Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is Google's current web and app analytics platform. It measures user behavior with an event-based data model and replaced Universal Analytics in 2023.
What is Google Analytics 4 (GA4)?
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is Google’s current analytics platform for websites and apps. It replaced Universal Analytics, which stopped processing data in July 2023. GA4 shows how people find and use your website – which channels bring visitors, which pages they view and which actions lead to conversions.
Key characteristics of GA4:
- Event-based data model: Every interaction – a page view, scroll, click, form submission or purchase – is recorded as an event with parameters, instead of the session- and pageview-based model of Universal Analytics.
- Web and app in one property: Data from websites and mobile apps can be combined.
- Key events: Actions that matter to your business are marked as key events (formerly “conversions”) and can be imported into Google Ads.
- Privacy features: Consent Mode, data retention settings and modeled data to fill gaps when users decline cookies.
- BigQuery export: Raw data can be exported for advanced analysis.
For international websites, a single GA4 property with clean filters and reports by country and language is usually easier to manage than one property per market. In the EU, GA4 must be used with a proper cookie consent solution under the GDPR and related privacy laws, and data collection should be reviewed with your legal advisor.