Google Analytics 4 - the default solution for quick results
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
As a Web Analytics Consultant, I use Google Analytics 4 for my client and for my own
website. For my client, Google Analytics 4 is the tool most of them used since it's
quite simple to implement, it's highly integrated with other Google
tools such as Google Ads and BigQuery. Google Analytics 4, is well know now even if
the upgrade from Google Analytics was a pretty big learning curve to overcome.
Pros
- Integration with GTM to ease implementation
- Integration with BigQuery to enable advanced analytics and reporting
- Custom events are easy to configure
Cons
- Rollback. Most of the Google Analytics 4 features are not applicable on past collected data.
- Clarity around sampling used in reports and the effect on data precision.
- Custom reports (Explore) and still a bit buggy and the sharing function seems incomplete.
Return on Investment
- Since the basic implementation of Google Analytics 4 is free and only require a couple of hours, it's quickly providing value.
- When running Google Ads, Google Analytics 4 provides great ad measurements and conversion reports to understand ROI on ad spent.
- With GDPR and other privacy laws, Google is not enforcing data privacy information into Google Analytics 4 and all Google marketing tools making it simple for smaller businesses to comply with such laws.
Usability
Alternatives Considered
Adobe Analytics, Coremetrics / IBM Digital Analytics (discontinued) and Mixpanel
Other Software Used
Google BigQuery, Databricks Data Intelligence Platform, Google Ads




