Understanding all of the options of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is important to profiting from it. Doing so permits you to configure the device to investigate information precisely and effectively. It additionally enables you to draw the most effective conclusions for designing, refocusing and defining your digital methods.
GA4 customers can configure many functionalities, together with customized dimensions, which permit for extra detailed and personalised information evaluation.
What are dimensions in GA4?
Google defines a dimension as an attribute of your information. It describes your information, and it’s often written in textual content quite than numbers.
An instance of dimensions can be supply/medium, which exhibits how a consumer arrives at a web site:
One other instance of dimension would even be the Occasion title, which exhibits the totally different occasions that occur on a web site and the way the consumer interacts with it:
When creating the GA4 account, the device preconfigures a wide list of dimensions robotically by default.
Nonetheless, if this isn’t sufficient to your technique’s evaluation and you should analyze attributes in additional element and particularly primarily based on the web site’s aims, you possibly can create customized dimensions.
Occasions and occasion parameters
To grasp customized dimensions and the best way to create them, you have to first perceive some GA4 ideas – occasions and parameters.
- Events are the metrics that will let you measure particular consumer interactions on a web site, akin to loading a web page, clicking on a hyperlink or submitting a type.
- Event parameters are extra information that website details about these occasions (i.e., extra details about how customers work together with a web site).
There are two sorts of occasion parameters in GA4, relying on how they’re captured by the device:
- Robotically collected parameters: These are preconfigured by GA4, which robotically captures a set of parameters (e.g. page_location, page_referrer or page_title). Google offers a list of all these event parameters created robotically or enhanced measurement.
- Customized parameters: These will let you gather data that’s not captured by default. This is applicable to recommended events and custom events, the place customized settings are required.
What are GA4 customized dimensions?
Customized dimensions are attributes that will let you describe and gather information in a custom-made method. Primarily, they’re parameters you create in GA4 to seize data that’s not robotically tracked by the device.
Varieties of customized dimensions
Relying on the data that you just wish to gather in a customized method, you possibly can create various kinds of customized dimensions, as indicated by Google:
When is it beneficial to create customized dimensions?
Earlier than creating customized dimensions to investigate information in additional element, it’s advisable to verify whether or not these attributes exist already as automated occasions predefined by GA4 or as choices inside enhanced measurement occasions.
To find out if the info you wish to analyze is already offered by automated occasions, you possibly can seek the advice of the listing that Google Analytics gives below Automatically collected events. These occasions are collected robotically, so the consumer doesn’t have to carry out any extra actions.
This isn’t the case for the enhanced measurement events, these have to be activated throughout the GA4 account if you wish to gather this data.
To activate these attributes, you’ll do it inside Admin > Knowledge streams > Occasions > Enhanced measurement.
If the data you wish to analyze will not be included inside these automated occasions, it’s endorsed that you just create it as a customized dimension.
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How one can arrange customized dimensions
No matter the kind of customized dimension, it have to be created through Google Tag Supervisor. Beneath is a step-by-step information for configuring an event-scoped customized dimension.
Earlier than getting began, make certain the GA4 and Google Tag Supervisor accounts are correctly configured and linked.
Subsequent, you should outline and create which occasion parameter you need and ship it as a customized dimension in GA4.
On this case, you’re going to present within the following picture the best way to create the occasion parameter to investigate the URL of the video {that a} consumer performs in your web site:
As it’s a manually configured occasion parameter solely included in Google Tag Supervisor, it is not going to be sufficient for GA4 to incorporate it in its experiences robotically. You’ll have to notify GA4 about it by going to Admin > Knowledge show > Customized definitions.
Then, click on on Create customized dimension.
Create the customized definition with the data out of your occasion parameter:
Now that your customized dimension is created, use DebugView to verify whether it is being collected appropriately and is correctly configured.
In parallel, throughout the Customized definitions part, below Quota data, you possibly can monitor the entire variety of customized dimensions created in your GA4 account.
What number of customized dimensions can I arrange in my GA4 account?
The variety of customized dimensions {that a} consumer can create is restricted, though it’s typically tough to achieve this restrict.
To make sure you create solely essentially the most helpful dimensions, first outline the highest-priority KPIs to your web site or app after which create and configure solely these dimensions which might be really of curiosity. To keep away from exceeding this restrict, use predefined dimensions and metrics every time potential.
How one can analyze customized dimensions
Customized dimensions will offer you extra details about your information. This data will be analyzed inside GA4.
Within the case of GA4, you possibly can analyze the customized dimensions by the identical experiences that the device gives in a custom-made method, both within the visitors or occasions panel, for instance:
Customized dimensions may also present extra details about your information when utilizing the discover part:
Creating customized dimensions is a precious methodology for enhancing your analytics with precious insights for your online business.
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