Michael Janssen : Google Analytics like a pro
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2025 10:14 am
This year's Seoday kicked off with the highly sought-after topic "Google Analytics 4." Unfortunately, the presentation ran 10 minutes later than planned, making it more difficult to change rooms and arrive on time for the start of the next track. What excited me from the start was the statement that you have to learn everything from scratch with GA4 and that it's completely different from Universal Analytics.
The entire analysis and attribution are no longer comparable with Universal Analytics. GA4 is therefore not a renovation, but a completely new version developed by Google. The names of the reports haven't changed much, but the data behind them is completely different.
For example, the former Traffic Acquisition report has now been renamed "Newly argentina phone number data Generated Visits." The bounce rate has been replaced by the term "Interaction Duration." While Universal Analytics didn't count the first page view, Google Analytics 4 begins measuring data from the first page visit. Another major advantage of GA4 is that every time a conversion is triggered on the website, it is counted directly.
Tip: You can disable Google Signal for reports (report identification). It's worth it. The report for evaluating user data has also changed in GA4, distinguishing between active and inactive users. Active users refer to all new, returning users who have made exactly one interaction on the website. However, it may be the case that fewer total user numbers are delivered in GA4 than in Universal Analytics.
Finally, he gave 5 impulses to conclude:
Adjust storage period
Customize your reports to your needs (there are hundreds of options)
Do not use Enhanced Measurement
Disable Google Signal in reports
Enable Big Query (even if you don't currently use it. But you might want to at some point)
The most important key learnings I took away from the presentation were the following:
The interface in GA can now be adapted to your own needs
Existing event names and definitions in GA4 should be used.
Enabling Big Query definitely makes sense to work effectively with GA4.
Some key figures now have completely different names
The methodology for data analysis has changed completely in some cases in GA3.
The entire analysis and attribution are no longer comparable with Universal Analytics. GA4 is therefore not a renovation, but a completely new version developed by Google. The names of the reports haven't changed much, but the data behind them is completely different.
For example, the former Traffic Acquisition report has now been renamed "Newly argentina phone number data Generated Visits." The bounce rate has been replaced by the term "Interaction Duration." While Universal Analytics didn't count the first page view, Google Analytics 4 begins measuring data from the first page visit. Another major advantage of GA4 is that every time a conversion is triggered on the website, it is counted directly.
Tip: You can disable Google Signal for reports (report identification). It's worth it. The report for evaluating user data has also changed in GA4, distinguishing between active and inactive users. Active users refer to all new, returning users who have made exactly one interaction on the website. However, it may be the case that fewer total user numbers are delivered in GA4 than in Universal Analytics.
Finally, he gave 5 impulses to conclude:
Adjust storage period
Customize your reports to your needs (there are hundreds of options)
Do not use Enhanced Measurement
Disable Google Signal in reports
Enable Big Query (even if you don't currently use it. But you might want to at some point)
The most important key learnings I took away from the presentation were the following:
The interface in GA can now be adapted to your own needs
Existing event names and definitions in GA4 should be used.
Enabling Big Query definitely makes sense to work effectively with GA4.
Some key figures now have completely different names
The methodology for data analysis has changed completely in some cases in GA3.