Industry News

July marked an important shift in user permissions within Google Analytics. The platform now allows users with Analyst-level permissions and above to create, modify, and remove annotations directly within their analytics interface.

What This Means for Your Team

This democratisation of annotation capabilities empowers more team members to document important events and insights directly within their analytics data. Previously, only users with higher-level permissions could manage annotations, creating bottlenecks in data documentation.

Key Benefits

• Improved Collaboration: More team members can now contribute contextual information to reports
• Faster Documentation: No need to wait for admin approval to add important notes
• Better Data Context: Enhanced ability to mark significant events, campaigns, or changes that impact performance

Implementation Considerations

Review your current user permission structure to ensure team members who should have annotation access are assigned Analyst-level permissions or above. This change supports more collaborative analytics workflows whilst maintaining appropriate access controls.

This update reflects Google's continued focus on making analytics more accessible and collaborative for marketing teams across different organisational structures.

In June, Google introduced a game-changing expansion of cost data import capabilities. Analytics professionals can now integrate financial data from numerous platforms, significantly broadening the scope of performance analysis.

New Data Source Options

The expanded integration now supports:

• Google Sheets for simplified data management
• Enterprise Databases: Amazon Redshift, MySQL, and PostgreSQL
• Cloud Storage Solutions: Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage
• Data Warehousing: Snowflake and BigQuery platforms
• Direct Connections: HTTPS endpoints for real-time data feeds

Enhanced Reporting Capabilities

This enhancement enables comprehensive performance analysis across all advertising initiatives, with unified reporting available in:

• Acquisition > Non Google cost report
• Planning > All channels report within the Advertising workspace

Business Impact

Organisations can now create a complete picture of their advertising spend and performance across all channels, not just Google platforms. This unified view supports better budget allocation and ROI analysis.

Automated Lead Generation Event Tracking

12th June 2025 brought intelligent automation to lead generation measurement, streamlining the setup process for businesses focused on lead acquisition.

Automatic Configuration

Google Analytics now automatically establishes qualified and converted lead events as key performance indicators when businesses select lead generation as their primary objective. This feature guides organisations towards industry best practices whilst maintaining complete user control.

Key Features

• Automatic Setup: Key events configured based on business objective selection
• Best Practice Guidance: Follows recommended measurement frameworks
• User Control: Full ability to disable or modify automatic configuration
• Data Collection: Users still need to implement actual event tracking

Implementation Benefits

This automation reduces setup complexity for lead generation businesses whilst ensuring proper measurement foundation from the start.

Enhanced Consent Management Tools

6th June 2025 saw the integration of Google Tag Diagnostics within the consent settings hub, significantly improving diagnostic capabilities for privacy compliance.

New Diagnostic Features

The enhanced consent settings hub now provides:

• Improved Error Detection: Better identification of consent-related issues
• Simplified Troubleshooting: Clearer guidance for resolving data collection problems
• Integrated Diagnostics: Tag Diagnostics directly within the consent interface

Compliance Benefits

Website administrators can now more easily:

• Detect consent implementation errors
• Fix data collection issues
• Ensure proper privacy compliance
• Maintain user trust through transparent consent management

Advanced Property Management for Enterprise Users

2nd June 2025 introduced Property Syncing functionality specifically for Google Analytics 360 subscribers, addressing complex organisational measurement needs.

Property Syncing Capabilities

This feature enables seamless synchronisation of custom dimensions and metrics between source properties and subproperties. When changes are made to the primary property, they automatically propagate to connected subproperties.

Enterprise Benefits

• Consistency Across Properties: Unified measurement frameworks
• Reduced Manual Work: Automatic propagation of configuration changes
• Scalable Management: Easier handling of complex property structures
• Configuration Protection: Limited to properties without existing custom dimensions/metrics

Implementation Scope

Property syncing is available for:

• Newly created subproperties
• Existing subproperties without current custom dimensions or metrics

This ensures minimal disruption to existing configurations whilst providing powerful management capabilities for enterprise analytics implementations.

In July, Google launched comprehensive report snapshot templates, significantly accelerating the reporting process for common business analytics needs.

New Template Categories

Google Analytics introduced three essential business-focused templates:

User Behaviour Analysis

• Comprehensive insights into website and app engagement patterns
• Visitor flow and interaction metrics
• Session quality and engagement indicators

Sales and Revenue Performance

• Revenue tracking and conversion analysis
• Product performance metrics
• E-commerce funnel insights

Marketing Performance Evaluation

• Campaign effectiveness measurement
• Multi-channel attribution analysis
• ROI and ROAS calculations

Enhanced Card Library

The update also includes an improved card library for easier discovery and customisation of reporting elements, making it simpler to build tailored dashboards.

Business Benefits

These templates provide immediate access to essential business metrics without requiring complex setup, enabling faster decision-making and consistent reporting across organisations.

Improved Attribution Accuracy with Aggregate Identifiers

Google Analytics has implemented aggregate identifiers to enhance attribution precision, particularly benefiting paid advertising performance measurement.

Technical Improvements

• Enhanced Attribution: More accurate tracking of paid Google Ads traffic
• Better Performance Measurement: Improved campaign attribution accuracy
• Optimisation Insights: Enhanced data for campaign optimisation decisions

Impact on Reporting

This technical enhancement operates behind the scenes to provide more reliable attribution data, resulting in better campaign performance insights without requiring any user configuration.

Enhanced Data Exploration Capabilities

7th April 2025 expanded filter functionality within the Explore section, providing analysts with more sophisticated data investigation tools.

New Filter Options

• Comprehensive Match Types: Full range of matching options for item-scoped dimensions
• Enhanced Audience Filtering: Additional filtering capabilities for audience dimension analysis
• Improved Data Segmentation: More precise data slice and dice capabilities

Analyst Benefits

These improvements enable more nuanced data exploration, supporting deeper insights and more sophisticated analysis workflows for data-driven decision making.

AI-Powered Insights Integration

2nd April 2025 marked a significant advancement with the introduction of Generated Insights directly within detailed reports.

AI-Driven Analysis

This feature provides clear, conversational explanations of data fluctuations, helping analysts understand performance changes without extensive manual investigation.

Key Capabilities

• Automatic Pattern Recognition: AI identifies significant data changes
• Plain Language Explanations: Complex data relationships explained simply
• Proactive Insights: System highlights important trends and anomalies
• Contextual Analysis: Connects multiple data points to explain performance shifts

Example Use Cases

When purchase events spike on specific dates, the AI engine analyses countless dimension and metric combinations to explain why these increases occurred, presenting findings in natural, easy-to-understand language.

Productivity Benefits

• Faster Analysis: Reduced time spent investigating data changes
• Accessible Insights: Complex analytics explained in business terms
• Proactive Alerts: Important trends highlighted automatically
• Enhanced Understanding: Better comprehension of data relationships

This feature transforms Google Analytics from a reporting tool into an intelligent analysis partner, making sophisticated insights accessible to users regardless of their technical analytics expertise.

In March, Google introduced significant improvements to data transparency with the implementation of clearer data availability indicators.

New Data Availability Indicator

Google Analytics now displays "(data not available)" values when information isn't accessible for source and medium traffic dimensions. This enhancement provides:

• Clearer Attribution: Better distinction between Direct and Cross-network channels
• Improved Transparency: Clear indication when data gaps exist
• Enhanced Accuracy: More precise traffic source reporting
• Warning System: Alert icons when high rates of unavailable data are present

Impact on Reporting

Users may notice shifts in traffic source dimension values, with some instances of "(not set)" now appearing as "(data not available)". This change improves the accuracy of channel attribution and helps analysts better understand data limitations.

User Benefits

• Better Decision Making: More accurate understanding of traffic sources
• Improved Troubleshooting: Clear indicators help identify data collection issues
• Enhanced Trust: Transparent reporting of data limitations

Visual Annotation Capabilities

20th March 2025 enabled comprehensive annotation functionality across Google Analytics reporting interfaces.

Annotation Locations

Users can now add contextual notes directly on line graphs in:

• Overview Reports: High-level performance summaries
• Detailed Analytics: In-depth metric analysis
• Advertising Sections: Campaign and ad performance reports

Implementation Options

Annotations can be added through:

• Google Analytics Interface: Direct creation within the platform
• Admin API: Programmatic annotation management for automated workflows

Business Applications

• Campaign Markers: Note campaign launch dates and changes
• Event Documentation: Mark significant business events affecting performance
• Seasonal Indicators: Highlight seasonal trends and patterns
• Technical Changes: Document website updates or tracking modifications

Collaboration Benefits

Annotations improve team communication by providing shared context for performance changes, enabling better collaborative analysis and decision-making.

Enhanced Report Usability and Data Quality

12th March 2025 brought several user experience improvements designed to enhance report comprehension and data quality awareness.

