{"id":6564,"date":"2023-10-11T16:05:26","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T16:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inspiration.ie\/?p=6564"},"modified":"2023-11-09T16:22:15","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T16:22:15","slug":"ga4-stats-what-the-f","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inspiration.ie\/ga4-stats-what-the-f\/","title":{"rendered":"GA4 Stats \u2013 what the f#@%?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So, you\u2019ve installed GA4, and now you\u2019ve run some performance reports, and you\u2019re looking at them with abject horror? Some stats look like they\u2019ve radically dis-improved. So, you reach for last year’s stats, knowing you\u2019ve done some great SEO work in the meantime and confident that the comparison will be positive \u2013 but no! It looks desperate! Now you\u2019ve got to share this poor performance with the team. What went wrong? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know the feeling \u2013 live our lives! The good news is that this really is a case of Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics! Basically, little accurate comparison can be made between old Universal Analytics stats and GA4 stats. Not only have Google changed the way they measure data, but they\u2019ve also changed some of their definitions. Worse still, the definitions are similar, lulling you into a false sense of comparison. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we\u2019ve been prepared for this for some time, so strap yourself in as we run through some of the most important differences between UA and GA4.\u00a0And don\u2019t panic \u2013 the stats are probably a lot better than the reports might suggest initially. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Users<\/span> <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most reports in UA focused on Total Users, however, GA4 tends to go with active users instead. GA4 is really good at detecting active users, so you\u2019ll likely see a nice increase there (great for the boardroom presentation!). UA used to just use IP addresses to identify users, which wasn\u2019t ideal, but now GA4 gives each user a unique identifier, which is based on numerous factors, including IP address and device ID.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For additional context \u2013\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we\u2019ve mentioned, Universal Analytics refers to Total Users when mentioning users, while GA4 is referring to Active Users. That\u2019s right, they use the same term but they\u2019re referring to two totally different things. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a lot of frequent visitors, you may notice that those numbers remain similar enough, but when new users start joining that\u2019s when things can go sideways. There\u2019s also the matter of filters, which may be skewing your data even further. If you set up a filter on UA years ago, you may not remember that, so it\u2019s worth your time investigating, and also <\/span>setting up a similar filter in GA4<\/span><\/a> to see if the numbers make more sense to you.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The important thing here is not to worry. There have been discrepancies in certain stats which have varied by as much as 20% or so, where all the data was still correct.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Views<\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There shouldn\u2019t be too much difference here. The way they are measured has largely been consistent (they start racking up when Google Tags fire), so if you are seeing a large discrepancy then you may want to take a closer look at what\u2019s causing the difference – again, it could just be a filter which has been applied.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bounce Rates<\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bounce rates have seen a big change, not just in measurement but also in outcomes. In UA, if a user comes to your site and stays on it for hours without clicking on anything and then leaves, that will be counted as a bounce. On GA4, if a user sticks around for a bit (over ten seconds) then they\u2019ll count as an engaged user, so we should expect to see improved bounce rates in GA4.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sessions<\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A session occurs during the time a user spends on your site. UA and GA4 have some differences in how they measure these (of course).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Universal Analytics\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sessions end when –<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n