{"id":15656,"date":"2022-10-11T13:49:50","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T13:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/ga4-expectations\/466240\/"},"modified":"2022-10-11T13:49:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T13:49:50","slug":"12-ga4-expectations-you-need-to-have-as-it-replaces-universal-analytics-via-sejournal-adamproehl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/?p=15656","title":{"rendered":"12 GA4 Expectations You Need To Have As It Replaces Universal Analytics via @sejournal, @adamproehl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plenty has been said and written about Google Analytics 4 (GA4), but one overlooked message is one about expectations.<\/p>\n

Marketers used to the legacy Google Analytics Universal platform for most of the past decade need to adjust. Their lives would be easier if the right expectations were set.<\/p>\n

I recently had the privilege of discussing this very thing with three GA4 professionals who were kind enough to give me their insights.<\/p>\n

Below are some of the most significant expectations as GA4<\/a> becomes your primary measurement platform.<\/p>\n

1. GA4 Is Not Plug & Play Like GA Universal<\/h2>\n

To be fair, Universal was never completely \u201cplug and play.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s some setup (goal conversions, events, filters, enhanced ecommerce tracking, etc.), but nothing like GA4 is.<\/p>\n

The planning and setup can take way more time than Universal.<\/p>\n

Analytics professional Alan K\u2019necht from K\u2019nechtology said:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cGoogle followed the 80-20 rule. They saw that 80% of their users were only using 20% of their reports and scrapped the other 80%. \u2018Sorry\u2019 if that was one that people were using. You now need to create a custom report.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

2. Everything\u2019s An Event (So Get Used To It)<\/h2>\n

In GA Universal, an average site may have five to 15 site actions set up to count as an \u201cevent\u201d (completed video views, gallery views, ungated download, etc.).<\/p>\n

In GA4, everything is an event, and you might as well get used to it.<\/p>\n