Mall Maverick GA4 Series: How do I use GA4? Part 1
Let’s get started with showing you some of the basics about the Google Analytics 4 dashboard so that you can effectively track your Shopping Center website stats!
In this article we will be discussing the fundamentals of the Reporting section of the GA4 dashboard, as well as how to track your website’s Page Views.
Reporting
The reporting interface for GA4 has been completely redesigned and improved for easier navigation.
You can find all your website reports by clicking “Reports” on the left hand side.
Report snapshot
Once you click on “Reports” on the left-hand side, the Reports snapshot page will appear.
This section gives you a quick overview with what’s happening with your site, such as the total number of users, where your new users are coming from, or which pages and screens get the most views.
Dynamic Search
By using the dynamic search bar located at the top, you can take advantage of one of the many features that the search bar offers. You can type in “pages” and it will pull up the Top Page title by Users report at the top as well as any related articles with pages.
One great enhancement with the GA4 search is that you can now ask questions in the search bar such as “how many users today?” and it will display how many users visited your website for today. It will also display GA4 articles related to users just below.
Date Selector
The date selector allows you to select a custom date range of the analytics that you want to view. This is located at the top right corner.
You can also choose to compare date ranges by toggling the “Compare” field and choose the time period you want to compare to.
Realtime Report
Realtime report is the next default report in the left navigation, and it shows Events that happened within the past 30 minutes.
What can I do with the Realtime report?
Make sure that your Shopping Center website is being correctly tracked in real time on desktop and mobile. Ensure a promotion is driving traffic to your site as it happens.
Monitor how users are finding your website
Randomly view individual user activity of site visitors currently viewing your site.
View User Snapshot
Click “View user snapshot” in the top right corner of the Realtime report to see a snapshot for a single user.
This includes information about the user’s device, location, and real-time engagement with your Shopping Mall website through events triggered.
See here for more details: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9212670
Walk through video of the Google Analytics 4 User Interface: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRLT2uRrc_c
Page Views
Tracking your page views is important for analyzing the performance of a particular campaign within your Shopping Center website.
To see the Page Views count:
Go to Reports
Click on “Engagement”
Click on “Pages and screens”
Search Pages
You can search for pages that you want to find the stats for by using the search field on the Pages and screens section. Use the drop-down, located just under the search bar, to search for the page either by page title or page path. The page path would be the URL followed by your websites’ domain for example “/dining” or “/pages/gift-cards”
Once you are ready to search, enter in the page title or page path and press Enter.
After you search for the title and press enter, the important stats for that page will appear, such as page views, users or average engagement time.
Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more information on how to use GA4!
Author: Ardalan Amiri
Biography: Ardalan is the Operations Lead/Project Manager at Mall Maverick. He has his bachelor’s in Information Technology and has worked in the technology industry for over 10 years. He has extensive knowledge of digital marketing in the Retail Industry and has helped in delivering the successful launch of over 200 Shopping Center Websites and Directory Boards. This includes Web Development, Google Analytics, SEO and training clients on becoming experts with the Mall Maverick dashboard.