What is google analytics:
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) represents the latest evolution in analytics offered by Google. This robust tool gathers event-driven data from both websites and applications, facilitating a deeper understanding of user engagement and enabling adjustments to marketing strategies. Below are some essential features of GA4:
Comprehensive Tracking: In contrast to its predecessor, Universal Analytics (UA), which primarily concentrated on website data, GA4 merges data from both websites and applications. This integrated approach offers a more complete perspective on user interactions across various platforms.
Event-Driven Data: GA4 employs event-driven tracking rather than session-based tracking. This approach captures distinct user actions (events) instead of aggregating them into sessions. Events may encompass page views, clicks, form submissions, video plays, and additional interactions.
Enhanced Privacy Features: GA4 incorporates privacy-oriented functionalities such as cookieless measurement, addressing contemporary privacy issues. It also provides behavioral and key event modeling, enabling insights into user behavior without a heavy reliance on cookies.
Predictive Insights: Utilizing machine learning, GA4 offers predictive analytics that assists marketers in identifying trends and anomalies in data without the need for intricate models, simplifying the process of data interpretation.
Seamless Integrations: GA4 features direct integrations with media platforms, allowing for actionable insights to be implemented directly within your website or application. This fluid integration enhances decision-making and optimization processes.
How google analytics works:
Google Analytics utilizes page tags to gather user data from every visitor to a website. These JavaScript page tags are integrated into the code of each page. When a visitor accesses the site, this tag, which is embedded in their browser, transmits data to Google’s data collection servers. Subsequently, Google Analytics can generate customizable reports that provide insights into website traffic, average session durations, session pathways, page views, and additional metrics.
The page tag functions as a web beacon or web bug, enabling the collection of visitor information. However, it is important to note that the system is unable to collect data from users who have disabled cookies, as its operation is dependent on them.
Google Analytics offers features that allow users to analyze how visitors engage with their websites over time. These capabilities facilitate data collection, analytics, tracking, visualization, reporting, and integration with other applications. The following are just a few examples of these features.
Data visualization and monitoring tools, such as dashboards, scorecards, and activity charts, effectively depict changes in data over time. This includes the filtration, modification, and analysis of data funnels. Application programming interfaces (APIs) facilitate data collection.
The generation of actionable insights, intelligence, and the identification of anomalies are also key components. Segmentation is employed to analyze specific subsets of data, including conversion rates. Customized reports are available for advertising, audience acquisition, audience behavior, and conversion metrics. Communication and sharing occur through email.
Integrations are offered with platforms such as Google Ads, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Google Data Studio, Google Optimize 360, Google AdSense, Google Display & Video 360, Google Search Ads 360, Google Search Console, and Google Ad Manager.
Each website can display a distinct set of metrics within the Google Analytics dashboard, allowing users to save profiles for future reference. Categories that can be monitored include content summaries, keywords, referral sites, visitor reviews, map overlays, and traffic stream overviews.
In addition to access through the Google Analytics website, a plugin or widget is available for integrating the dashboard into other websites. Furthermore, independent vendors offer tailored Google Analytics dashboards that can be customized to fulfill specific requirements.
What are the metrics in Google analytics:
A metric serves as a standard for quantitative assessment. Google Analytics offers support for up to 200 distinct metrics to evaluate website performance. Below are some of the most commonly utilized metrics:
Users: Refers to a unique or new visitor to the website.
Bounce Rate: Represents the percentage of visitors who engage with only a single page, resulting in just one request to the Google Analytics server.
Sessions: Denotes a collection of visitor interactions occurring within a 30-minute timeframe.
Average Session Duration: Indicates the average length of time each visitor spends on the site.
Percentage of New Sessions:Reflects the proportion of website visits that are made by first-time visitors.
Pages per Session: Represents the average number of pageviews during each session.
Goal Completions: Counts the instances in which visitors successfully complete a designated, desired action, known as a conversion.
Pageviews: The total count of pages that have been viewed.