Analytics
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Google Analytics launches customisable dashboards
How it works: GA4 now has a native Dashboards feature with a drag-and-drop grid for building scorecards, tables, line & bar charts, donuts and funnels on one page. Standard properties can add up to 15 cards per dashboard (30 for Analytics 360), and published dashboards appear in the left navigation for everyone on the property.
What’s the benefit? Teams can view their key KPIs in one place without jumping between reports or building a separate Looker Studio report for basic summaries. As dashboards are shared by default, it’s worth agreeing on naming & ownership rules early to keep properties tidy.
Read moreGoogle adds display dynamic remarketing in Google Analytics
Google has launched an update which allows Google Ads customers to serve dynamic remarketing ads based on data from Google Analytics. Google said, “This feature allows advertisers to transfer dynamic attributes, such as product IDs or price values, directly to Google Ads for dynamic remarketing campaigns. This eliminates the need to manually define and map parameters, simplifying the setup process and enabling more dynamic and relevant ad experiences.”
If your Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked and you have data sharing enabled, Google Analytics will automatically share the dynamic data with Google Ads, enabling businesses to use it for better targeted remarketing efforts.
Learn more about dynamic remarketing data in GA4Google adds custom event parameters to Google Ads tags in Google Tag Manager
Google has launched an update to Google Ads tags in Google Tag Manager, which allows users to send custom event parameters with Google Ads conversions.
The new parameters will populate automatically in Google Ads shortly after you add them to your conversion tracking tag. For that data to be recorded, you’ll need to “activate” those parameters from within Google Ads. After you activate the custom variables in your account, the data will start recording and be available in reports a couple of hours after.
This brings Google Ads tracking more in line with the GA4 standard and opens up the possibility of more comprehensive reporting within the Google Ads platform. You’ll be able to split your conversion reports by the parameters you send. For example, a clothing retailer might want to send the colour of a particular jumper, or a restaurant might want to send a booking date.
Read more about custom event parameters in Google AdsGA4 improves availability of item-scoped dimensions and metrics
GA4 has launched an improvement to ecommerce data availability and usability for item-scoped dimensions.
Improvements include:
- E-commerce dimensions (default and custom) are now available in Reporting for use as secondary dimensions, filters, and comparisons.
- E-commerce metrics (default and custom) are now available in Reporting customisation.
The update will allow users to dive into the granularity of e-commerce events for items and create more comprehensive reports to support internal needs.
Read more about available e-commerce dimensionsGoogle launches official readAnalyticsStorage API
Following issues with broken tracking after recently updating its cookie formats, Google has launched an official readAnalyticsStorage API, which can be used in Google Tag Manager as an official and more reliable way to retrieve client_id and session_id. Previously, people used unreliable, reverse-engineered methods to pull both IDs, as they were useful for offline conversion tracking through CRMs, for example.
The launch will allow users to pull the data officially and not be impacted by format changes in the future. GTM templates are already available on GitHub and are expected to be available in the community template area of Google Tag Manager soon.
Find out moreGA4 adds new reports for offline lead tracking
GA4 has introduced two new reports to help users better understand offline conversions.
The first new report, lead acquisition, focuses on generate_lead, and new events working_lead, qualify_lead, and close_convert_lead.
The second new report, lead disqualification and loss, focuses on new events, disqualify_lead and close_unconvert_lead.
These new events are designed to work primarily with offline conversion tracking by having your CRM send lead updates once a user has converted. The additional context will help you better analyse the journey of leads which convert and which don’t.
You’ll need to utilise the generate_lead event, a standard event in GA4, to get the most out of this. If you don’t use it and instead use a different naming convention for your forms or lead tracking, you should update those first.
Learn more
GA4 expands data sources for cost imports
Google has announced an update for GA4, which enables users to import external cost data from more sources. Additional sources for data import will make it easier to bring data in from existing sources with minimal effort once the initial setup has been completed.
You can now import cost data for additional reporting from the following sources. Once imported, you can analyse the data in the acquisition or planning reports right away.
- Google Sheets
- Amazon Redshift
- Amazon S3
- BigQuery
- Google Cloud Storage
- HTTPS
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- Snowflake
Custom dimensions and metrics now sync between properties and sub-properties
Google has announced a GA4 update for GA4 360 customers to help maintain consistent measurement between the main GA4 property and any sub-properties. Custom dimensions and metrics can now be synced between them. The feature is available for both newly created and existing sub-properties that do not have any custom dimensions or metrics set up. Google states that this will minimise the impact on current configurations.
Learn more about property syncing in GA4Google Marketing Live: GA4 and performance monitoring
Google has just finished its ‘Google Marketing Live,’ and here is what we learned about GA4 and campaign measurements.
Cross-channel insights in GA4 are getting an upgrade, making it easier to track performance across platforms.
The minimum spend for incrementality testing will be reduced from $100K to $5k
A new Bayesian-based testing model means you can run tests in as little as 7 days.
Data Manager will consolidate first-party data from BigQuery, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Shopify, and a new API will facilitate smoother integrations.
They have introduced “Google Analytics experts” for in-depth analysis and strategic advice, and a “Marketing Advisor”, an AI agency assistant that offers step-by-step guidance.
And the big one, a unified view of impressions across both Google platforms and third-party data. This allows you to bridge the gap when understanding the full funnel.
Find out moreGoogle rebrands first-party mode to Google Tag Gateway
Google has launched an update to the first-party mode for tag management – Google Tag Gateway, and partnered with Cloudflare for the rollout and making it available on all plans, not just the paid ones.
Google Tag Gateway allows websites to serve Google Tags from their own domain rather than Google’s, and this can help avoid problems with browsers and ad-blockers, particularly for those users who have consented to cookies.
Early users are seeing around 11% uplift in data, and the setup is minimal. If your website is running through Cloudflare and you’re using Google Tags, it’s a no-brainer to get the Tag Gateway set up and help restore some of the data being lost in GA4 and Ads.
Read more on the Cloudflare blog