Percentage Values in Report Tables

All detailed reports in the "Reports" and "Ads" modules now display percentage values for each row, providing:

• Relative Performance Understanding: Easy comparison of metric contributions
• Quick Analysis: Immediate insight into data distribution
• Enhanced Context: Better understanding of individual performance within totals

Data Quality Notifications

Google Analytics now provides proactive notifications for common data issues:

Missing Session Start Event Alerts

• Automatic Detection: System identifies high rates of missing session_start events
• Detailed Explanations: Clear information about detected issues
• Resolution Guidance: Direct links to troubleshooting resources
• Preventive Measures: Guidance for avoiding future issues

High "Not Set" Rate Notifications

• Pattern Recognition: Identification of elevated "(not set)" values
• Root Cause Analysis: Explanation of potential causes
• Action Steps: Specific guidance for resolving data quality issues
• Educational Resources: Links to comprehensive troubleshooting documentation

Impact on Analytics Quality

These improvements help users:

• Identify Issues Faster: Proactive alerts reduce time to problem detection
• Understand Problems Better: Clear explanations improve troubleshooting efficiency
• Prevent Future Issues: Educational guidance helps avoid recurring problems
• Maintain Data Quality: Consistent monitoring supports reliable analytics

User Experience Benefits

• Reduced Manual Monitoring: Automated detection of common issues
• Faster Problem Resolution: Direct access to relevant troubleshooting resources
• Improved Data Confidence: Better understanding of data reliability
• Enhanced Learning: Educational approach helps build analytics expertise

These updates collectively strengthen Google Analytics' foundation for reliable, transparent, and user-friendly analytics reporting.

February marked a significant streamlining of the cost data import functionality, making it easier for businesses to integrate their advertising spend data with Google Analytics performance metrics.

Reduced Required Fields

The cost data import process has been simplified to require only three essential fields:

• Source: The traffic source generating the cost
• Medium: The marketing medium (e.g., CPC, display, social)
• Date: When the advertising cost was incurred

Optional Enhancement Fields

While no longer mandatory, campaign identifiers remain available as optional fields:

• Campaign Name: For campaign-specific cost attribution
• Campaign ID: For precise campaign identification

Benefits of Optional Fields

When campaign identifiers are included:

• Granular Reporting: More detailed cost analysis by specific campaigns
• Enhanced Attribution: Precise matching of costs to campaign performance
• Detailed ROI Analysis: Campaign-level return on investment calculations

Reporting Implications

With Campaign Identifiers: Full granular reporting across all campaign dimensions

Without Campaign Identifiers: Cost data appears in aggregate when campaign-specific dimensions are requested

Implementation Advantages

• Faster Setup: Reduced complexity for initial cost data integration
• Flexible Implementation: Organisations can choose their level of detail
• Scalable Approach: Easy to start simple and add complexity as needed
• Better Adoption: Lower barrier to entry for cost data tracking

Business Impact

This simplification enables more organisations to integrate their advertising cost data with Google Analytics, providing better visibility into marketing ROI across all channels. The flexible approach accommodates different organisational needs and technical capabilities whilst maintaining the option for detailed analysis when required.

Recommended Approach

While the simplified three-field approach reduces implementation complexity, Google strongly recommends including campaign identifiers when possible to maximise the analytical value of cost data integration.

In January Google introduced a powerful new capability for organisations managing multiple Google Analytics properties, significantly reducing configuration time and ensuring consistency across analytics implementations.

Copy Reports and Explorations Across Properties

This feature enables users to replicate custom report and exploration configurations from one property to other properties within their organisation.

Key Capabilities

• Custom Detail Reports: Copy complex report configurations including dimensions, metrics, and filters
• Exploration Templates: Replicate sophisticated data exploration setups
• Cross-Property Consistency: Ensure uniform reporting approaches across different websites or apps
• Time Savings: Eliminate redundant configuration work

Business Benefits

Operational Efficiency

• Reduced Setup Time: Avoid rebuilding identical reports for each property
• Consistent Methodology: Standardised reporting approaches across properties
• Scalable Configuration: Easy deployment of proven report structures

Quality Assurance

• Configuration Accuracy: Reduce errors from manual recreation
• Standardised Metrics: Consistent measurement approaches across properties
• Best Practice Sharing: Distribute effective reporting configurations

Use Cases

• Multi-Brand Organisations: Deploy consistent reporting across brand properties
• Agency Management: Standardise client reporting structures
• International Businesses: Maintain uniform analytics across regional properties
• Franchise Operations: Ensure consistent measurement across franchise locations

Implementation Process

The copying functionality preserves all report specifications including:

• Dimension selections and ordering
• Metric configurations and calculations
• Filter settings and logic
• Visualisation preferences
• Date range configurations

Centralised Consent Management Hub

13th January 2025 launched a comprehensive consent management solution, addressing increasing privacy compliance requirements and providing centralised control over consent-related analytics functions.

Unified Consent Settings Hub

Located within Google Analytics Admin under "Data collection and modification," this centralised hub provides complete oversight of consent management across analytics properties.

Core Functionality

Consent Signal Management

• Understanding Consent Usage: Clear explanation of how Analytics processes consent signals
• Collection Status Monitoring: Real-time visibility of consent signal collection across property streams
• Cross-Stream Analysis: Comprehensive view of consent implementation across different data streams

Diagnostic Capabilities

• Consent-Related Diagnostics: Automated detection of consent implementation issues
• Resolution Guidance: Step-by-step troubleshooting for consent problems
• Compliance Monitoring: Ongoing assessment of consent signal quality

Compliance Benefits

Privacy Regulation Support

• GDPR Compliance: Enhanced tools for European privacy regulation adherence
• Regional Privacy Laws: Support for various international privacy requirements
• Audit Trail: Comprehensive documentation of consent management practices

User Trust Enhancement

• Transparent Consent Handling: Clear visibility into consent signal processing
• Improved User Experience: Better consent implementation reduces user friction
• Trust Building: Demonstrated commitment to privacy protection

Technical Advantages

• Centralised Management: Single location for all consent-related configuration
• Proactive Monitoring: Automated detection of consent implementation issues
• Educational Resources: Built-in guidance for best practice implementation
• Integration Support: Seamless connection with existing Google Analytics setup

Implementation Considerations

The consent settings hub integrates with existing Google Analytics configurations whilst providing enhanced visibility and control. Organisations can gradually implement improved consent management practices without disrupting current analytics collection.

This centralised approach simplifies privacy compliance whilst maintaining robust analytics capabilities, supporting both regulatory requirements and business intelligence needs.

Google Analytics now offers two streamlined options to help you efficiently track your key events:

1. Mark as Key Event
   • Instantly mark an existing event on your property as a key event with a single click.
2. Create Key Event
   • Generate a new event based on a specific page view and automatically set it as a key event—all in one step.

Tracking key events enables you to gain automated insights, access detailed reports, and measure conversions to enhance Google Ads campaign performance.

You can access these new recommendations on the Home page, Insights Hub, and Reports Snapshot in Google Analytics.

For most properties, a config command or the Google tag must now be installed on the webpage before custom events can be sent. This update resolves issues where custom events were previously sent without tag configuration, which led to attribution values being displayed as (not set) in reports. By enforcing this requirement, reporting accuracy is greatly improved.

The manual ad content parameter is now supported as a condition group for creating custom channel groups. This enhancement offers greater flexibility in channel analysis by allowing the use of both manually tagged and automatically tagged parameters. Users with Editor-level or higher permissions can take advantage of this feature to create new custom channel groups.

Find out more about custom channel groups.

Google now makes it easier to fix product disapprovals in Merchant Centre, helping your products appear in Google Shopping results and Shopping ads.

You’ll find these recommendations directly in Google Analytics on the Home page, Insights hub, Reports snapshot, and Acquisition overview report. They highlight issues preventing your products from being approved.

Each recommendation includes a link to the affected products in your Merchant Centre account, so you can quickly address the issue. Fixing these disapprovals can boost your organic traffic from Google Shopping and improve your Shopping ad performance, helping you grow your online sales.

Learn more about these recommendations.

Google Analytics now supports Customer Match to enhance the effectiveness of audiences exported to linked Google advertising platforms such as Google Ads, Display & Video 360, and Search Ads 360.

When user-provided data is included, exported audiences can leverage consented, hashed customer data to match with Google’s data. This functionality expands addressable audiences by utilising first-party data when other identifiers are unavailable. Additionally, it helps maximise coverage for remarketing efforts, ensuring campaigns effectively reach the most relevant audiences.

For users already leveraging Google Analytics audiences in their Google advertising products, enabling Customer Match in existing shared audiences requires setting up user-provided data collection for their website.

To utilise Google Analytics audiences in advertising products, ensure the Google Analytics property is linked to the respective advertising platforms and personalised advertising is enabled.

Learn more about Customer Match in Google Analytics.

Google Analytics has introduced updates to improve the accessibility and utility of imported advertising cost data.

With these enhancements, users can now gain insights into imported cost data even when there is no matching record for the required dimensions. To reduce friction and enhance the value of imported data, Google Analytics has revised its handling of unmatched cost data. The platform now reports cost, impressions, and clicks based on any combination of the required dimensions within the imported data.

