Website optimisation | 1/03/2021

Google Analytics 4: Google Data Studio dashboards

Posted by Lawrence Greenlee

Chances are, you have seen that Google released the beta version of Google Analytics 4 back in October. Since then, marketers have been working to get their heads around the new set up, and working to start gathering, visualising and understanding data.

We recently wrote a post about what GA4 is, and have been playing around with it for a few months now. Now, we are pleased to share Fox&Bear Google Data Studio dashboard for GA4.

Example dashboard for Google Analytics 4

You are welcome to look at our dashboard live. The link below will enable you to view the dashboard, but not make changes or copy it. We have used data from the Google demo account – GA4 – Flood-It! property for demonstration purposes.

View our Google Data Studio dashboard for Google Analytics 4.

You can change the time scale in the top right, which will change the period the report covers. If you’re looking at longer time frames, use the arrows on the graphs to drill into monthly trends.

Key metrics from Google Analytics 4

 Sessions and engaged sessions

Session should be a familiar metric, but GA4 has introduced the engaged sessions metric. We have included both in a single graph, for a clear view on how many users are on the site – but also, how well many are interested in your website, scrolling on pages and searching curiously through your content.

Engagement rate

GA4 offers a percentage metric for engagement rate. This is a big change from the average session duration and bounce rate that we previously saw in Google Analytics. Our estimates are that an engagement rate should be quite high, around the 80% mark – and not a simple inverse of bounce rate.

Rolling active users & long term trends

The rolling active users graph makes long term trends smoother and easier to understand, by showing how many users have visited the website in the past 1, 7 and 30 days.

 

If you select a longer period of time, the arrows on each line graph will allow you to drill-down into monthly trends: another helpful way to see patterns over time.

Events

GA4’s events tracking means an overwhelming amount of data is available to us as default. In order to begin deciphering these metrics, we have created a table and corresponding time graph. Each event can be selected individually, or into groups (such as levelling up on Flood It!), with the numbers reflected on the graph below.

Device and default channel grouping

The Google Data Studio integration allows us to segment data according to device and default channel grouping. Pie charts show the proportions of different kinds of traffic on the site, giving a cross-section of user sessions.

Clicking a pie chart segment will filter all of the data in the report: with two clicks, you can see how engagement rate from organic mobile sessions, or assess traffic patterns from direct, paid and social channels.

View our Google Data Studio dashboard for Google Analytics 4.

Need help with your analytics? We create digital marketing dashboards and reports for each of our clients, using live data in Google Data Studio. Get your head around your marketing data and get smarter insights: get in touch with Fox&Bear on 01283 208 913.