Many business owners rely on Google Analytics for insight into their website traffic. Whether setting up search engine optimization or seeking site visitor data, it’s a helpful tool for developing effective marketing. However, Google Analytics is undergoing some monumental changes in response to international privacy laws. It’s crucial for business owners to understand these changes to navigate them accordingly to ensure they get the most for their efforts.
How Google Analytics 4 Changed
GA4 comprises one of the most monumental changes ever undergone for Google Analytics. It eliminates the third-party cookie, which gained controversy due to privacy concerns. However, it also aims to make data collection more efficient across desktop and mobile applications.
One of the new metrics used in GA4 is replacing bounce rate with engagement rate to provide insight in how visitors interact with your site. It’s part of a bigger goal to track user activity across your various channels, funnels, and domains to provide a clearer picture of how people move through your app to your website and through site redirects, collecting a wide array of user data. Furthermore, Google Tag Manager is still supported in Google Analytics 4. Google Tag Manager, collects a central repository for all your tags by transferring information from your website to Google Analytics.
Gaining Search Insights
Privacy concerns spurred many of the changes in online marketing, which only encouraged developers to find new and improved ways to collect insight into consumer behavior online.
Google Analytics remains an essential tool in tracking your metrics and web interactions. However, it does not track app activity. GA4’s changes protect customer privacy while providing the foundation of your web resources in reaching customers. The removal of cookie tracking may also end up lowering accuracy as a result.
Google Analytics is accessible for many businesses, but it offers limited reporting. While it’s an excellent starting point for many businesses, they can quickly outgrow its capabilities. Googles Analytics and GA4 can never replace the level of insight and analysis a digital partner or premium service can provide.
To learn more about Google Analytics and its history, check out the full blog on our sister site, Federated Digital Solutions.