How to understand your users with Google Analytics 4?

Ever wondered what people are really doing on your website? Are they scrolling all the way to the bottom of that article you poured your heart into, or are they just skimming through? Maybe you run an online store and are curious about how your customers' locations influence their buying habits. With Google Analytics 4 (GA4), you can dive deep into website traffic and user behavior like never before.

If you haven't given this much thought — maybe because you've got a million other things on your plate — no worries. Google has made it super easy to gather insights about your users (and, of course, they're collecting some data for themselves too). While this isn't a tutorial on setting up GA4, it's all about showing you the benefits that come with it. GA4 is your go-to tool for making smarter, data-driven decisions.

So, if you're still considering whether to set up a GA4 account, let me walk you through some practical use cases that can seriously level up your business. And remember, we're just a click away if you need help optimizing your site for data collection and user engagement.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is free for most users, making it a fantastic tool for businesses of all sizes to dive into the world of data analytics without breaking the bank. Whether you're running a small blog or managing a bustling e-commerce site, GA4 offers a wealth of insights at no cost.

For those who need even more firepower, Google offers an upgraded version called Google Analytics 360. This premium option is tailored for larger enterprises that need advanced features, higher data limits, and dedicated support. Of course, this comes with a price tag, but for most of us, the free version of GA4 is more than enough to get the job done.

Mind you though, that "price tag" of zero doesn't exempt you from privacy regulations. Users still need to consent to being tracked, particularly in Europe where privacy laws have real teeth. Proper GA4 consent implementation is one investment you'll need to make, even if it's not monetary. For the specifics on staying compliant the Google Analytics Help page on data and privacy has you covered.

With Google Analytics 4 (GA4), you can explore the details of where your users are coming from — not just the country, but right down to the city! The only hiccup you might run into is that geographic data is based on IP addresses, which can sometimes be off. For example, users might appear to be from a different location if they're using VPNs or shared IP addresses. Plus, you might notice unexpected traffic spikes from certain countries, which could be due to automated systems or bots.

Understanding these quirks can help you make sense of your data and fine-tune your audience engagement strategies. If you spot a lot of visitors from a particular region, it might be worth considering some localized content or targeted marketing campaigns. By getting a handle on where your users are really coming from, you can better connect with them and keep them coming back for more.

If demographic data isn't your thing, maybe you'll be interested in which pages get the most hits. GA4's page views analysis is your go-to tool for this. It helps you figure out which pages are the real crowd-pleasers. By spotting these patterns, you can get a handle on what content your audience is digging. Maybe you'll find out that a particular blog post or product page is a hit, which means you're onto something good. Here's a screenshot of Views by page title from my page:

There are loads of conclusions you can draw from that screen. Starting with "My users read so fast that they need only 1 second to read everything about me on my page!" and ending with more realistic insights into user preferences, knowing which pages are hot is key to keeping your audience engaged.

Here at Kellton, I've worked with some publishing companies. They're all about factors that impact traffic on their pages, so they've set up pretty sophisticated measurements with GA4. I've seen statistics showing correlations between traffic volumes and metadata like number of words in the article or article author.

This GA4 feature requires minimal setup on your application's front end and depends on the metadata you want to gather. Here's a detailed technical documentation of how it works, but to keep it simple, you just need to add some JavaScript code that collects page metadata. Every time the container holding that code loads, GA4 automatically receives and processes the metadata.

When someone tries to access a page that doesn't exist, they get a 404 error. It tells the user that the requested page can't be found. This means a broken URL is directing users to a non-existent page on your server.

While 404 errors can be tracked by many services like Sentry, CloudFlare, AWS, and Azure, GA4 provides an easy and user-friendly way to present statistics about pages that couldn't be found on your website. Regularly checking for and addressing 404 errors can prevent users from hitting roadblocks, keeping them engaged and satisfied with their visit to your site.

Understanding what users do on your website is crucial for optimizing their experience and your content strategy. Using GA4 Events, you can track the number of page displays using any page attribute you like. So, if your 404 page has a title like "Page not found", you can count how many times that title appears in users' browsers and aggregate them using the page URL.

GA4 Events describe the basic actions a user takes on a page. It could refer to a page impression, a click, or a scroll action. These events can be tracked to show you any kind of action users take.

For instance, if you have pages with sponsored content, tracking clicks can help you identify which sponsors are capturing the most attention. This insight can be invaluable for negotiating sponsorship deals or adjusting your content to better align with user interests.

So, you've made it this far, and now you're curious about how to put all this GA4 goodness to use. Maybe you're wondering how to set it up or how to get the most out of its features. Don't worry, I'm not going to leave you hanging.

Our team at Kellton Europe is here to help. We've worked with plenty of businesses like yours, and we know how to get the most out of GA4. So, why not get in touch with us and chat about how we can help you unlock the full potential of your user data?

After all, with great power comes great responsibility — and we're here to help you wield that power to drive your business forward.