Nội dung
- Key Points
- Detailed Definition: GA4 Works on an Event-Based Model
- Why GA4 Matters for Businesses and Marketers
- How to Implement GA4: From Creating a Property to Reading Reports
- Real-World Examples in Vietnam
- Common Mistakes When Using GA4
- Frequently Asked Questions About GA4
- Frequently Asked Questions
- References
GA4 (Google Analytics 4) is Google’s latest free website and app analytics tool, fully replacing Universal Analytics in July 2023. Unlike the old version, which measured sessions and pageviews, GA4 tracks every interaction as an event, enabling seamless tracking of behavior across both web and app in a single property.
Key Points
- GA4 uses an event-based data model: every user action is an event with contextual parameters, making it more flexible than the old Category-Action-Label structure.
- It combines web and app data into one property, ready for a cookie-less future thanks to machine-learning-based data modeling.
- The free version lets you export raw data to BigQuery — something Universal Analytics reserved for paid plans.
- Implementation includes: creating a property, setting up a data stream, installing the tag (preferably via Google Tag Manager), enabling Enhanced Measurement, and marking conversion events.
- Beginners should remember to change data retention from 2 to 14 months, filter internal traffic, and avoid directly comparing numbers with Universal Analytics.
What is GA4? GA4 (Google Analytics 4) is Google’s latest free website and app analytics tool, fully replacing Universal Analytics from July 2023. Unlike the old version, which measured sessions and pageviews, GA4 measures every user interaction as an event, enabling seamless tracking of behavior across both web and app in a single property.
Detailed Definition: GA4 Works on an Event-Based Model
To fully understand what GA4 is, you need to grasp its core principle: GA4 abandons the “session + pageview” model of Universal Analytics and moves to a fully event-based data model. In GA4, everything users do is an event: page views, scrolls, button clicks, video views, file downloads, or completed purchases.
Each event can include parameters that describe context, such as page name, order value, or an internal search keyword. This approach is far more flexible than the rigid Category – Action – Label hierarchy used in the old version.
GA4 classifies events into four main groups that beginners should remember:
- Automatically collected events: Google records them without configuration, such as first_visit and session_start.
- Enhanced Measurement: enabled with one click, it automatically tracks scrolls, outbound clicks, internal searches, video views, and file downloads.
- Recommended events: Google suggests standard names for each industry, such as e-commerce (purchase, add_to_cart).
- Custom events: you define them yourself to fit your business needs.
Why GA4 Matters for Businesses and Marketers
GA4 is more than just a UI upgrade. It reflects how Google is reshaping measurement in a world of tighter privacy rules and customer journeys that span multiple devices. There are several reasons this tool has become a must-have foundation:
- Cross-device and cross-platform measurement: it combines web and app data into one property, giving a complete view of a user’s journey.
- Ready for a cookie-less future: GA4 uses data modeling powered by machine learning to fill gaps when users decline cookies.
- Deep integration with Google Ads and BigQuery: the free version of GA4 lets you export raw data to BigQuery, something Universal Analytics reserved for paid plans.
- Focus on conversion events: it helps marketers measure the actions that create value, rather than just counting pageviews.
For a news website or an online store, GA4 answers the real questions: where readers drop off, which articles keep them engaged the longest, and which channels drive the most valuable orders.
How to Implement GA4: From Creating a Property to Reading Reports
The basic process for getting started with GA4 includes steps that are suitable even for people who have never done data analysis before:
- Create an account and property: go to analytics.google.com, create a GA4 property, set the time zone to Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh, and the currency to VND.
- Set up a data stream: choose Web for a website and receive a measurement ID in the format G-XXXXXXXXXX.
- Install the tracking tag: add it via Google Tag Manager (recommended) or place it directly in the site’s head tag.
- Enable Enhanced Measurement: to automatically collect scrolls, clicks, and internal searches.
- Mark conversion events (conversion/key event): for example, newsletter sign-ups, form submissions, or purchases.
- Connect Google Ads and Search Console so the data is linked across platforms.
Once data starts flowing in, you’ll read four groups of reports: Realtime, Life cycle (Acquisition – Engagement – Monetization – Retention), User, and Explore, which lets you build custom reports. Note that GA4 uses new metrics such as “engaged sessions” and “engagement rate” instead of the familiar “bounce rate” from before.
Real-World Examples in Vietnam
Imagine an online fashion shop in Ho Chi Minh City that has just switched to GA4. Before, they only knew that “this month had 50,000 pageviews.” With GA4, they set up add_to_cart and purchase events, then discover that Facebook brings in a lot of traffic but has a low add-to-cart rate, while traffic from Google Search is smaller but generates orders with three times higher value. The result: they reallocate ad budget and increase investment in SEO and Google Search Ads.
Another example is a news website. Editors use GA4’s Engagement report to see the average engagement time for each section and find that in-depth analysis articles keep readers longer than breaking news. This data shapes the content strategy: increasing the share of in-depth articles to improve engagement metrics, which also benefits ad approval profiles.
Common Mistakes When Using GA4
Beginners implementing GA4 often run into errors that make the data inaccurate or hard to use:
- Not filtering internal traffic: forgetting to exclude office IPs causes employee visits to distort the numbers.
- Forgetting to mark conversion events: data is collected, but no one identifies which actions matter, so optimization becomes impossible.
- Comparing directly with Universal Analytics: the two measurement models are different, so the numbers will never match; don’t panic when you see discrepancies.
- Ignoring data retention settings: GA4 keeps detailed data for only 2 months by default, so go into settings and change it to 14 months.
- Using random event names: inconsistent naming makes reports messy and harder to analyze later.
- Not connecting BigQuery early: data is only exported from the moment you connect it, so earlier history is lost.
Frequently Asked Questions About GA4
Is GA4 free? Yes. GA4 is completely free for most businesses, including the ability to export data to BigQuery. The paid version (Google Analytics 360) is only for larger businesses that need higher data limits and SLAs.
How is GA4 different from Universal Analytics? The biggest difference is the data model: Universal Analytics measures sessions and pageviews, while GA4 measures events. GA4 also combines web and app, uses machine learning to model data, and replaces bounce rate with engagement rate.
Do I need Google Tag Manager to use GA4? No, but it is recommended. You can install GA4 directly, but Google Tag Manager makes it easier to manage tags, add custom events, and make changes without touching the website’s source code.
How long does GA4 keep data? By default, GA4 keeps user-level and event-level data for 2 months. You should go to Admin, then Data retention, and change it to the maximum of 14 months to compare year over year. Standard aggregated reports are not subject to this limit.
📚 See the overview: Marketing Analytics: Measuring from A to Z
👉 Practice: How to View Traffic Sources in GA4
👉 Practice: How to Set Up a Conversion Goal in GA4
Frequently Asked Questions
What is GA4 and how is it different from Universal Analytics?
GA4 (Google Analytics 4) is Google’s latest website and app analytics platform, measuring based on events instead of sessions and pageviews like Universal Analytics did. This approach makes it more flexible to track customer journeys across multiple devices and platforms.
How do I set up GA4 for a new website?
You create a GA4 account, get the Measurement ID, and install it directly with Google Tag or through Google Tag Manager; for WordPress, you can use a supporting plugin. After setup, check the Realtime report to make sure data is being recorded correctly.
Which metrics are important to track in GA4?
Beginners should look at users and sessions, traffic sources, top-viewed pages, conversion events, and engagement rate. Most importantly, configure conversion events such as purchases or form submissions to know which channels are actually driving business results.
