Google announced new features and reporting for Google Analytics 4 including behavioral modeling in real-time reporting, custom channel reporting for data-driven attribution, and integration with Campaign Manager 360. Plus, Google also changes to the Setup Assistant and pushed back the Universal Analytics 360 properties’ sunset date from October 1, 2023, to July 1, 2024.
Behavioral Modeling in Real-time GA Reporting
Google said soon in Google Analytics 4, behavioral modeling will also be available in real-time reporting. Google said this will give you a “complete view of the consumer journey as it happens.”
Nicole Farley explained “Behavior modeling uses machine learning to fill in the gaps of your understanding of customer behavior when cookies and other identifiers aren’t available.”
New Home Page
Nicole also said a new home page experience is coming. Nicole wrote “Originally previewed at Google Marketing Live and available to all advertisers as of today, is personalized for customers, highlighting key top-line trends, real-time behavior and their most viewed reports. Additionally, it uses machine learning to look for trends and insights and surfaces them directly to advertisers on the home page.”
Custom Channel Reporting
Google Analytics 4 is also adding custom channel reporting for data-driven attribution. Gogole said this will give you “a more accurate picture of your campaigns across all of your marketing touchpoints.” Google also soon will introduce custom channel grouping in Google Analytics 4 to help you see the performance of different channels aggregated.
The example Google provided was, “you’ll be able to compare the performance of your paid search brand with your non-brand campaigns. These custom channel groupings work in reporting retroactively, and across the advertising and explore workspaces.”
Campaign Manager 360 Integration
The Campaign Manager 360 integration is coming soon. Google said, “we will soon launch an integration with Campaign Manager 360 via Floodlight.” This integration should allow advertisers to bid towards Google Analytics 4 conversions in Display & Video 360’s automated bid strategies.
Setup Assistant
Google said it has and will continue to add new resources and tools to help you get started with Google Analytics 4. Google explained that once you set up a Google Analytics 4 property and it is connected, the Setup Assistant can automate some required setup steps and help you track your progress. For example, the Setup Assistant lets you select the goals you want to import to Google Analytics 4, copy desired Google Ads links and audiences, and add users who have access to your current property.
In early 2023, the Google Analytics Setup Assistant will also create a new Google Analytics 4 property for each standard Universal Analytics property that doesn’t already have one. Plus, Google said “these new Google Analytics 4 properties will be connected with the corresponding Universal Analytics properties to match your privacy and collection settings. They’ll also enable equivalent basic features such as goals and Google Ads links. If you’d rather begin the switch on your own, you can opt out of having the Setup Assistant do it for you.”
Universal Analytics 360 Sunset
Finally, Google is pushing back the sunset date for Universal Analytics 360. Google said, “to allow enterprise customers more time to have a smoother transition to Google Analytics 4, we’re moving the Universal Analytics 360 properties’ sunset date from October 1, 2023, to July 1, 2024.” With that Google said it will focus its efforts and investments on Google Analytics 4 to deliver a solution built to adapt to a changing ecosystem. Because of this, throughout 2023 we’ll be shifting support away from Universal Analytics 360 and will move our full focus to Google Analytics 4 in 2024. As a result, performance will likely degrade in Universal Analytics 360 up until the new sunset date.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
