Developing a Google Analytics 4 Learning Strategy
Written By: Shane Clark on May 3, 2022
With Google threatening complete data loss by the end of 2023 if its Google Universal Analytics (UA) users do not entirely switch over to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), I figured it was time to share my learning experiences and also strategies. With the dependency on events (which are programming driven) in GA4 plus my level of expertise with UA, I had a bit of an advantage in my learning curve. As I began to do a deeper dive, I began to see the power the GA4 will offer my mid-level to enterprise clients.
At the same time, the smaller or budget clients that need a few simple views that are not available in GA4 need to be addressed. This blog post will cover the high-level concepts essential to understanding how GA4 deals with data collection and retention. The first step is to find a few good GA4 courses that cover GA4, Google Tag Manager(GTM) and Google Data Studio.
Creating a Learning Strategy Based on Client Type and Budget
The learning strategy you create will depend heavily on the needs of your client base. If you are a marketing agency that caters to the “service industry” type of client, your approach will be different from that of the agency that caters to e-commerce clients. Those with a diversified base of clients will need to engage in a more all-encompassing learning strategy.
Learning Based on Your Role
I think that everyone involved in the marketing, client communication, development, and implementation should have a high-level understanding of all the new features of GA4. If the person is only dealing with client communication, they may only need to understand that a GA4 event is possible and not how to create one. Here are some of the role-based questions I tend to ask.
- What is your role/use with GA4?
- How does the newest version of GA affect your role?
- How can GA4 improve your experience with the data you manage?
- What areas will require assistance based on implementation strategies?
Finding The Right Courses that Fit Your Needs
In my journey to learn GA4 and its relationship to Google Tag Manager and Google Data Studio, I have purchased most of the courses available on Udemey. The instructor I found to offer the most clarity and insights is Rudranil Chakrabortty. Here is a link to his Youtube channel.
The two courses I have found most useful are:
Master Google Analytics 4 Reports and GTM Basics in 2022
Advanced Google Analytics 4 Implementation with Tag Manager
Once you have taken a more comprehensive course, you should then delineate sections and topic areas that you wish to do a deeper dive into to gain real-world examples and perspectives.
Make Sure the Courses are Recently Released
Because GA4 is constantly changing, I recommend looking for classes, courses, and any training material recently released. The dashboard in GA4 changes on a month-by-month basis. If the learning method is more than a few months old, you will most likely not be looking at the same dashboard, which can lead to confusion. Many of the recent changes have happened toward the end of 2021. At this point, I would avoid anything from late 2021 or before.
Setting Up the Free Google Sample Merchandise Store
I find the data provided in the Google Merchandise Store a valuable learning tool. Per Google, “The Google Analytics demo account is a fully functional Google Analytics account that any Google user can access. It contains one Universal Analytics property and two Google Analytics 4 properties. The demo account is a great way to look at real business data and experiment with Google Analytics features.” I have provided the following link for a quick installation.
Google Analytics 4 property: Google Merchandise Store (web data)
Joining Social Media Groups & Subscribing to YouTube Channels
The Google Analytics 4 community (GA4), founded by Julius Fedorovicius from analyticsmania.com is a good starting point. Another smaller but still viable group is Everything you need to learn Google Analytics 4 (GA4), administered by Anil Batra, who has over 42,000 Udemy students. I find that collaboration with GA4 Marketing experts and developers can be a big help to further your transition process to the new GA4 platform.
Another action I recommend when you find helpful YouTube videos is to subscribe to the channel. Actively subscribing to these channels will allow you to get up-to-date video notifications based on any new features Google decides to implement. Here are some of the channels that I subscribe to:
Analytics Mania – Google Tag Manager & Analytics
I will update this list as I find more viable channels.
Mapping Out the Sections to Learn / Areas of Concern to Revisit
As I learn new topics, I usually map out sections at a high level that I will take a deep look at later. Per topic/section, I then further examine the topics through further research.
- Installation of GA4
- Accounting for the lack of views in GA4
- Familiarization with the admin features/options in the GA4 dashboard
- Attribution Modeling in GA4
- Report Types in Google Analytics 4
- Acquisition
- Engagement
- Retention
- Monetization
- Funnel
- High-level relationships between GA4 and Google Tag Manager(GTM)
- GA4 dependency on events
- Creation of events with GA4/Google Tag Manager
- Default data retention settings
- Data layer
- Leveraging JavaScript for advanced GA4 events
The above are a few notes that I made as I went through these courses. As I entered a new section, I stopped and made notes to refer to later on.
Documentation Lends Instelf to Enhanced Leaning
I believe in good process and documentation in all web development and marketing areas. The effort that it takes to document your journey into the GA4 world can be a valuable learning tool. With a complex system like GA4, I would recommend making sure all areas of the setup and ongoing adjustments are well documented. Because of the evolving nature of the GA4 software, screenshots can create a point of reference if parts of the dashboard change.
Summary
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a powerful yet complicated system with many moving parts. It is essential to understand the whole system to make recommendations for your clients or business. If you need help with your Google Analytics 4 implementation strategies, general web, or also marketing help, don’t hesitate to contact me.
