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Google, the entity that creates the most popular tool for analyzing website traffic, has introduced a new version of its product - Google Analytics 4 (GA4). It replaces the previous version called Universal Analytics (UA). But what are the differences between these two systems? Is it worth switching to a new system? Let's try to explain this.
Understanding the data model
The first and most important difference concerns the data model. In UA, the data model was based on sessions and users, with the primary measurement being the session. GA4, on the other hand, is based on an event-driven model. Each user interaction with the website is treated as an event that can be freely configured and analyzed. This change allows for a better understanding of user behavior.
Cross-platform tracking
Another difference is GA4's better cross-platform user tracking capabilities. Thanks to the new user identification system, GA4 is able to track user interactions between different devices and platforms (website, mobile application). In UA, this feature was limited.
Predictive analysis
GA4 also introduces the possibility of predictive analysis. Thanks to artificial intelligence, the system is able to predict certain user behaviors based on their previous interactions. These kinds of features were not available in UA.
Implementation solutions
When it comes to the technical aspects of implementation, GA4 requires a different configuration than UA. In GA4, everything is event-based, so the tracking code requires a different structure. For a PHP-based website, you can use the Google Tag Manager (GTM) libraries to generate and send events to GA4. Below is an example code snippet:
'my_event', 'event_params' => array( 'param1' => 'value1', 'param2' => 'value2', ) ); // sending event to GA4 $gtm->sendEvent($event); ?>WordPress plugins such as “Google Site Kit” or “MonsterInsights“, allow you to easily manage GA4 tags without having to write code. All this shows that GA4 is the future of data analysis, although its full use may require some technical changes.
To sum up, GA4 is a powerful tool that offers many more possibilities than UA. However, it is worth remembering that it also requires more work to configure and analyze data. However, if you are up for the challenge, GA4 will definitely bring you many benefits.