This update provides a more comprehensive and accurate view of advertising performance, enabling users to make better-informed decisions and optimise campaigns more effectively.

Learn more about cost data import.

Google Analytics now provides enhanced visibility into API quota usage with the introduction of a new quota log report available directly within the interface. This report tracks who has been using API quota on specific properties, offering a clear view of data consumption across accounts.

With this feature, users gain greater control over their account and property data by enabling audits of user activities. If an account's API usage raises concerns, admins can review specific data access histories to identify and address problematic users.

The quota log is built on the same robust system as the Google Analytics 360 Access Logs, extending this detailed reporting capability to all Google Analytics users. This feature makes both access logs and quota history easily accessible in one place.

Key Features:

• Account Data Access History
• Account Data API Quota History
• Property Data Access History
• Property Data API Quota History

For further details, explore the full report functionality in Google Analytics.

Google Analytics has introduced Benchmarks, a feature that enables businesses to compare their performance with others in their industry. By using benchmarks, businesses can gain insights into their strengths and identify areas for improvement, supporting data-driven decisions that can boost results.

With data drawn from Google Analytics’ extensive user base, benchmarks are provided in percentiles (median, 25th, and 75th percentiles) across various industry categories. Businesses are grouped into peer categories based on industry details set during setup and signals from attributes like URLs and app characteristics, allowing for accurate comparisons.

Data privacy is a core focus: all benchmarking data is encrypted, aggregated, and private. Benchmarks are only available when there is enough data from similar businesses, with thresholds in place to maintain data quality and relevancy. Data is refreshed every 24 hours, giving businesses the most current insights for tracking progress.

Discover more about how benchmarking in Google Analytics can help your business achieve new levels of performance.

Google has expanded the BigQuery export capabilities to include additional session-scoped traffic source fields. These new fields cover cross-channel data and other integration-specific contexts, offering deeper insights into traffic sources.

This enhancement provides greater channel analysis capabilities within BigQuery, aligning the available data with the comprehensive insights found in the Google Analytics interface. The new fields have been automatically incorporated into all existing Google Analytics BigQuery exports and are ready for immediate use.

Learn more about BigQuery export.

Users with Editor or higher permissions can now save segments for all users within a property, whether through an exploration or via the Segments page in Admin. These saved segments can be modified by anyone with the same level of access or above.

Learn more about segments here.

Google has introduced two new diagnostics in the Tag Diagnostics tool within the Google tag settings:

• Tag has stopped sending data: This diagnostic appears when the Google tag has not sent data in the last 48 hours. To resolve the issue, users should use Tag Assistant to verify that the tag is properly installed on every page of the website.
• Tag found too low on the page: This diagnostic is triggered when Google detects that tags are placed too far down the page. Improper tag placement can delay loading and activation, potentially leading to signal loss and impacting website measurement. To address this, users should adjust the tags to a higher position.

Additionally, Google has introduced the new tag quality status, No recent data, which appears when the Google tag hasn’t been detected in the past 48 hours. If this status is shown, users are encouraged to review their setup.

Learn more about Tag Diagnostics.

The new Realtime Pages report provides insights into which pages on a website or app are currently being viewed, along with the number of users on each page. This data helps identify popular content, evaluate the performance of marketing campaigns, and quickly address any website or app issues. To learn more about the Realtime Pages report, refer to the available resources.

Google now offers a recommendation to address misconfigured deep links in apps with an active app data stream. This suggestion appears when App Links or Universal Links are not properly configured, meaning mobile users with the app installed are not being redirected to the app as intended.

To access a list of the missing or misconfigured deep links and the relevant data, users can click the Download button and open the CSV file. It is advised to collaborate with the development team to implement or resolve deep links, referring to the necessary Android and iOS documentation for guidance.

For more information, learn more about deep links here.

An issue causing the over-attribution of sessions to "Direct" traffic has been resolved. This problem affected customers when enabling enhanced User ID mode with automatic user data collection or those already using the feature between late June and mid-July.

With the latest improvements, users can now manage multiple sources for each data import type, allowing for greater flexibility in handling complex data scenarios. The updated process ensures that existing data remains untouched, while new data is seamlessly added or updated, preventing any accidental overwrites.

Moreover, users can now view their data import quota directly on the data import page within the Admin section.

For more information, explore the details on Data Import.

Google Analytics now offers the ability to visualise up to five rows of data directly within detail reports through the Plot Rows feature. Users can select the desired rows and click "Plot Rows" to generate a line for each row, enabling quick comparisons and streamlined analysis. Learn more about Plot Rows.

In addition, Google has introduced several new features to enhance reporting:

Anomalies in Detail Reports: Google Analytics now flags unusual data fluctuations, helping users uncover hidden patterns and potential issues in their reports. This feature allows for the identification of unexpected traffic spikes, sudden drops, and other key trends. Learn more about anomalies.

Report Descriptions: Users can hover over any report title to reveal a brief description and a link for more detailed information, making it easier to navigate and understand reports.

Mark Key Events: In the Events report, users can now identify their most important events by marking them as key events through the three dots menu at the end of each row. Learn more about the Events report.

New Transaction ID Report: The new Transaction ID report provides granular insights into revenue streams, offering detailed information for each transaction based on the transaction_id parameter. Learn more about the Transaction ID report.

Scope Changes in Acquisition Reports: The User Acquisition report now focuses on user-related metrics such as Total users, New users, and Returning users, while the Traffic Acquisition report delivers session-related metrics like Sessions, Engaged sessions, and Sessions per event. Learn more about acquisition reports.

Google now offers a recommendation to address missing deep links in apps, helping to boost conversions and enhance user engagement. This recommendation includes a downloadable report that highlights the deep links needing attention, ranked by priority.

Learn more about deep links here.

Google has enhanced the processing of the session_start event, ensuring it is handled more comprehensively when a property is linked to Google Ad Manager and the send_page_view=false configuration is applied. This update enables more accurate measurement of user sessions.

It is now necessary to have a config command or the Google tag installed on a web page to ensure automatically collected events are sent. This update prevents these events from being transmitted without proper tag configuration, which previously caused (not set) attribution values to appear in reports.

The processing of attribution data has been improved to ensure more accurate channel group assignments for key events. With this enhancement, there will be fewer events incorrectly attributed to the Direct channel grouping, resulting in more precise channel grouping assignments.

A new record has been added to the GA4 BigQuery Event export, which includes Google Ads and Manual campaign context information for each session. This data is repeated for every event within a session, facilitating quick and straightforward channel analysis in BigQuery. The exported data mirrors the information used in GA4 behavioral reporting.

Learn more about the BigQuery Export schema.

Google has added three new fields—manual_creative_format, manual_marketing_tactic, and manual_source_platform—to the traffic source record, enabling more advanced channel analysis in BigQuery.

Learn more about the BigQuery Export schema

Google has introduced three new fields—batch_page_id, batch_ordering_id, and batch_event_index—to the BigQuery Event export tables. These additions enable users to replicate the browser's collection order for events exported to BigQuery.

Learn more about the BigQuery Export schema

With this update, a new Tag Diagnostics tool has been introduced to help users identify and resolve issues with their website’s tags, ensuring accurate data collection. The tool can be accessed from the Google tag settings or directly on the Tag Manager landing page when issues are detected.

Discover how to troubleshoot tag issues with Tag Diagnostics.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has received an exciting update to its Advertising section. Now, users can easily see how many individuals qualify for remarketing and ad personalisation in Google Ads—these groups are referred to as advertising segments. These GA4 advertising segments align perfectly with the audience segments in the Google Ads Audience Manager.

Discover more about advertising segments.

As a Google Analytics 360 administrator, users can now include Google Marketing Platform (GMP) groups in recipient lists when sending reports by email using the 'Schedule Email' and 'Send Email' share options.

Learn more about scheduled emails.

The default User acquisition and Traffic acquisition reports have been updated to feature the User key event rate and Session key event rate metrics. For those who have integrated these reports into their report navigation, the key event rate metrics will now appear automatically.

Learn more about the key event rate metrics.

Google Analytics 4 now supports custom event data import. This feature allows users to combine standard fields with event-scoped custom dimensions, enabling the integration and analysis of imported event metadata alongside existing Analytics data. This capability facilitates the creation of custom reports, providing a more comprehensive view of both Analytics data and imported event metadata.

Learn more about custom event data import.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is set to enhance its attribution models over the next two weeks to improve the accuracy of conversion credit for paid search campaigns.

Currently, conversions that should be credited to paid search are sometimes incorrectly attributed to organic search, especially in single-page applications. This misattribution occurs when the 'gclid' parameter, which identifies the paid search click, does not persist across page views.

This update will refine how GA4 attributes conversions, ensuring campaign information is accurately captured on the first event of each page. If a user leaves the site and returns through a different channel, the attribution will be updated accordingly.

