Google Analytics 4 is a new kind of analytics platform that will power the future of business intelligence. The latest iteration of Google’s web analytics platform, this new property type includes expanded predictive insights, deeper integration with Google Ads, cross-device measurement capabilities, and more granular data controls. With its predictive features, you can anticipate what will happen before it does and make better decisions about your marketing strategy. This article will go over what these features are and how to use them to your advantage!

What is Google Analytics 4?

Google Analytics 4 (formerly known as “App + Web”) is a new type of property with different reports than the Universal Analytics properties you’re used to seeing. One of the advantages of a Google Analytics 4 property is that it can be used for a website, an app, or both. Whereas, only websites were supported by Universal Analytics properties.

• The new Google Analytics 4 is described as a next-generation approach to “privacy-first” tracking, x-channel measurement, and AI-based predictive The new Analytics can fill in data for website traffic and user behavior without relying on “hits” from every page.
• For users who opt-out of cookie usage and data collection, this new Analytics’ machine-learning processing can fill in the gaps.
• New privacy laws (like the GDPR and CCPA) and the deterioration of traditional analytics necessitate Google Analytics Due to cookie consent options required by these laws, many businesses using Universal Google Analytics may experience inaccurate or missing data.

Meet Google Analytics’ next generation

Analytics Intelligence is a set of features that uses machine learning and conditions you configure to help you understand and act on your data. Analytics Intelligence provides two types of insights:

• Automated Insights: Analytics Intelligence detects unusual changes or

emerging trends in your data and notifies you automatically, on the Insights dashboard, within the Analytics platform.

• Custom insights: You create conditions that detect changes in your data that are important to When the conditions are triggered, you see the insights

On the Insights dashboard, and you can optionally receive email alerts. You can create up to 50 custom insights per property.

What’s new in Google Analytics 4?

Insights in Analytics

• The Insights card can be found on the Analytics Home page as well as the Advertising snapshot
• The most recent insights are included on the card.
• ‘View all insights’ are located at the bottom of the card and allow you to see a complete list of insights, manage insights, and create new custom insights.

• These are the latest automated and custom insights for your The dashboard is updated in real-time as new insights are discovered by Analytics.
• Click the cards for more info.
• More such insights can be found by clicking Load The insights are kept for an year.
• Analytics Intelligence learns which insights you’re most interested in and ranks them accordingly.

To create, edit, and share insights, you’ll need the Analyst or Editor role.

Explore Unsampled Data

• By requesting unsampled data, Google Analytics 360 users can create explorations that include up to 15 billion events. This improves the accuracy of the exploration and can reveal insights that aren’t visible in traditional
• When a query returns sampled data, GA4 is introducing a new feature in Exploration: the ability to request unsampled results.
• In most cases, your results will not be sampled by Google Analytics 4 360 properties, but if they are, you can now re-run the query with a much higher sampling limit by clicking Request unsampled results, as shown in the screenshot below.
• Unsampled results are typically returned within 30 minutes of being requested, and they can be accessed by clicking on the link included in the completion email or refreshing the browser page.See this article in the help center for more information. 
  

  From event parameters, create new dimensions and metrics.

  • You can create custom dimensions and metrics that are based on the event parameters that your property collects.
  • This release clarifies what happens when a user archives a custom dimension/metric and the ramifications/impacts across GA4 features (ie audience, explorations, etc.).
  • An explanation appears in the Custom Definitions table when a user is about to archive a custom dimension/metric and shows a list of audiences and saved explorations that use that custom dimension/metric.
  • Enabling an archived custom dimension or metric affects all audiences and segments that use it. Audiences lose validity and stop growing. Remarketing lists based on exported audiences continue to work but no new users are When custom definitions are archived, explorations and segments

  become invalid and won’t load. Remove the archived custom definition to load an Exploration or segment.

   

  Modeled Conversions

  • Google uses modeling to estimate non-observable online conversions. No need to identify users with modeling (for example, due to user privacy, technical limitations, or when users move between devices). Google can use modeled conversions to improve reporting, advertising campaigns, and automated
  • Google’s models look for trends between observed and unobserved Determining overall attribution is possible if attributed conversions from one browser are similar to unattributed conversions from another. The predicted conversions are then combined with the observed conversions.
  • For browsers that don’t allow third-party cookies, conversions are modeled using your website’s traffic.
  • Conversions (beyond the window) will be modeled for browsers that limit first-party cookie time.
  • Consent is required in some countries. Conversions for non-consented users are modeled for consented users.

  GA4 Property 360 Self-Service Upgrade/Downgrade

  • Customers who have already upgraded their Universal Analytics properties to Google Analytics 360 can now upgrade their Google Analytics 4 properties to 360 as well.
  • Customers will benefit from premium data processing pipelines, larger feature limits, and new 360 features while 360 for Google Analytics 4 properties is

  still in Beta.

  • These changes can be made in the Google Marketing Platform admin settings by users with the Org Admin or Billing Admin roles. For more information and instructions on how to upgrade, please take a look over Google Analytics 360 Beta.

   

  Google Analytics 4 Properties 360 Usage & Billing Preview

  • Organizations that have been a part of the Google Analytics 4 360 Beta program can now track usage for properties in the program and get a sneak peek at Google Analytics 4 pricing based on actual processed event volume.
  • The Analytics Usage report in Google Marketing Platform allows org and billing admins to view usage and preview billing.
  • In addition to the fixed base fee, Analytics 360 for GA4 properties will charge a variable per-event fee depending on event volume (beyond the initial 25M monthly events).
  • The variable event volume fee is divided into tiers, with higher monthly volume lowering the cost per event. Click here for more information.

   

  Audience & Segment Builder now has predictive metrics with model-quality statistics.

  • Previously, the suggested-audiences library was the only way to create predictive audiences in Google Analytics 4 properties. The modification of predictive metrics-based conditions was not permitted.
  • Predictive metrics, on the other hand, are now available in the audience builder and segment builder metric pickers. You can also now change conditions that were created using predictive metrics.
  • When you edit a condition that uses a predictive metric, you’ll now see an interactive graph that explains the tradeoffs between prediction precision and the number of users who are included as a result of that predictive metric. As the lower bound of which users are included (a more precise prediction) is

  raised, the number of users who can be included decreases.

• Modified churn probability prediction to include 40th to 100th percentile of users (top 60 percent of users).

Final Words

The new Google Analytics 4 property provides a more comprehensive cross-channel view of the customer lifecycle and leverages that data with predictive marketing features, providing marketers with more data and more efficient ways to act on that data. When you create a new property, Google Analytics 4 will be the default option. While the previous iteration, Universal Analytics, will remain available, Google recommends that site owners set up and run both property types concurrently. GA4 will be the focal point for new feature development.