In today’s digital world, understanding user behavior is essential for any business striving for online success. Fortunately, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offers a range of robust metrics to help you gain valuable insights into how users interact with your website or app.
These metrics are crucial for refining your strategies, improving the user experience, and ultimately driving conversions. GA4 provides a complete picture of where your customers come from, how they landed on your website, and what they do when they get there.
Read More: What is GA4 – And Why Is It Important?
11 Key Metrics to Track in GA4
Many Universal Analytics (UA) metrics are still part of GA4, but a few have evolved along with the platform. Here are the most important metrics to track in the new and improved GA4 dashboard.
1. Users
In Universal Analytics, there were only two User metrics. In GA4, there are three User metrics:
- Total Users – The number of unique individuals who visit your website within a specified time. This metric helps you understand the potential market and track the growth or decline of your user base.
- New Users – The number of first-time visitors to your website within a specific period. This metric helps you measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns in attracting and engaging new audiences.
- Active Users – This is one of the most important new metrics in GA4. It tracks the number of users who visited your website or app and had an engaged session (we’ll define that later).
2. Pageviews
Pageviews are the total number of times visitors see a specific page on your website. Every time a page loads, GA4 logs it as a pageview. Five pageviews by the same person during the same period equals one session. GA4 combines website and app views.
The number of pageviews provides insight into which pages are frequently visited and how users navigate through your site. What kind of content appeals most to your audience? This metric helps you answer that question.
3. Sessions
Sessions help you evaluate the overall traffic and engagement on your website. It allows you to analyze what users do when they arrive and how effectively your content keeps them engaged.
A session is recorded from the time someone enters your site until they exit. A session may also end after 30 minutes of user inactivity, but there is no limit to how long a single session can last.
GA4 also tracks engaged sessions, which consist of sessions with two or more pageviews – or when a user spends more than 10 seconds.
4. Sessions Per User
This metric helps you understand how frequently users return to your website – and it’s a strong indicator of your audience’s loyalty.
Sessions per user is the average number of sessions per unique individual within a specified time. It is calculated by dividing the total number of sessions by the total number of users.
Higher sessions per user indicate that your marketing strategy is working – attracting the right customers who engage with your website and keep returning.
5. Acquisition Source
The acquisition source indicates what channels website visitors came from, such as organic Google searches, direct traffic, or social media. Acquisition metrics provide insights into which marketing channels drive traffic to your website. When you know which channels are most effective in reaching your audience, you can focus your marketing efforts on those channels.
6. Engagement Rate
The engagement rate is the percentage of engaged sessions on your website or app. An engaged session is any session that:
- Lasts at least 10 seconds
- Has at least two pageviews
- Has at least one conversion event
The engagement rate is calculated by dividing the number of engaged sessions by the total number of sessions over a specified time and multiplying by 100.
7. Average Engagement Time
The average time a browser engages with your website is called the average engagement time. With GA4, you can identify when these users actively engage with your site.
8. Bounce Rate
Remember, an engagement session is any session that lasts at least 10 seconds, results in two or more pageviews, or has at least one conversion event. The bounce rate is the percentage of sessions that were not engaged.
This metric measures the number of visitors who leave your website after only viewing one page – and without taking any further action. The bounce rate helps you understand how much users engage with your website or app. A high bounce rate can indicate visitors are not finding what they’re looking for.
9. Conversions
Conversions are the number of desired actions completed by your website’s visitors. In GA4, you can choose which actions count as conversion events, such as subscribing to a newsletter or making a purchase.
Conversions are a critical metric for evaluating the effectiveness of your website and marketing efforts. They provide insights into the success of your landing pages, calls-to-action, and overall conversion funnel.
10. Revenue
Revenue is tracked by assigning a value to each conversion. Tracking your revenue using GA4 gives you another avenue to track the return on investment of your marketing campaigns and the profitability of your business.
11. Events
Events are specific actions on your website that are tracked separately from pageviews, like button clicks, form submissions, or file downloads. By tracking and analyzing events, you can understand how visitors interact with your website and what features they prefer. This allows you to optimize your website for conversions and improved user experience.
Bottom Line
Google Analytics 4 will help you gain deeper insights into how visitors engage with your website so you can optimize your website for better results.
Are you ready to thrive in this digital world? Partner with Impact Group Marketing to harness the full potential of digital strategy. Boost your online presence, track user behavior, and improve conversions with GA4. Contact us today and talk to one of our Google-certified marketing experts.