Google Analytics has just released the latest version of its service, Google Analytics version 4 or referred to as GA4. GA4 was released in October 2020, and still needs further improvisation.
Even though it's still a baby, in fact GA4 can offer various advantages that you can't find in GA3 or Universal Analytics. What are they?
5 Advantages of Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
In the previous version of analytics, you are certainly quite dizzy if you have to do activity tracking, especially those related to clicks. In addition, Universal Analytics also has limitations that can make your data difficult to digest.
One of the changes that are quite notable is the abolition of the concept of Bounce Rate or bounce rate. Instead, GA4 provides the metric Engagement Rate, which is the ratio of visitor activity to total Page View.
Of course this is easier to understand because it uses a "positive" understanding rather than a "negative" understanding. And not only that, here are 5 new features provided by GA4 to help your website tracking needs:
Automatic Track Click
If in the previous version you couldn't get click event information automatically, then in GA4 clicks can be tracked automatically.
This is thanks to the presence of the enhanced measurement feature in the GA4. You no longer need to manually define click events, either via Tag Manager or manually with the help of javascript.
It's still not perfect, and not all types of clicks can be read automatically. But for those who are not very familiar with the technology from Google Analytics, this feature will certainly be very helpful.
Page View Becomes Event
In previous versions, Page View was categorized in session level. In GA4, Page View has become the same event as click or visit. This makes it easier for you to collect data, considering that you don't have to consider complex scopes like in previous versions of Analytics.
Page View itself also has parameters, just like events in general. Makes checking data in Page View easier.
Support Debug View
In Google Analytics version 3, you can't debug easily. It's still possible to debug, but you need sufficient advanced coding knowledge to understand what it means, even for code knowledge outside of analytics itself.
In GA4, that's not the case. Because the debug method in GA4 already supports a much simpler Graphic User Interface. If you've ever used preview mode on the Facebook Pixel or Tag Manager, then GA4 is not much different than the two.
Can Display Full URL Without Additional Configuration
This is the most exciting thing from GA4, you no longer need to set additional filters if you want to know the full URL of the page view or event that occurs.
In GA3, you can only see the page path of the displayed URL. Of course, you can still set filters manually to get similar reports, but you still need extra effort and special knowledge to get the data you want.
This feature is especially helpful if you are using a subdomain (example: blog.example.com). Given the subdomain will not be shown in the usual Analytics reports. But in GA4, all URLs will be displayed full by default.
Flexible Event Parameters
In GA3, you are only limited to 4 event parameters, namely Category, Action, Label, and Value. In GA4, now you can add event parameters according to your own definition and of course there is no standard in naming these events.
Upgrade Google Analytics to GA4 with Setup Assistant
Interested in upgrading? If you are already using GA3 with gtag.js, then you can easily upgrade via the Setup Assistant which you can find in the Admin menu in the Property section.
You then just put the GA4 config gtag into the global site tag that you have installed, or as simple as adding the GA4 tag in Google Tag Manager, if you are already using it.
