google analytics 4 sessions
Google Analytics

Deciphering Google Analytics 4 Sessions: How to Measure User Engagement

Session tracking is a crucial aspect of web analytics, helping you understand user behavior and engagement on your site. With the introduction of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), how sessions are tracked has evolved significantly from the traditional Universal Analytics model. This shift impacts how data is collected, reported, and analyzed, making it essential for marketers and analysts to grasp these changes. In this article, we’ll explore the key differences in session tracking between GA4 and Universal Analytics, offering insights into what these changes mean for your analytics strategy. Read on.

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Author:

Shagun img Shagun Sharma

Date Published: 19th Sep 2024

Reviewed By:

Sameer_pawar Sameer Pawar

17 min read

Author

Shagun img
Shagun Sharma
Senior Content Writer
Shagun Sharma is a content writer during the day and a binge-watcher at night. She is a seasoned writer, who has worked in various niches like digital marketing, ecommerce, video marketing, and design and development. She enjoys traveling, listening to music, and relaxing in the hills when not writing.

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FAQ's

A session in GA4 represents a group of user interactions on your website or app tracked as events. It begins when a user starts interacting and ends after 30 minutes of inactivity, with each session capturing multiple events.

GA4 uses an event-based model, focusing on user interactions rather than page views. Unlike Universal Analytics, where page hits define sessions, GA4 tracks events across platforms, offering a more holistic view of user engagement.

GA4 often shows different session counts because it emphasizes user interactions over pageviews. Sessions in GA4 are tracked based on events, which can result in variations from the session counts seen in Universal Analytics.

Historical data cannot be directly migrated from Universal Analytics to GA4. It's advisable to run both platforms simultaneously to collect data in GA4 while still having access to historical data in Universal Analytics.

GA4 offers seamless cross-platform tracking by unifying sessions across devices and platforms, provided the same user identifier is used. This allows for a comprehensive view of user behavior across different environments, enhancing the accuracy of analytics.

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