This change may result in an increase in conversions attributed to paid search, potentially impacting Ads campaign spending. It is strongly recommended to review and adjust budget caps as needed before this update takes effect.

The Realtime report in Google Analytics 4 now provides a more detailed snapshot of user behaviour. It features a "Users in the Last 5 Minutes" section with an updated bar graph that shows a minute-by-minute breakdown of user activity on your website or app.

Learn more about realtime.

Floodlight can now be linked with GA4 subproperties and roll-up properties, similar to standard GA4 properties. By integrating subproperties, your marketing teams can connect and share specific data with a selected Floodlight setup. Roll-up property integration enables cross-brand linking and activation scenarios.

Discover more about Floodlight integration.

As an administrator, you now have the capability to send both standard and custom reports by email instantly. This feature allows team members to receive immediate analytics updates. The emailed report contains data for the specified date range and includes any filters or comparisons applied at the time of sending.

For more information on how to send reports by email, click here.

Users now have the flexibility to view their line chart data by day, week, or month, allowing them to choose the level of detail that best suits their needs.

Learn more about switching between day, week, and month views.

You can now export data from a report directly to Google Sheets. This feature allows you to leverage Google Sheets' capabilities for in-depth data analysis. To export the data, click "Share this report" located at the top right of the report, then select "Download File" and choose "Export to Google Sheets."

For more information about exporting reports, click here.

As the administrator of an Analytics 360 property, you can now allocate specific report collections to individual users or groups. This function lets you tailor report collections to suit the varied needs of different teams within your organisation. For instance, you can provide marketing-related reports to the marketing team, product-focused reports to the product team, and high-level executive summaries to the CEO.

Learn how to assign users or groups to report collections.

As an administrator or editor of a Google Analytics property, you now have the ability to save comparisons within your Google Analytics 4 property. This new feature allows you and other authorised users to easily revisit specific user bases for analysis without the need to set up the comparisons each time.

Additionally, you can define conditions based on audience segments within these saved comparisons. This enhancement supports more sophisticated reporting on user segmentation. For instance, you might specify a comparison where the audience name equals "high value users."

Learn more about saved comparisons

Google has improved the functionality of user data import in Google Analytics 4 audiences. Data imported via user data import, linked by either user ID or client ID, is now readily available as criteria for user qualification in existing GA4 audiences, without requiring additional user interaction. This means that any users imported into Analytics who meet the criteria for an existing GA4 audience are automatically added.

For example, suppose a user creates a "Gold" loyalty tier audience based on a user-scoped custom dimension indicating the user's loyalty tier. When loyalty tier data is uploaded via user data import, users classified as "Gold" tier are automatically integrated into the GA4 audience. There is no need to wait for their activity on the website or app before qualifying.

Google has integrated Salesforce as a data source for data imports. Users can now import data from Salesforce directly into Google Analytics as offline event data. They will be able to schedule daily or hourly imports and select specific Salesforce milestones and attributes for import. Salesforce milestones will be tracked as GA4 events, with the option of importing existing Salesforce attributes as GA4 dimensions.

Learn more about implementing Salesforce Data Import.

If an unlinked Display & Video 360 advertiser is identified, you may be prompted to connect your DV360 advertiser to Google Analytics. This linkage allows you to export Analytics audiences and conversions to DV360, giving you access to campaign cost and user engagement data in Analytics for more effective campaign assessment.

You can find more information on these recommendations here.

Google recently announced a simplification of Google Analytics reporting by consolidating the Advertising section, which now houses all relevant reporting for advertisers and publishers.

In conjunction with this update, Google has aligned the definition of conversions across Google Ads and Analytics, aiming to provide users with a more straightforward and intuitive experience when measuring and reporting conversions on both platforms.

Previously, there were disparities in how important events, identified as conversions in Analytics, were measured versus Google Ads conversions, resulting in inconsistencies across platforms.

Moving forward, events that track significant actions crucial to business success are now referred to as 'key events.' This behavioural data can be used to improve the user experience across multiple websites and apps.

The term 'conversion' now refers to a critical action used to assess the effectiveness of ad campaigns and optimise bidding strategies. Users can now access consistent conversion-based performance metrics in reports from both Google Ads and Analytics thanks to a unified definition of 'conversion'.

Learn more here about the distinction between conversion and key events.

With this latest update, users are no longer required to provide a user ID before collecting user-provided data from their website or app. In cases where user-provided data is collected without a user ID, Google will now utilise the data provided to generate a hashed and pseudonymised user ID. This advancement facilitates improved cross-platform user reporting and supports conversion measurement and audience sharing.

Moreover, users now have the added flexibility to request the deletion of user-provided data using the user-provided data itself, alongside conventional identifiers such as user ID, client ID, and app instance ID.

For more information on user-provided data collection, please click here.

Google has released the first version of a new API for Google Marketing Platform users, which allows organisational administrators to:

Upgrade or downgrade properties from standard to Analytics 360.
Connect Google Analytics accounts to organisations.

Organisation details are now included in the Admin API's accounts list, bridging the gap between the old and new Google Marketing Platform Admin APIs.

You can learn more about the Google Marketing Platform Admin API here.

As previously announced, traffic from the European Economic Area (EEA) will no longer be available for Universal Analytics 360 advertising capabilities (remarketing, conversion export, and bidding optimisation) as of March 2024. Additionally, not all traffic will be supported by several services on Universal Analytics 360, including real-time BigQuery export and reporting as well as API.

Find out more about the features that Universal Analytics 360 has discontinued.

Users now have access to a new, customisable channel group called the Primary Channel Group, which will act as the default reporting channel for all channel reports. Users can track the effectiveness of different channels driving traffic to their website by using these channels, which are rule-based definitions of website traffic sources. Users can control their default reporting channel through the Primary Channel Group. All custom channel groups that represent the most recent definitions throughout historical data are retained, and a record of custom channel changes over time is kept for historical reporting needs.

The Primary Channel Group's initial set of requirements is identical to the Default Channel Group's. As a result, unless the criteria for the Primary Channel Group are changed, all historical data in that group corresponds with that of the Default Channel Group. Users can change the Primary Channel Group's criteria at any time to align it with any Custom Channel Group configuration that is currently in place. After that, the information in the Primary Channel Group will follow the parameters of the chosen Custom Channel Group going forward.

Through custom reporting, explorations, and the primary dimension picker, access to the default and custom channel groups is still maintained.

Learn more about how to configure your Primary Channel Group.

Updates are being made to the Advertising section of Google Analytics to streamline reporting by gathering all relevant data for publishers and advertisers in one place. Users can now access the following areas for performance or behavioural reporting thanks to this update:

• To improve the product and customer experience, the Reports area offers insights on how users interact with websites and apps.
• With regard to campaign monitoring and analysis, the Advertising area will act as the main hub, serving the needs of both publishers and advertisers.
• Moreover, anonymous and aggregated insights from ad campaigns, as well as behavioural insights, will be provided by the Data API, Custom Reports, and the Explore area.

The following adjustments will be implemented starting today:

• The Advertising component will incorporate publisher reports and features, Google Marketing Platform, and Google Ads.
• A link to at least one Google Ads, AdSense, AdMob, Google Ad Manager, or Google Marketing Platform account is required in order to access the Advertising section.
• The Advertising component will replace the Publisher advertisements report.

With regard to behavioural analytics as well as advertising or publisher information, these upgrades seek to deliver more customised experiences. To continue getting useful information, users who are monetising their sites with advertising or conducting ad campaigns should make sure their advertisements accounts are linked. A popup to link to an advertisements or publisher account will show up if no account is attached.

Trend change detection is an innovative type of insight that identifies small but long-term and significant changes in the direction of your data. It, like anomaly detection, detects a shift in data. The key difference is that anomaly detection exposes rapid spikes or dips in data, whereas trend change detection highlights more subtle changes over a longer period of time.

Google Analytics shows these changes in an Insight card on the Home page's Insights & suggestions section, as well as in Reports snapshot and Advertising snapshot, and in the Insights Hub.

Learn more about trend detection here.

The maximum length of event parameter values gathered via the Google Analytics for Firebase SDK for mobile apps has been extended from 100 to 500 characters for Google Analytics 360 properties.  Learn more about Google Analytics 360 data collection limits.

Google has added user-scoped, session-scoped, and event-scoped variations to eight new platform-agnostic traffic source dimensions. These characteristics have been applied consistently to sponsored and organic traffic, as well as Google media and third-party media channels. This feature is intended to improve the study of user behaviour and performance in cross-channel reporting, explorations, segments, and audiences.

The new dimensions are:

Source: Manual medium.
Manual source/medium.
Manual campaign names
Manual Campaign ID
Manual terms, manual content, and manual source platforms.
These dimensions are supplied using the UTM parameter values sent in click URLs for websites, as well as the newly introduced UTM values sent in the campaign_details event for mobile applications, notably FirebaseAnalytics.Param.CAMPAIGN_ID and FirebaseAnalytics.Param.SOURCE_PLATFORM.

