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Performing web analytics with Google Analytics 4: a platform review

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  • Mike McGuirk

    (Babson College)

Abstract

In March 2022, Google announced that their flagship Universal Analytics (UA) platform would stop processing new website sessions on July 1, 2023 (Ketchum 2022). Even though Google is offering users of UA the option to transition to their newer Google Analytics 4 (GA4) platform, which officially launched in October 2020, the sunsetting of the UA platform is causing great consternation in the web analytics and marketing analytics communities. Millions of businesses rely on UA to perform detailed analyses of their websites, providing insights into the make-up and engagement patterns of their website visitors and the performance of their digital marketing campaigns. Business analysts that are responsible for generating web analytics reports are now undergoing extensive training to learn how to operate in the GA4 environment. Marketing educators must also become well versed in the GA4 platform to teach undergraduate and graduate students how to use this new platform to perform a variety of critical marketing analytics tasks. This article provides a detailed overview of the new, free version of the GA4 platform, highlighting several of the platform’s innovative features and capabilities. It also describes how educators and students can access comprehensive GA4 training resources and get certified on the platform. The goal of this article is to provide educators with practical information that can be used to help integrate the GA4 platform and corresponding web analytics concepts into the design of their marketing analytics and digital analytics courses.

Suggested Citation

  • Mike McGuirk, 2023. "Performing web analytics with Google Analytics 4: a platform review," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(4), pages 854-868, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jmarka:v:11:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1057_s41270-023-00244-4
    DOI: 10.1057/s41270-023-00244-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stanton, Angela D'Auria & Stanton, Wilbur W., 2023. "A regional comparison of the skills sought by employers for entry-level data scientists, data analytics, business analytics, marketing analytics and digital analytics professionals," Applied Marketing Analytics: The Peer-Reviewed Journal, Henry Stewart Publications, vol. 8(4), pages 367-388, August.
    2. Germann, Frank & Lilien, Gary L. & Rangaswamy, Arvind, 2013. "Performance implications of deploying marketing analytics," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 114-128.
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