Google Analytics is a free tool which allows you to analyze a range of business data from a website to understand user behavior and create the best user experience.

Google Analytics 4 is a new generation of Analytics properties, the direct successor to the Web + App properties launched in 2019. 

For simplicity and to avoid confusion: Web + App has been renamed Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

Some differences between GA4 and Universal Analytics

  • GA4 is more suitable for beginners than Universal Analytics
  • Google Analytics 4 provides more multi-device reporting, which is limited in UA
  • GA4 offers predictive and audience metrics that Universal Analytics does not provide.

On the other hand, one of the main differences between Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics is that Universal Analytics focuses on page views and sessions, but GA4 focuses on events. 

Events are interactions between users and content, which can be measured independently of screen or web page load. 

What is Universal Analytics?

Universal Analytics is the previous generation of Analytics. The main benefits of this version are:

  • Cross-platform measurement and user tracking.
  • Custom dimensions and metrics
  • Offline data synchronization
  • Easier account setup.

Google offers the option to use two versions of analytics on the same property so you can familiarize yourself with GA4 without losing all of your Universal Analytics data.

The reason for this change is that not all Internet traffic today comes from websites, but also from mobile apps. For all these types of content, events will make it possible to measure the data collected more effectively.

Advantages of GA4 over Universal Analytics

Measurement ID 

The user interface is the most important difference between traditional Universal Analytics and the new Google Analytics 4.

Both Universal Analytics and GA4 provide real-time reporting, and Google no longer separates technical and user demographic reports from lifecycle data.

Properties

Google Analytics 4 now enables unification of data measurement between website and mobile app. 

In Universal Analytics, web and app users are calculated independently, meaning that the user can calculate twice, once for the web user and then for the app user. 

In contrast, all data streams in GA4 are combined into one attribute.

Event measurement

GA4 offers more options for exploring data and analyzing individual user behaviors.

When users access the Analytics-enabled login page, Google begins collecting their sessions. Once the user is inactive, each session lasts at least 30 minutes.

During these sessions, Universal Analytics records booking data called visit types: page views, social interactions, e-commerce conversions.

Finally, this new version of Analytics introduces new predictive metrics.

BigQuery architecture

GA4 has a free connection to the BigQuery schema. Therefore, you can access the raw GA4 data and use it to run SQL queries. 

This allows for more accurate multi-level data analysis of your users, making it easier to understand your website activity. 

E-commerce tracking

Another area where Google Analytics 4 uses site tags implemented by Google Tag Manager is e-commerce. The use of GTM is not new, but the technology has changed.

Market segments

In GA4 and GA3, segments work the same way. These segments are available in exploration. In Analytics, you can create segments based on sessions or users. Users, events and sessions can be used to create segments in new explorations.