Furthermore, the session-scoped dimensions are accessible via a newly released Manual.

Users can access this report by selecting "View Manual campaigns" in the Acquisition overview report within the Life cycle collection.

The ability to connect subproperties and roll-up properties to Search Ads 360 and Display & Video 360 has been implemented. Linking works the same way as it does for regular properties. Once linked, Google Analytics will deliver the same data as for regular properties.

With this feature, companies may now use Search Ads 360 or Display & Video 360 to advertise to subsets or supersets of their audience.

When an unlinked Google Play app is found in conjunction with a Google Analytics property, users may now see a recommendation to link their Play Console account to Google Analytics. Users who link their Play Console accounts can view in-app purchase and subscription metrics in their Google Analytics 4 reports.

Learn more about recommendations

New help options have been incorporated into Google Analytics 4 to enrich users' experiences and offer immediate support. These additional features can be accessed via the help button located in the top-right corner of Google Analytics.

• Learn about this page: Users can receive detailed guidance on utilising the features present on their current page in Google Analytics.
• Start tour: A guided tour, where available, can be initiated to walk users through key procedures relevant to the current page.
• Get more help: Users have the option to find information in the Google Analytics Help Centre or participate in the Google Analytics Help Community for additional assistance.
• Send feedback: If users encounter an issue, they can share their feedback with the Google Analytics team.

Learn more here.

This new enhancement now allow users to create links between Google Analytics 4 (GA4) properties and AdSense accounts directly within Analytics. If GA4 subproperties or roll-up properties are in use, it is now possible to establish links between those properties and AdSense accounts independently of the source properties.

Discover more about the integration of GA4 with AdSense.

To power the new acquisition reports, Google has added new traffic source dimensions that become available when linking to Campaign Manager 360, Display & Video 360, and/or Search Ads 360. These new dimensions are accessible at event, session, and user scopes.

With this update, users can now leverage cross-channel dimensions such as Source, Session source, and First user source to comprehend cross-channel acquisition data. Subsequently, they can utilise the new integration-specific dimensions like SA360 source, SA360 session source, and SA360 first user source to analyse acquisition data specific to a buying platform.

Learn more about these new dimensions here.

Google has introduced new reports that allow users to analyse data from the 360 ad platforms integrated into their Google Analytics 4 property:

Campaign Manager 360 report
Display & Video 360 report
Search Ads 360 report

Once users seamlessly integrate their diverse ad platforms, they can access these reports by selecting the integration-specific summary card incorporated into the Acquisition overview report. For example, if users integrate with Display & Video 360, they'll see "View Display & Video 360 campaigns," leading them to the fresh Display & Video 360 report.

Even if a user detaches a buying platform from their property, the report remains accessible from the Acquisition overview report, allowing them to continue analysing historical data.

When a standard property exceeds the Large threshold or a 360 property becomes XL (collecting over 25 billion and 250 billion billable events in the last 31 days, respectively), the event-level data retention setting is automatically adjusted to two months, rendering event-level data older than two months inaccessible and permanently deleted. It's important to note that this change will affect only a minimal number of Google Analytics properties.

If your property is approaching these limits based on weekly event volume, a warning email will now be sent to all property administrators. Upon reaching the limit, another email will be dispatched to all property administrators, notifying them of the reduced data retention setting.

During the period between these two notifications, you have the opportunity to decrease the number of billable events sent to the Google Analytics 4 property, ensuring compliance with the current limits for your property size and retaining longer event-level data. For those who receive warnings about a free property, upgrading to 360 is an option to access higher limits.

For additional information, refer to the details on data retention settings.

Upon saving an exploration with a predefined date range (such as the last 28 days), the exploration will now display the timeframe relative to when you opened it, as opposed to when you initially created the exploration.

Discover additional information on how to modify the time frame within an exploration.

Google have expanded the functionalities of the audience builder, segment builder, custom reports builder, and the Data API in Google Analytics 4 by introducing additional dimensions. Now, users can measure and activate data using both predefined and custom item-scoped dimensions.

New item-scoped custom dimensions are now available in the audience builder, segment builder, custom reports builder, and the Data API.

In the segment builder, the following predefined item-scoped dimensions have been included:

Item ID
Item name
Item brand
Item variant
Item affiliation
Item category
Item category 2
Item category 3
Item category 4
Item category 5
Item promotion name
Item promotion creative slot
Item promotion creative name
Item list ID
Item list name
Item list position
Item location ID

Additionally, the audience builder now features the following predefined item-scoped dimensions:

Item list ID
Item list position
Item location ID
Item promotion creative name
Item promotion creative slot
Item promotion name

Generate and implement Analytics audiences, including predictive ones, directly through Google Ads. Enhance audience targeting by leveraging the comprehensive behavioural insights exclusive to Google Analytics 4. Craft Analytics audiences in Audience Manager and seamlessly incorporate them into your campaigns.

Learn more here.

When exporting Analytics audiences to Ad Manager, users can leverage them for first-party segments through Publisher provided identifiers (PPID). First-party segments enhance site or app monetisation by enabling targeted campaigns towards high-value users.

To utilise this feature, users need to activate PPID targeting in their Ad Manager accounts and enable personalised advertising in the connection between their Google Analytics property and Google Ad Manager. PPIDs will seamlessly integrate into existing Google Analytics 4 audiences upon export to Ad Manager. If users have previously configured these settings, no further setup is necessary.

Users can explore additional insights on incorporating Analytics audiences into Google Ad Manager to enhance their advertising strategies.

For enhanced usability and smoother navigation throughout reports, google has introduced a new toggle positioned next to the comparison at the top of each report.

This toggle enables you to easily activate or deactivate the chosen comparisons as you review your reports. When transitioning from one report with an applied comparison to another, the comparison will be automatically deactivated by default.

Learn more about comparison toggles.

Enhancements have been made to data sampling and the selection of tables in Google Analytics. The platform now utilises two types of tables optimised for either performance or flexibility when storing data from your website or app. With this update, Google Analytics dynamically selects the table that best suits each query, thereby minimising the likelihood of encountering the (other) row and experiencing data sampling in reports and explorations.

Consequently, in explorations or reports involving data sampling, you may now observe the (other) row. This selects the table based on your query to deliver the most precise results and mitigate the impact of data sampling and cardinality limits.

To gain a deeper understanding of how data is stored and presented, explore more details on this topic here.

Google has introduced a new Admin experience in Google Analytics 4 properties. The new Admin experience organises users' settings into categories that make it easier for them to find what they are looking for and discover the purpose of each administrative setting. For instance, all the settings that impact how data is shown in reports are now grouped together. With this change, users will be able to complete their administrative tasks with fewer clicks and more confidence. Learn more about Admin.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud users now have the capability to integrate it with a Google Analytics 4 property directly through the Sales Marketing Cloud interface. If these users were previously engaged with the Universal Analytics 360 integration within Salesforce Marketing Cloud, they can now seamlessly transition to using the same features within Google Analytics 4.

For the first time, this integration is accessible for both Google Analytics 4 standard and 360 properties. The experience is currently active in Salesforce Marketing Cloud for individuals who were previously using the integration with Universal Analytics 360.

The integration between Google Analytics 4 and Salesforce Marketing Cloud facilitates the synchronisation of audiences generated in Analytics with Marketing Cloud. Consequently, users can incorporate these audiences into their Salesforce email and SMS direct-marketing campaigns.

For more information on the Sales Marketing Cloud integration, users can refer to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud audience integration documentation.

Google is enhancing automatically collected events from web data streams in Google Analytics 4 to address a filtering issue for some subproperties.

In the future, all automatically collected first_visit and session_start events from web data streams will include the same event parameters as the event parameters for the first client-triggered event in a session. This ensures that these automatically collected events will be appropriately filtered in or out of a subproperty, resulting in consistent and predictable reporting.

Users do not need to take any action to enable this improvement, as this launch will resolve the issue moving forward.

Learn more here.

Item-scoped custom parameters are now accessible in the GA4 BigQuery Export. Additionally, the ability to collect item-scoped custom parameters through the GA4 Measurement Protocol has been lauched.

Google has introduced a new recommendation to install the Google Analytics mobile app, enabling users to stay connected to their business while on-the-go. The mobile app helps users monitor their business in real-time, build their own reports, and take actions to improve their account. The new recommendation includes a QR code so users can easily find the mobile app in the Apple App Store (for iOS) or Google Play Store (for Android). The recommendation is primarily visible on the Google Analytics 4 Home page if users haven't recently used the app.

In a follow-up to an earlier announcement, it has been revealed that Google Analytics will discontinue the use of First click, Linear, Time decay, and Position-based attribution models across all properties, effective from mid-October 2023. These models will no longer be accessible in both the Analytics user interface and Admin API. For properties currently relying on these models, they will be automatically transitioned to the Paid and organic data-driven attribution model. Meanwhile, the Paid and organic last click, and Google paid channels last click models will remain available.

