Understanding Your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Reporting

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has revolutionized the way businesses track, analyze, and interpret data. As a digital marketing agency driven by data and performance insights, FabCom knows the value of understanding key GA4 metrics to optimize strategies effectively. Among the core metrics that GA4 offers are clicks, sessions, views, and users.

Each provides unique insights into user behavior, and grasping the nuances between them is critical for making informed decisions for your PPC campaign management. As a leading Phoenix digital marketing agency, FabCom leverages GA4’s advanced analytics to provide clients with actionable insights that drive results

Events: Measuring Engagement at the Start

In GA4, events track user interactions such as clicking a link, watching a video, or submitting a form. One common event is pageview, which records when a user lands on a page. This event helps measure initial engagement and traffic sources and plays a critical role in shaping your SEO strategy by providing insights into which pages attract the most visitors and how users navigate your site.

Why it matters: If your pageviews (views) are significantly higher than sessions, it could indicate issues such as slow load times or irrelevant landing pages. Users may click a link but leave before a session is recorded, creating a discrepancy between recorded interactions and actual engagement. Analyzing bounce rate and average engagement time metrics can help determine the cause. Regularly monitoring these factors allows for optimizations that enhance site performance and user experience.

As a trusted Scottsdale digital marketing agency, FabCom understands the importance of tracking engagement through GA4 to refine marketing campaigns and enhance audience targeting.

In the example below, with 38,460 views, this indicates the total number of times pages or screens were loaded, including repeat views by the same users. The 36,754 sessions reflect distinct periods of user activity, meaning some users had multiple sessions. The total users count of 31,904 shows the number of unique individuals visiting the site, confirming that some users returned for additional sessions. Finally, the event count of 116,570 highlights the total number of tracked interactions—such as clicks, video plays, or scrolls—showing that users were highly engaged, triggering multiple events per session. These metrics together help paint a clear picture of user behavior, engagement levels, and return visits.

Sessions: Tracking User Activity Over Time

A session represents a collection of user interactions (or events) that occur on your website within a defined timeframe. In GA4, a session begins with the first event and continues until there's a 30-minute period of inactivity. GA4 introduces engaged sessions, which are sessions where a user actively interacts for at least 10 seconds, triggers a conversion event, or views two or more pages.

Key differences from Universal Analytics:

• Sessions don’t reset at midnight.
• They aren't affected by new campaign parameters.
• A single session can span multiple days if there's no 30-minute inactivity gap

Why it matters: Sessions help marketers understand user engagement depth. Multiple events within one session can indicate strong content relevance and user interest.

Views: Understanding Content Consumption

In GA4, views are comparable to pageviews in Universal Analytics. They count how many times a page (or screen in an app) is loaded or reloaded.

• Every reload counts: Repeated views of the same page by the same user are counted multiple times.
• Categorization through dimensions: Views are part of GA4 dimensions, which categorize data to provide deeper insights.

Why it matters: Views highlight which pages attract the most attention. A high number of views with low engagement might suggest that users aren’t finding what they expect.

Users: Identifying Unique Engagement

The users metric tracks the number of unique individuals interacting with your site or app. GA4 differentiates between:

• Total Users: Every unique user who has engaged with your site.
• Active Users: Users who have had meaningful engagement during a specific timeframe.

Why it matters: Focusing on active users provides a clearer picture of engagement, helping refine marketing strategies for audience retention.

Understanding Discrepancies Between GA4 Metrics

It’s common to see discrepancies between clicks, sessions, views, and users. Here’s why:

1. Events vs. Sessions:
   1. A single user can trigger multiple events, leading to multiple recorded events but only one session if these events happen within 30 minutes.
   2. A user may trigger an event by interacting with an ad but bounce before the page fully loads, resulting in a recorded event without an associated session.
2. Sessions vs. Views:
   1. One session can include multiple views if a user navigates through different pages.
3. Users vs. Sessions:
   1. A single user can initiate multiple sessions. For example, visiting your site in the morning and returning later in the day counts as two sessions but one unique user.

Factors Contributing to Data Discrepancies

Several technical elements can cause inconsistencies in your GA4 reports:

• Event Configuration: Inconsistent event setups across pages can result in tracking variations.
• Data Layer Integration: Poorly implemented data layers can cause inaccuracies in GA4 event tracking.
• Tag Implementation: Errors in tag setup, especially via Google Tag Manager, can lead to data gaps.
• Cross-Platform Tracking: Inconsistent tracking across devices can fragment user data, causing discrepancies in user and session counts.

Navigating GA4 with Confidence

Mastering the nuances between clicks, sessions, views, and users in GA4 is crucial for unlocking valuable insights. As a top Scottsdale digital marketing agency, FabCom deciphers data discrepancies and equips clients with the clarity needed to optimize their analytics—transforming complex information into strategies that drive engagement and elevate campaign performance.

At FabCom, we don’t just interpret data—we harness it to fuel measurable success. As a data-driven marketing agency, we combine cutting-edge analytics with our proprietary neuromarketing methodology, Neuromarketology™, to create unrivaled results that drive deeper engagement and higher conversions.

Don’t just take our word for it—hear from our clients and see the impact firsthand. As one of the leading digital marketing agencies, FabCom ensures data-driven decisions fuel your success.

Ready to take your marketing to the next level with data-driven precision? Let’s connect and turn your analytics into impactful growth.

References

• Google: Understanding Metrics in GA4
• Momentic Marketing: GA4 Metrics Explained
• Netpeak: GA4 User Metrics
• Google: Event Tracking & Tag Implementation