releases

262

6.2.9 Tracking Crashes

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6.2.10 Sources and Campaigns for Apps

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6.2.11 Tracking Deep Links

266

6.3 Setting Up App Data Streams

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6.3.1 Interaction of Firebase and GA4

266

6.3.2 Creating an App Stream in GA4

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6.3.3 Blending App and Web Data

275

6.4 Data Privacy during App Tracking

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6.4.1 Controlling Initial Tracking

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6.4.2 Consent Mode and Personalized Advertising

279

6.5 Checking and Debugging the Integration

282

6.5.1 Finding Your Own Session in the Realtime Report

282

6.5.2 Checking an App Live in DebugView

284

6.6 Sending Messages via Firebase

286

6.6.1 Cloud Messaging

286

6.6.2 In-App Messaging

289

6.6.3 Evaluating Messages in GA4

291

6.7 Sample GA4 Account with App Data

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6.8 Summary

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7 Customizing and Creating Custom Reports

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7.1 Customizing the Navigation in the Library

295

7.2 Creating and Editing Reports

299

7.2.1 Adding Dimensions to the Report

301

7.2.2 Customizing Columns and Metrics of the Data Table

301

7.2.3 Filtering the Table

302

7.2.4 Visualization with Diagrams

303

7.2.5 Summary Cards for Overview Reports

304

7.2.6 Customizing or Creating an Overview Report

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7.2.7 Suggestions for Customizing and New Reports

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7.3 Creating Exploratory Data Analyses

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7.3.1 Your First Data Analysis

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7.3.2 Breaking Down Data Using Segments

328

7.3.3 Other Analysis Formats

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7.3.4 Templates and Examples for Data Analysis

339

7.4 Summary

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8 BigQuery and Looker Studio

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8.1 Analyzing Raw Data Using BigQuery

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8.1.1 Enabling the BigQuery Link

343

8.1.2 The Structure of BigQuery Tables

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8.1.3 Querying a BigQuery Table

356

8.1.4 Real-Life SQL Queries for BigQuery

365

8.1.5 BigQuery Demo Account with Sample Dataset

369

8.2 Merging Looker Studio and GA4

370

8.2.1 Access to GA4 Data

371

8.2.2 Adding Custom Fields to the Data Source

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8.2.3 Looker Studio as Frontend for BigQuery

376

8.2.4 Examples and Templates for Looker Studio

378

8.2.5 Looker Studio as an Extension of GA4

380

8.3 Summary

382

9 Error Analysis and Quality Assurance

383

9.1 Find a Google Tag on the Page

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9.1.1 Checking the Page Source Code

384

9.1.2 Checking Tag Coverage in GA4 or Google Tag Manager

385

9.2 Performing Checks in Browser Developer Tools

387

9.2.1 Inspecting “collect” Calls

388

9.2.2 Adswerve dataLayer Inspector+

393

9.2.3 Correctly Checking a Generated DOM

396

9.3 Triggers and Events in Tag Assistant

396

9.3.1 Starting a Debugging Process for a Domain

397

9.3.2 The Tag Assistant Companion Plugin

401

9.3.3 Tag Assistant with Google Tag Manager

402

9.4 Inbound Events in the GA4 DebugView

403

9.4.1 Enabling Debug Mode for GA4

404

9.4.2 Tracking Events

404

9.5 Monitoring the Quality of Data in GA4

406

9.5.1 Customized Google Looker Studio Dashboards

406

9.5.2 Insights

408

9.6 Cookies and Browser Privacy

410

9.6.1 User Privacy as Added Value in Browsers

411

9.6.2 Checking Cookies Used in the Browser

413

9.7 Frequent Issues in GA4

414

9.7.1 JavaScript Pitfalls

414

9.7.2 No Data in the Report

415

9.7.3 Only a Little Data in the Report

415

9.7.4 Individual Pages or Directories Are Missing

416

9.7.5 The Report Contains a “(not set)” Entry

416

9.7.6 Summarized Destinations as (other) Entries

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9.7.7 Different Dates in Retrospect

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9.7.8 Missing Campaigns

418

9.8 Relaunch or Move

420

9.8.1 Creating a New Account or Keeping the Old One?

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9.8.2 New URLs

421

9.8.3 New Design and New Templates

421

9.8.4 New Forms

421

9.8.5 Test Account

422

9.9 Summary

422

10 Administration and Management

423

10.1 Account and Property Management

423

10.1.1 Access Management in GA4 Properties

423

10.1.2 Account and Property Change History

426

10.1.3 The Trash Can: Deleting an Account or Property

426

10.1.4 Scheduled Emails

427

10.1.5 Analytics Intelligence Search History

428

10.2 Data Collection and Modification

429

10.2.1 Data Streams

429

10.2.2 Data Collection

430

10.2.3 Data Import

433

10.2.4 Defining Data Retention

440

10.2.5 Creating Data Filters

441

10.2.6 Data Deletion Request

442

10.3 Data Display

445

10.3.1 Events

445

10.3.2 Key Events

446

10.3.3 Audiences

446

10.3.4 Comparisons

446

10.3.5 Custom Definitions

447

10.3.6 Channel Groups

448

10.3.7 Attribution Settings

448

10.3.8 Reporting Identity

448

10.3.9 DebugView

451

10.4 Links and API Access

451

10.4.1 Product Links

451

10.4.2 GA4 Admin and Data API

453

10.5 Setting Up User Permissions via the Google Marketing Platform

454

10.5.1 Creating an Organization

455

10.5.2 Managing Users and Access Rights

456

10.5.3 Linking Additional Accounts to the Organization

462

10.5.4 Dashboard for Product Links

463

10.6 Server-Side Tagging

464

10.7 Google Analytics 360 for GA4

465

10.8 Summary

467