Furthermore, calculated metrics have been introduced in Google Analytics 4. These metrics involve the application of mathematical formulas to one or more existing or custom metrics to generate new, potentially more insightful metrics. For instance, users can create a metric like "Item margin" by using the standard "Item price" metric and the custom "Item COGS" metric.

With this update, you have the flexibility to customize metrics to align with your specific business needs or logic. You can adjust the weighting of existing metrics or create entirely new metrics by combining standard and/or custom metrics.

These new metrics tend to be more actionable than the original metrics from which they are derived, as they incorporate additional business logic, enabling direct decision-making and action within Google Analytics.

Learn more here about calculated metrics.

Google has announced the availability of an enhanced integration feature that enables users to seamlessly connect Salesforce Marketing Cloud with a Google Analytics 4 property directly from the Marketing Cloud interface. If users were previously utilising the Universal Analytics 360 integration within Salesforce Marketing Cloud, they now have the opportunity to transition to the GA4 integration.

This integration marks a significant advancement as it is now accessible for both GA4 standard and 360 properties. Presently, this enhanced functionality is operational within the Marketing Cloud platform for individuals who were previously engaged with the integration using Universal Analytics 360.

The Google Analytics 4 integration allows users to synchronise audiences generated in Analytics with Marketing Cloud. This synchronisation allows for the utilisation of these audiences in Salesforce email and SMS direct-marketing campaigns.

In the most recent update, users have the opportunity to configure their web data streams to carry out client-side text redaction for email addresses and user-defined URL query parameters. This functionality serves to reduce the chances of unintentionally transmitting sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Notably, email redaction is automatically enabled for all new web data streams.

Learn more about data redaction.

If you have enabled Google Signals for your property, you now have the ability to disable the inclusion of Google Signals in your Reporting Identity on the Data Collection page within the Admin settings. This action allows you to exclude specific demographics and interest data from your reports, particularly data from users who are signed in and have given consent.

This feature can be particularly beneficial if your property utilises the Blended or Observed reporting identity, as it can help mitigate the risk of data thresholding. It's important to note that even with this option turned off, Google Analytics will continue to gather Google Signals data. This allows you to use Google Signals data for audience creation, conversions, and sharing with linked Google Ads accounts for purposes such as remarketing and bid Optimisation.

Click here for further information on activating Google Signal.

This new report provides valuable insights into the user experience on e-commerce websites or apps, revealing both the number and percentage of users who initiate the checkout process and successfully navigate through each subsequent step of the checkout funnel.

Users can access the Checkout Journey Report by visiting either the Monetisation section within the Life Cycle collection or the Drive Online Sales section within the Business Objectives collection on the Reports menu. In cases where the report is not visible, administrators or editors have the capability to add it directly from the report library.

Learn more here.

Google is pleased to announce the introduction of user data export, a new export feature accessible via the existing BigQuery connector. Users now have the ability to activate a fresh array of tables, with each row dedicated to depicting a distinct user. These tables encompass valuable user-centric attributes crucial for modeling and analysis, including:

Present audience profiles
Lifetime value (LTV)
Predictive scores related to purchase and churn probabilities
User-specific properties
Device and geographical particulars

To initiate the process, users can enable user data export directly from the BigQuery Links section within the GA4 Admin interface.

Learn more about user data export.

Google Analytics introduces a new recommendation when consent mode has been incorporated into either gtag.js, Google Tag Manager, or the Google Analytics for Firebase SDK. However, it's possible that the Google tags or Consent management platform may be obstructing cookieless pings.

This new recommendation informs you that by removing the block on cookieless pings, the majority of reporting features in Google Analytics 4 will leverage behavioral modeling, provided the model quality permits, to bridge data gaps. This is achieved by employing machine learning to emulate the behavior of users who decline analytics cookies based on the actions of similar users who accept analytics cookies. To delve deeper into unblocking Google tags while using consent mode, you can find additional information here.

User now have the option to both review and remove established connections between Google Analytics 4 properties and AdSense accounts. Upon linking your AdSense account with a Google Analytics 4 property, you can easily locate it within the 'AdSense Links' section on the Admin page.

Behavioral modeling data is now available in any exploration or report that includes paths and funnels in Google Analytics 4. More specifically, this includes the path exploration and funnel exploration, as well as the user purchase journey report and custom funnel reports.

When website visitors or app users decline Analytics cookies or equivalent app identifiers your reports are missing data about them. Behavioral modeling fills in the data gaps by modeling the behavior of users who decline analytics cookies based on the behavior of similar users who accept analytics cookies.

Learn more about behavioral modeling

Enhance your customisation options for Google Analytics 4 Reports with the newly introduced Match Types feature. Report Filters have been upgraded to include match types such as 'begins with,' 'exactly matches,' and regex.

Learn more about match types.

The latest Audiences report within Google Analytics 4 allows you to pinpoint your most active and profitable audience segments. This encompasses any audience that has a minimum of one user during the designated timeframe.

You can find this fresh report under the User Attributes section located on the left side of the Reports page. Should you not locate the report, an administrator or editor has the capability to incorporate it into the report library.

Learn more about the Audiences report

Users are now able to utilise third-party segments in conjunction with Google Analytics 4 audiences within Google Ad Manager. When an individual links their Analytics property to Google Ad Manager, and activates Google signals and enables ads personalisation in the link settings, audiences are automatically exported to Ad Manager. These audiences can be used directly for targeting purposes or can be blended with other audiences as needed. Additionally, users have the option to conduct analyses on these audiences to gain valuable insights.

Learn more about Google Analytics 4 audiences in Google Ad Manager

Set a default conversion value

This new feature allows users to establish a default value for a conversion event in Google Analytics. By doing so, in cases where the 'currency' and 'value' parameters are not specified for the conversion event, the system will automatically use the default value set by the user. However, if the event already contains a value, the set default value will not be applied.

In its latest update, Google Analytics introduces new revenue metrics in explorations, including:

• Gross item revenue: Total revenue generated from items alone, excluding tax and shipping.
• Gross purchase revenue: Total revenue derived from purchases made on your website or app.
• Refund amount: The overall sum of refunds issued on your website or app.

Additionally, Google Analytics streamlines the Metrics picker in explorations by removing the following duplicative revenue metrics:

• Ecommerce revenue
• Event revenue

To track revenue from ecommerce transactions in explorations, you should use the Purchase revenue metric. While existing explorations that use the removed metrics will continue to function, it is advisable to update them and utilise the new revenue metrics for any new explorations.

Google's latest update, Google Analytics 4, introduces brand-new ecommerce elements to the custom reports builder. This allows users to craft personalised ecommerce reports from the ground up and/or modify existing standard ecommerce reports.

The following ecommerce dimensions are now available in the custom report builder:

Item affiliation
Item brand
Item category
Item category 2
Item category 3
Item category 4
Item category 5
Item ID
Item list ID
Item list name
Item list position
Item location ID
Item name
Item promotion creative name
Item promotion creative slot
Item promotion name
Item variant
Shipping tier
The following ecommerce metrics are now available in the custom report builder:

Gross item revenue
Gross purchase revenue
Item refund amount
Item revenue
Items added to cart
Items checked out
Items clicked in promotion
Items purchased
Items viewed
Items viewed in list
Items viewed in promotion
Purchase revenue
Refund amount
Shipping amount
Tax amount

When a Google Ads account is linked, the user gains the ability to import their web and app conversions from Google Analytics 4 into Google Ads. This import allows users to utilize Google Analytics data within Google Ads, leading to improved bid optimization and enhanced performance.

In the case of eligible Google Analytics accounts, the recommendation card may appear in different locations, such as the top of the Advertising snapshot page, the Home page, or the Insights Hub page, presented as a card.

Learn more about recommendations

With the launch of the Google Analytics Data API v1, users now have the ability to export user IDs and device IDs of the audience they have created in Google Analytics 4. Previously, this information could only be sent to direct integrations such as Google Ads or Firebase, or via the BigQuery User Export feature. The availability of the Google Analytics Audience Export API in alpha extends to both standard and 360 properties, with higher limits for 360 properties. Further details can be found in the developer documentation.

Now you have the option to specify the channels that will receive conversion credit for web conversions shared with Google Ads. You can choose between two options:

1. Google paid channels (formerly Ads-preferred): This option allows only Google Ads paid channels to receive conversion credit.
2. Paid and organic channels (formerly Cross-channel): With this option, both paid and organic channels can receive conversion credit. However, please note that only the credit assigned to Google Ads channels will be visible in your Google Ads accounts.

To view the eligible channels for each conversion, you can check the Conversions summary, Conversions detail, and Campaigns tabs in Google Ads, as well as the Attribution settings in Google Analytics. If you wish to modify this setting, navigate to the Admin > Attribution settings page in Google Analytics. You have the flexibility to make changes to this setting anytime within Google Analytics, and the modifications will be applied to future conversions.

