Knowing all about GA4 and Its Parameters

Web traffic engagement is a critical way to drive the bottom line of the company. SEO services experts can leverage this with ease and generate value for the company.

Any company that has a website and relies on digital marketing services, would most probably be using an analytics tool to measure the performance of the website. Google introduced a much awaited and a very significant change to its reporting tool in October 2020 and it launched Google Analytics 4. The earlier version of the reporting tool considers only the website data, whereas Google Analytics 4 integrates and then tracks data from the website and app through one Google Analytics account. This newest upgrade claims that it will lead to more precise tracking with better analytics.

All about Google Analytics 4

GA4 is the newest generation of web analytics platform and it is going to replace the older version i.e. Universal Analytics (UA). Advanced AI technologies have been used to build GA4, so that the tool addresses evolving needs of businesses and the security trends.

Here are two most significant changes you will notice in this upgrade:

• Data Collection: In the world of omnichannel ecommerce, GA4 integrates data from website and application, both. Businesses are able to see a unified user journey and lifecycle of customers across different platforms. 
• Event-based tracking: There were many missed opportunities in UA as users were measured by recording device and platform sessions. Data was lost when the user switched devices. Google Analytics 4 used an event based model which tracks the user behaviour. 

As the tracking mechanism has changed to events and parameters, new engagement metrics have also been introduced like engagement rate, engaged sessions and engaged time. 

Data control and security with GA4

GA4 offers advanced data controls so that the users can maintain their privacy. These privacy options give user the ability to:

• Control the method in which they collect, store and share data
• Make a decision whether they want to use the data for personalised ad delivery and SEO services
• Delete the collected data by making a request to Google

How GA4 compares with UA?

GA4 differs from UA in many aspects like data architecture, UI, reporting, navigation and terminology used. Data modelling is the most important change. 

In UA every event had a pre-defined category and hence only a limited amount of data could be tracked. The user was mandated to enter the event category, attributes of the event, the action associated, and the values of the event. 

Many actions were redundant and the business did not get a holistic picture of the user journey. GA4 has brought everything together and integrated everything. So everything on the page is not a separate or unique hit, but it is collectively reported as a dataset. Various reportable instances like downloads, clicks, actions and form submissions are recorded. 

GA4 Event Parameters for SEO experts

As an SEO expert, when you start leveraging GA4, it is important that you understand all about the event parameters. For GA4 anything and everything that happens on your website is an event. 

In simple words, you can assume that parameters are extra information about the event, that help define it better. For instance, when an event called ‘page_view’ is sent to the tool, the associated parameters like ‘page_url’ and ‘page_referrer’ will also be reported. These together and collectively define the event. 

Three types of parameters are supported by Google Analytics 4:

Automatic parameters:

GA4 collected these parameters on its own or automatically for every event that occurs on the website. Therefore, the SEO expert does not need to specify these parameters.

• Language of the page (language)
• Referrers (page_referrer)
• Title of the page (page_title)
• Screen resolution (screen_resolution)
• Location (page_location)

Custom parameters:

If the business wants they can send two custom parameters with the event into the tool.

• Text parameters: These parameters are to be registered as custom dimensions before they can be used
• Number parameters: These need to be registered as custom metrics before they are ready to be used

User properties:

The following attributes of the user on the website are automatically sent as parameters of the event:

• Age
• Country of residence
• Gender
• Language
• Device (Tablet, mobile, laptop, etc.)
• Interests 

If in addition to these you wish to record other data points, you can define custom user properties. 

How can you leverage GA4 in digital marketing services?

The newest upgrade to GA4, allows for recording of 500 unique events. The following features are introduced and made available with GA4:

Automatic events:

These are mandatory events and you cannot disable them. All reports will include these events. Some example are:

• Page view
• First visit
• Session start time
• Engagement

Better and enhanced measurement: 

You can track optional and enhanced events like:

• Outbound clicks
• Site searches
• Video engagement
• File downloads

Custom events:

If you still feel the need of any additional event you can create your own custom event.

GA4 promises tremendous potential that businesses can leverage to get a competitive edge. SEO experts can leverage these and get better insights into user preferences and journeys to drive business growth.