If you’re hearing about Google Analytics 4, or “GA4” for short, you may be wondering what it means for you and your business. Whether you have a digital marketing partner, an internal marketing team, or you do your digital marketing yourself – GA4 is here to stay.

We’ll tell you everything you need to know about the newest version of Google’s web analytics platform, and how it’s going to impact you. Let’s go!

What is GA4?

Google Analytics 4 is the most recent version to Google’s web analytics platform. The previous version, Universal Analytics (UA), is still available but will be phased out on July 1st, 2023. At that point, platform users will be required to use GA4. GA4, like UA, provides similar insights into website and app performance.

It will also provide insight into user behavior, and for the home services industry specifically, it will allow users to evaluate how effective your website is at attracting what’s important: LEADS!

How is GA4 Different From UA?

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UA was designed without mobile browsing in mind, assuming independent web sessions, and also relied heavily on easily observable data from cookies/session data. This is no longer a good way to measure and analyze your website’s performance.
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GA4 isn’t dependent on cookies like UA, can operate across different platforms, and has an emphasis on using event-based data collection. This shift will allow for more granular tracking and analysis of website performance, as well as more thorough insight into the user’s end journey.
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Perhaps the most exciting improvement is that GA4 incorporates machine learning and AI capabilities to provide advanced insights and allow for predictive analysis. This is a major evolution in what the platform can do!
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If you’re used to UA and worried you’ll lose the insights you currently have, don’t worry – most of the metrics that UA provided are available in GA4, too. You’ll want to brush up on the definitions of Google’s metrics, however, as they have been updated in the GA4 metrics documentation.

What Else Do I Need to Know About GA4?

So, what else has everyone excited about GA4? For starters, the GA4 will provide a huge improvement by introducing machine learning integration. It will allow the platform to provide automatic insights, anomaly detection, and predictive analytics – this is a big deal.

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GA4 also ushers in a huge improvement when it comes to data privacy features for all. That means a better experience for users, and compliance with stricter regulations and user consent requirements that have been updated in recent times. Unlike UA, GA4 will no longer store IP addresses, either.

What Should Your Digital Marketing Partner Do?

Whether you’re a RYNO Strategic Solutions client or not, it’s important to know what to expect your digital marketing team to be doing. Hopefully, this will give you a checklist of important items to discuss or implement.

  1. Become Familiar With GA4: Your digital marketing partner should be familiar with GA4 and its features to ensure a smooth transition.
  2. Update Tracking: They should review and update tracking implementations with the new “event-based model” in mind.
  3. Convert Goals:Goals previously set up in UA should be converted into events and/or conversion in GA4 to make sure you’re tracking the same important actions on your website.
  4. Implement Conversion Tracking: It’s essential to set up conversion tracking and implement custom events based on your specific business goals. For home services companies, that might include contact form submissions or appointment bookings.
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Talk Nerdy To Us!

As we mentioned, UA will no longer process data starting July 1st, so it’s time to get in gear and make the switch to GA4 if you haven’t already! There will be a learning curve, as GA4 has a different data model and interface.

You or your digital marketing team will need to get familiar with the new concepts and functionalities the platform comes with. For RYNO Strategic Solutions clients, rest easy knowing we’re on top of it all!