For further information on the channels eligible for conversion credit when shared with Google Ads, as well as importing conversions into Google Ads, please refer to Google's detailed resources.

Google Analytics 4 users now have the ability to connect their AdSense accounts with their properties. When you establish this link, the AdSense data associated with your account will be accessible in GA4 reports and explorations. By merging AdSense data with other valuable website metrics like traffic sources and user behavior, you can uncover profound insights and discover patterns that aid in optimizing your ad revenue.

For additional information on integrating GA4 with AdSense, please refer to the Google Analytics Help Center.

When customers migrate from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4, they have the option to utilize a feature known as connected site tags. This feature enables them to reuse their existing analytics.js website tag. Recently, enhancements have been introduced to further improve the tag reuse process. These enhancements include the ability to transmit enhanced ecommerce data, custom dimensions and metrics, and other customized tag data to GA4 properties. For more information on this feature, please refer to the Google Analytics Help Center.

If Google detects an unlinked Search Console account, you might receive a suggestion to connect it with Google Analytics. By establishing this connection, you gain access to a range of valuable features such as new Search Console dimensions, as well as reports on Google Organic Search Queries and Google Organic Search Traffic. These resources empower you to thoroughly analyze your search query and search traffic data.

For eligible Google Analytics accounts, you will find the recommendation card in multiple locations, including the "Insights & Recommendations" section on the Home page, the Insights/Recommendations section within the Report snapshot and Advertiser snapshot reports, and the Insights/Recommendations hub. Learn more about recommendations

Google have added five new dimensions to the Google Analytics 4 audience builder:

Country
Manual term (UTM Term)
Mobile device info
Minute
New vs Returning

They have also added a new metric: session duration.

Introducing the enhanced Business Objectives collection, designed to offer customized reports specifically tailored to the information you provide during the initial setup of Google Analytics. This upgraded collection equips you with insightful reports that directly align with your business objectives, enabling you to uncover relevant information. With this update, GA4 takes a step further in aligning with Google Ads and campaign objectives, enhancing the synergy between the platforms.

Within your report library, you have the flexibility to customize the reports featured in the Reports module. This includes the ability to add topics from the Business Objectives collection and remove specific reports as needed. If you already have an established property, you can seamlessly incorporate topics from the new collection into your report library. It's worth noting that the Life Cycle collection continues to be accessible to all users. Learn more.

The Google Analytics 4 audience builder has undergone several enhancements to provide users with enhanced flexibility and control in audience creation. These updates include the introduction of new dimensions and metrics, improved options for managing event value and event count, and the addition of a matching option between two dates.

New dimensions and metrics in the audience builder

Enhancements to the audience builder include the availability of new dimensions and metrics, which were previously lacking in comparison to the Universal Analytics audience builder. The following dimensions and metrics are now available in the audience builder:

• Item-scoped dimensions

Item ID
Item affiliation
Item brand
Item category
Item category 2
Item category 3
Item category 4
Item list name
Item name
Item promotion ID
Item variant

• Item-scoped ecommerce metrics

Item revenue
Items added to cart
Items checked out
Items purchased
Items viewed in list

• Event-scoped ecommerce metrics

Item-list click events

• Session-based metrics

Low engagement sessions

Low engagement sessions

A newly introduced metric, called "low engagement sessions," can be utilized to identify users who displayed a lack of engagement with your website or app. This metric allows you to build an audience consisting of users who have had more than three low engagement sessions within the past five days. Once this audience is identified, you can employ targeted advertising strategies to encourage these users to revisit your platform. For instance, retailers may create ad copy emphasizing an upcoming sale or event to entice them.

Event value can be used on its own

Previously, the modification of a specific event using the event value parameter was limited. For instance, you could only identify users who completed "event X" with an event value exceeding 50.

Now, the event value parameter can be used independently without being restricted to a particular event. This means that you can create an audience of users who have any event with a value greater than 50.

Full set of operators for event count

Google have also expanded the range of operators that can be utilized to build audiences using the event count metric. In the past, the available options were limited to greater than (>), less than (<), and equals to (=), and only when the "most recent time period" was selected.

Now, Google have introduced the complete set of operators, including greater than or equal to (>=), less than or equal to (<=), and not equal to (!=). These operators are now available for selection when choosing either "at any point in time" or "the most recent time period."

Greater than or equal to (>=)
Less than or equal to (<=)
Not equal to (!=)

Match between dates

A new "between match types" option has been introduced for dates. This enables you to create an audience consisting of users who visited your website within a specific timeframe, such as Black Friday, and target them with advertisements in the lead-up to the following year's Black Friday. The start date and end date are both inclusive in this match, meaning that a range from May 24th to May 26th would include all three days (24th, 25th, and 26th).

A new feature is available that allows you to generate customized funnel reports, giving you the ability to track user actions as they navigate through different steps to accomplish a task, and assess how many users abandon the process at each step. This enhancement provides the flexibility to create tailored funnels that cater to your specific business needs, and the results can be found in Reports. For further details, learn more here.

Moreover, Google Analytics has introduced a User Purchase Journey report, which shows the number of users who drop out at each stage of the purchase funnel, from the beginning of a new session to the final purchase. Learn more

The Home page of Google Analytics 4 properties now features the following new enhancements:

New welcome tutorial

Google Analytics now includes a brief tutorial on the Home page, aimed at new users of Google Analytics 4. This tutorial provides an introduction to essential concepts and settings to help you get started with your new property.

New banner along the top of the Home page

For Editors and Administrators who use Google Analytics data to advertise with Google Ads, a banner titled "Verify your Google Ads settings" will now appear at the top of the Home page. The banner outlines the essential tasks that need completion for bidding against Google Analytics 4 data. Once you mark all the tasks as complete in Setup Assistant, the banner will disappear.

Improvements to the Suggested for you section

In the "Suggested for you" section, you'll now find cards that are popular across all Analytics properties (aimed at assisting new Google Analytics 4 users in getting started) and cards that you frequently revisit.

Dismiss suggestions, insights, and recommendations

If a card appears in either the "Suggested for you" or "Insights & recommendations" section that is not relevant to you, you can dismiss it by clicking the thumbs down button. This feedback will help Google Analytics to better tailor the Home page for you in the future.

When you click the thumbs down button, Analytics will remove the card from your Home page, and it will not appear again for 30 days. Please note that if you do not submit the feedback form that appears after clicking the button, the card will remain visible for the remainder of your session, but it will be removed in future sessions.

All insights and recommendations, including those you dismissed, can still be accessed from the Insights Hub.

Open the Setup Assistant from anywhere

Each page of Google Analytics 4 properties now features an action button located at the bottom right corner. When you hover over the button, the number of tasks that you have marked as complete in Setup Assistant will be displayed. Clicking the button will open up Setup Assistant in Analytics, allowing you to continue with completing the necessary setup tasks.

In the recent upgrade, Google Ads can now import fractional, cross-channel web conversion credits from Google Analytics 4 properties. This update will result in more precise measurement and improved optimization. Prior to this, web conversions were imported on a cross-channel last click basis from Google Analytics 4 and were attributed in Google Ads based on the chosen attribution model. This method did not import any conversions if the last click was not from Google advertising. With the upgrade, fractional cross-channel conversion credit will be imported into Google Ads, even if the last non-direct click was not from Google advertising. For instance, if a conversion action is imported using data-driven attribution, all fractional, attributed Google credits will be imported into Google Ads, irrespective of the last touchpoint.

Learn more about importing conversions

In Google Analytics 4 properties, you can now customize how you count conversions with the new counting method setting for conversion events. You have two options: Once per event (recommended) or Once per session (legacy). It is advised that the majority of users select Once per event. However, if it's crucial for your Google Analytics 4 conversion count to match the corresponding Universal Analytics property count closely, then you should choose Once per session. For further details, please refer to additional resources.

Google Analytics will be phasing out various attribution models, including first-click, linear, time-decay, and position-based models. These models will be removed from attribution reports, property-level reporting-model setting, and Admin API. Starting from May, newly created properties will no longer be able to use these models, and from September, these models will be phased out for all other properties. However, cross-channel data-driven attribution, cross-channel last click, and Ads preferred last click will remain available.

Rules-based attribution models assign a specific value to each touchpoint of an advertising campaign based on predetermined rules. However, they lack the flexibility required to adapt to the constantly evolving consumer journey. In contrast, data-driven attribution utilizes advanced artificial intelligence techniques to determine the impact of each touchpoint on a conversion. This is why data-driven attribution has been set as the default attribution model for both Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads. Consequently, first-click, linear, time decay, and position-based attribution models across Google Analytics 4 will be phased out.

Read more here about attribution in Google Analytics 4

Two additional choices have been introduced in Google Analytics 4 for the creation or modification of events. These alternatives allow you to specify conversions for web data streams using regular expressions (regex). As a result of this update, you can now transfer destination and event goals that employ regex from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4.  Learn more

Google Analytics has raised the limit on the number of Properties permitted in an account, from the prior default value of 100 to 2000 (for further information, refer to the source). This modification will provide greater flexibility in managing properties and eliminate the necessity of requesting an increase through support. Additionally, there is now a restriction on the number of subproperties that can be added to a property (for further information, refer to the source). This cap has been set at 400, and any requests for an increase will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by support.

