Several features were introduced and improved in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) with small-business owners in mind. GA4 provides a range of SMB-friendly configuration options and settings that are designed for beginners.
Making use of GA4 for your small-business’s website might be easier than you think, even if the new platform isn’t universally loved by experienced analysts. Don’t let critics deter you, these tips will make using GA4 a breeze!
Business Objective Report Collection
There’s a collection of reports in GA4 that are automatically generated based on the business objectives provided during setup. These reports focus on things like generating leads, driving online sales and raising brand awareness. For less experienced users like small-business owners this can be incredibly helpful.
Enhanced Measurement
Enabling enhanced measurement with Google Analytics 4 provides additional depth and breath to the events tracked and reported on. Without making and code changes it’s possible to track important events like scroll behavior, video engagement, file downloads and form interactions. Learn more about enhanced measurement in this help article.
Automated Insights
GA4 uses artificial intelligence to automatically detect and report on significant changes and anomalies in your data. These insights and recommendations will surface at the bottom of the Homepage, the Advertising Snapshot and the Reports Snapshot by default. Here’s a video from Google about their GA4 AI capabilities.
Search Bar
The new search bar provides the ability to quickly look up reports and metrics which is helpful for beginners and experts alike. There’s also a helpful button to quickly copy metrics to your clipboard. Based on cursory testing the granularity (screenshot below) and accuracy of the results are great.
Conclusion
Web analytics aren’t necessarily first on every SMB owner’s mind, but they are critical to the success of most businesses in a digitally connected world. Mastering the basics and learning how your customers interact with your website on a basic level can be a huge competitive advantage. Check out this Search Engine Land article by Ginny Marvin for more pro tips even beginners can use.
If you need a little bit more from your web analytics than your comfortable taking on it might be best to work with a specialist. We’re here to help!