Why Google Analytics 4 is Important to Your Business and Marketing Strategy 

Hearing A Lot About Google Analytics 4? 

You are not alone. Google Analytics 4 has been the hot topic in digital marketing, inundating social media and news outlets with timelines, updates, and advice. The hype will only ramp up in the coming days as we get closer to the sunsetting of Universal Analytics (UA) on July 1st.  

TopSpot has been covering this big shift on our blog and social media, including our latest on the platform’s recent updates, yet you still may be wondering about the hype. The main benefit of GA4 is report consolidation, but fewer reports do not equate to less data. It offers marketers customizations so businesses can tailor their tracking to align with business goals.  

This blog will explain how GA4 can deliver the metrics every business needs to support successful marketing strategies. We’ll break this down by looking at three key areas within the tool: landing page tracking, user engagement tracking, and lead tracking.  

Key Area 1: Landing Page Tracking 

At the heart of SEO and paid search is your website content, which houses the keywords that populate search results and is where your potential buyers find your products and services. Tracking landing page data is crucial to successful marketing strategies because it shows you what is working in your search strategy and can help you spot new opportunities. 

Within your landing page data in GA4, you can easily spot if your top products and services pages, your homepage, or your ancillary pages are driving users to your website. Understanding where users enter your site can help you better understand the topics they search for before arriving at your site. 

See which of your top products and services dominate your landing page metrics, then replicate that strategy to pages with lower metrics. If you don’t see growth in your priority areas, we recommend analyzing your search competitors to see what content or assets they are providing to users. Additionally, landing page data is a great way to track the progress of changes made to your SEO and PPC program.  

GA4 Tools to Use: 

1. Landing page data shows you how users enter your website to determine the effectiveness of your top products and services pages, then you can adjust your programs accordingly. 

• If you’ve added new content or keywords to a page, you can see if the page drives more traffic and conversions by comparing pre-change vs. post-change date ranges in the top right. 
• Use the comparison tab in the top left to compare landing pages by channel. 

Key Area 2: User Engagement Tracking 

Step one is driving the right traffic, but once there, GA4 reports can reveal how these prospects interact with the different elements of your website, like the site search bar, PDFs, and videos. Insight into what events receive the most engagement can be folded into your content strategy, ensuring prospective buyers get helpful content, engage with your website’s assets, and have easy access to forms and contact information. 

Assets impact a buyer’s decision to convert, especially in B2B, where the buying process is non-linear, and more decision-makers are involved. If your business offers technical processes or products with a range of uses, having sizing charts, process visualizations, or detailed infographics can provide a competitive edge. Potential buyers can then download information to share in a purchasing meeting.  

Video is the fastest-growing form of online content, and more customers are utilizing videos to educate themselves on potential solutions. GA4 can track video engagement with company overviews, facility tours, or other video content created to populate search landscapes and provide informative, visual components to pages. 

GA4 Tools to Use: 

1. GA4 tracks everything as an event, so to simplify focus, we recommend these event categories to analyze: 

• View Search Results (Internal Site Search): Analyze search data to confirm highly searched terms are easily accessible in your content. You can then understand what content users are searching for and the exact verbiage they use to search.

• File Downloads: Find out which files users are most interested in, and if files have low engagement, make sure they are accessible. 

• Video Views: See how existing videos are performing and what products and services people are looking for.

Key Area 3: Lead Performance Tracking 

GA4 has reports that can track conversions to analyze and improve your conversion rates. You can review which marketing channels drive traffic to your site and make strategic marketing budget decisions based on what channels drive people to reach out to your business. You can see which landing pages your leads are coming from, then review conversions to define your target audience, inform priority products and services, and tailor content. 

GA4 provides conversion-by-device data, which can also help businesses understand their potential buyers. Are they coming from a desktop, perhaps sitting at their desk, or sharing their screen in a meeting? Or are they coming from mobile, surveying a need from the shop floor? This understanding can help tailor content and UX for different devices and help keep buyer needs in mind. 

GA4 Tools to Use: 

1. Conversion Data tallies any user activity or “events” that contributes to a conversion. For further insight, pair this with LOOP Analytics and CallRail to understand specific customer needs, the quality of these conversions, and keep a pulse on customer service. 

2. Device Data (referred to as Tech Details in GA4) allows you to review traffic on mobile, tablet, or desktop and assess the success of phone calls and completed forms.  

• See how mobile traffic evolves and the effectiveness of your mobile site as we continue to operate in a mobile-first world. 
• See the difference between mobile users call vs. complete form fills. 

​The Takeaway is Clear 

For B2B or B2C digital marketing, GA4 is an important tool that provides key data for SEO and PPC, website and video engagement, and lead conversions. Check out our webinars and workshops to learn more about GA4 or contact us to learn more about our analytics services.