Google Analytics is now capable of processing item-level custom parameters from ecommerce events on your website or app. These parameters can be recorded as custom dimensions and used for explorations.

By utilizing item-scoped custom parameters, you can gather additional information about the items on your website or app, beyond the default predefined parameters. This allows you to collect information about an item's color, size, product rating, and in-stock status, for instance.

You can enroll up to 10 item-scoped custom parameters for standard properties and up to 25 for Analytics 360 properties as custom dimensions. Learn more here.

Google Analytics now provides the ability to generate personalized channel groups, which can be developed from scratch or by utilizing Google's pre-existing channel group as a foundation. This feature enables the customization of channels as per your requirements. These custom channel groups are available to all clients and can be utilized in custom reports and explorations to gain insights into the historical and current perspectives of your campaign channels.

You have the flexibility to modify channel names according to your company preferences, modify criteria for any channel, and add or remove channels to obtain broader or more specific views of your channel data. Learn more.

The Google Analytics 4 audience builder will soon be integrated into Google Ads to simplify audience creation and application to campaigns. To make this possible, a new cross-product access management model is being introduced for Google Ads, which allows a Google Analytics 4 property Admin to grant explicit permissions to users in a linked Google Ads account. With this model, the Google Analytics admin can assign roles with different levels of access to Google Ads, such as Administrator, Standard, or Read only. These assigned roles will determine access to Analytics features in Google Ads, including the ability to create Analytics audiences.  Learn more about user access for Ads integration.

Google Analytics has updated the way it displays data quality icons in reports to provide more precise information at the individual card level. Instead of just showing the Data quality icon at the top of the Reporting snapshot report and the overview reports, the update now displays different messages for different cards, giving you more accurate information about each card in a report.

Additionally, a new "(other)" row message has been added to the data quality icon when a report is affected by cardinality limits, which groups less common data beyond the limits into this row. This new message provides several ways to reduce or eliminate these limits.

• All properties now have a one-click option to create the same report in Explore. The "(other)" row never appears in Explore because it uses raw, event-level data.
• Google Analytics 360 properties also have access to expanded data sets, allowing you to flag up to 100 reports per property as high priority. Google Analytics permanently removes the "(other)" row from the reports you've flagged.

Furthermore, new sampling controls have been introduced for Google Analytics 360 properties. These controls enable you to adjust the level of precision and speed in your explorations, with two options available: "More detailed results," which uses the maximum sample size to provide the most precise representation of the full data set, and "Faster results," which uses a smaller sample size to give faster results (this option is selected by default).

Learn more about these new features.

Google revamped the search bar on Google Analytics to help users search for information about their current property/account and access other Google Analytics 4 properties they have permission to.

Find data stream details 
Using the following search terms, users can open the details for a web or app data stream in their property:

the keyword "Tracking"
a web stream measurement ID (i.e., "G-XXXXXXX")
an app stream ID (i.e., "XXXXXXX")

Google Analytics now provides an item-scoped and event-scoped version of each ecommerce metric, enabling you to analyze information about your products or services and separately analyze important ecommerce interactions.

You can now analyze Items purchased by item name, which shows the number of times each item has been purchased. Additionally, you can now see Items purchased and purchased by country, which shows you how many items have been purchased and how many purchases have been made for each country.

You can now find the following ecommerce dimensions and metrics in Explorations and the Data API:

• Item affiliation
• Item variant
• Items added to cart
• Items checked out
• Items clicked in list
• Items clicked in promotion
• Items viewed
• Items viewed in list
• Items viewed in promotion
• Shipping amount
• Shipping tier
• Tax amount

Analytics also renames the following metrics:

• Add to carts (previously called Add-to-carts)
• Item-list click events (previously called Item list clicks)
• Item-list view events (previously called Item list views)
• Item view events (previously called Item views)
• Items purchased (previously called Item purchase quantity)
• Promotion clicks (previously called Item promotion clicks)
• Promotion views (previously called Item promotion views)

If you use an item-scoped dimension in an exploration, such as “Item ID” or “Item category”, use item-scoped metrics rather than event-scoped metrics, such as “Purchases”. The former will give you the number of items. The latter will give you a count of purchase events.
Learn more about the new dimensions and metrics

Google Analytics 4: Recreate Universal Analytics audiences

With the GA4 Migrator for Google Analytics Google Sheets add-on, many audiences in your Universal Analytics property can be replicated in a Google Analytics 4 property. Audiences based on dimensions and metrics that are the same in Universal Analytics and GA4 can be recreated as is. When the audiences use dimensions and/or metrics that differ between Universal Analytics and GA4, you can edit the audience definitions in the spreadsheet to use the relevant GA4 dimensions and metrics.

For each audience, the spreadsheet includes information about whether the audience is available for recreation; if it isn’t, the spreadsheet has information about why. Editable audience conditions are included so you can modify them before recreating them.

Learn more about the audience migration tool

Evaluate your landing pages

The new Landing page report from Google lets you measure the effectiveness of the first pages people land on when they visit your site. Your user experience and marketing efforts can be optimized by understanding where users first land on your website.

The Landing page report will appear automatically under the Engagement topic in the left navigation. In the event that someone removed the Engagement topic, you may be able to add the report through the report library. Check out the report for more information .

The introduction of behavioral modeling in real-time reporting

Google Analytics 4 now includes behavioral modeling data in Real Time reports and cards. Modeling behavior in real-time extends the benefits of modeled data that are already available in other reports. If website visitors or app users decline analytics cookies or equivalent app identifiers, your reports will not include their information. By modeling the behavior of users who decline analytics cookies based on the behavior of similar users who accept analytics cookies, behavioral modeling fills in the data gaps. Over the next few weeks, this feature will be gradually rolled out.
Read more here .

Following are the new session metrics that Google has added to reports and explorations:

• Average session duration: The average duration (in seconds) of users’ sessions.
• Views per session: The number of app screens or web pages your users viewed per session.

You can use these metrics to answer questions such as:

• How much time does the average user spend on my website per session?
• Is there a tendency for some users to leave my website too quickly?
• Is my app being explored fully by users?

Learn more about the metrics here.

Your custom reports can now include custom dimensions and metrics as primary dimensions, allowing you to report on information that matters to your business more easily. In addition, the dimensions and metrics pickers have been updated to make it easier to find dimensions and metrics in the Reports Builder. Learn more about customizing reports.

Google Analytics 4 now offers new date and hour dimensions across explorations and reporting:

• An event is collected at the time of the hour it occurred.
• The nth hour indicates how many hours have passed since a specified date range began.
• An event’s date and hour are the date and time when it was collected.
• The week of the event is a two-digit number between 01 and 53. Every week begins on Sunday, and January 1st is always in Week 1.
• Month refers to the month when the event occurred, a two-digit integer from 01 to 12.

These dimensions can help you answer questions like:

• What was the hourly trend of my online sales data after the Superbowl commercial aired?
• In what months does my website receive the most traffic?
• Do users of my app convert more often in the evenings, or during the day? What about my website’s users?

Learn more about time dimensions in Google Analytics 4.

You can now start using Google Analytics 4 ecommerce reports without having to change your ecommerce implementation. The following steps can now be taken to make it easier to use GA4 ecommerce reports:

• Recommended  Migrate and re-implement ecommerce to send GA4 ecommerce events  so you can take advantage of all Analytics features.
• New  GA4 ecommerce events can be populated using your UA ecommerce implementation.
• New  Use GA4 ecommerce events to populate your UA property with ecommerce data instead of UA ecommerce events. By using this option, you can continue to use your UA ecommerce reports while fully migrating to Google Analytics 4.

See the GA4 ecommerce migration guide to learn how to migrate from UA to GA4.

A new ecommerce migration helper tool is also available from Google Analytics

• Determine the version and API/library you currently use to send ecommerce data
• Check how your Analytics tags interpret your ecommerce events in Tag Manager
• The corresponding events are listed for each Ecommerce implementation.

Google Analytics now provides a new enhanced measurement option for Form interactions to help you measure how users interact with and submit forms on your website. These events are collected when the new measurement option is enabled:

• form_start displays the first interaction with a form by a user
• form_submit displays when a form is submitted

All newly created web data streams are automatically enabled with the new option. If you already have a web data stream, you can turn this on by navigating to Enhanced Measurement.  Learn more here.

The Google Ads Search Queries report in Universal Analytics and Google Ads queries in Google Analytics 4 have been updated to meet a higher privacy threshold. In order to ensure user anonymity, these thresholds only report on terms with sufficient Google search volume. With Google Analytics 4, you’ll now see metrics that match your Google Ads reports more accurately. With this update, Universal Analytics will report search query terms differently than Google Ads reports due to differences in data models.