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Marketing

Google Analytics 4

GA4 | Google Analytics

Portrait of Robert Klimant, co-founder of Roelu Studio
Robert KlimantCo-founder

What is Google Analytics 4?

Google Analytics 4, or GA4, is Google's current web and app analytics platform, which replaced Universal Analytics in July 2023. Unlike its predecessor, GA4 is built around an event-based data model — every interaction is an event with parameters — rather than the older session-and-pageview model. It includes built-in cross-platform tracking, machine-learning predictions, and tighter integration with Google Ads. It is free for most use cases.

Why it matters

GA4 was forced on the industry, and the migration was painful — different data model, different reports, different terminology. A lot of teams still have not fully recovered. That said, the event-based model is genuinely more flexible, and the price (free) is hard to beat for most use cases. The catch is that GA4 is built primarily to feed Google Ads, not to give marketers the cleanest possible picture. Teams that need product analytics, session replay, or honest first-party tracking often pair GA4 with PostHog or another tool. Treating GA4 as the only source of truth tends to end in confused dashboards and unanswered questions.

How it works

GA4 is set up by adding the Google tag (or gtag.js) to every page, usually through Google Tag Manager. From there, GA4 automatically tracks common events — page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, file downloads — and custom events get added for things like form submissions, button clicks, or checkout steps. Each event can carry parameters: page, user role, plan tier, whatever the team wants to slice on. Reports in the GA4 interface let marketers analyze acquisition, engagement, monetization, and retention. Smart teams export raw data to BigQuery to do deeper analysis, since the GA4 UI hides a lot of the detail.

Related terms

  • PostHog

    Marketing

    An open-source product and web analytics platform that combines events, session replay, feature flags, A/B testing, and heatmaps in one tool — the all-in-one…

  • Attribution Modeling

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    The work of assigning credit to the marketing touchpoints that contributed to a sale — first click, last click, or some weighted model in between — so you know…

  • UTM Parameter

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    Tags appended to the end of a URL that tell your analytics platform exactly where the click came from — source, medium, campaign — so you can stop guessing…

  • Heatmap

    Marketing

    A visual overlay that shows where website visitors click, scroll, and hover on a given page — turning aggregated anonymous behavior into a picture the…

  • Conversion Rate

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    The percentage of website visitors who complete a target action — a signup, a demo booking, a purchase — divided by total visitors. The clearest single score…

  • A/B Testing

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    Showing two versions of a page or element to different visitors at the same time, then measuring which one drives more conversions — replacing opinion-driven…

  • Cookie Banner

    Marketing

    The notice that pops up to ask visitors whether they consent to tracking cookies — legally required in many regions, almost universally hated by everyone…