Google sunset Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023. In the months leading up to that date, we were working on setting up creators for a smooth transition as we migrated their dashboards to GA4.
If you still need to give Raptive viewer access to GA4 and add your Property ID to your Raptive dashboard, please do so as soon as possible so we can confirm your GA4 data before migration. Here's how.
After your dashboard is switched over to GA4, you'll notice a few changes due to the GA4 API returning incomplete data for the most recent 24-hour period (yesterday). These changes are outlined below, but first, a couple if things to note:
- In your Raptive Dashboard, we are using the GA4 session_start metric to count sessions. We’ve found session_start data to be more closely aligned with Universal Analytics data. In the GA4 UI, your session_start total by day is easily found in the Engagement > Events report.
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We have noticed Google Signals impacting the GA4 data in some Raptive Dashboards, particularly on the Performance by Page and Performance by Source reports. We recommend turning Google Signals off for now to see more accurate reporting. You can do that in the Admin section of your GA4 property.
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Admin > Property > Data Settings > Data Collection > toggle the "Google signals data collection" toggle to the left so that there isn't a checkmark.
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My Dashboard
While we previously displayed pageviews or sessions combined with earnings here, we have had to adjust accordingly with GA4 unable to provide complete data for yesterday:
- The top three tiles will display earnings only and not pageviews or sessions.
- In the Overview graph, sessions/pageviews for yesterday's date will not appear in the line overlay over the earnings bar chart (in the example above, viewed on June 19th, the line overlay for sessions only shows data up to June 17th).
Earnings Overview
Your earnings data continues to be accurate through yesterday. However, metrics that rely on GA4, such as RPM and Page RPM, can't be surfaced for yesterday.
- We brought over the three tiles with your earnings data, also displayed on My Dashboard.
- For "Filter by," the most recent data available will be two days prior. In the screenshot above, we are viewing the dashboard on June 20th, so the most recent date available is June 18th.
- For "Filter by," the most recent date in the Custom option will be two days prior.
- The Earnings Overview export won't include any rows with yesterday's data. To view your earnings from yesterday, please refer to the tile at the top of the page.
Performance by Page
- Average Engagement Time is now displayed instead of Time on Page.
- Historical Time on Page data is available for timeframes when you were on UA.
You can read more about engagement time replacing session duration/time on page in GA4 here.
Performance by Traffic Source
Similar to the above example for 'Performance by Page':
- Average Engagement Time is now displayed instead of Time on Page.
- Historical Time on Page data is available for timeframes when you were on UA.
You can read more about engagement time replacing session duration/time on page in GA4 here.
Brand Safety Page
This page displays two weeks of complete data through two days prior, as this is the most recent data the GA4 API makes available. In the screenshot above, we are viewing the dashboard on June 19th, so site performance from June 3rd-17th is displayed.
Traffic
Similar to the Earnings Overview page, we have accounted for the lack of data for yesterday in GA4 as follows:
- For 'Filter by,' the most recent data available will be two days prior. In the screenshot above, we are viewing the dashboard on June 22nd, so the most recent date available is June 20th.
- When your selected date range includes GA4 data, you'll see Average Engagement Time (data is available from June 12, 2023 onward).
- You will see Time on Page when your selected date range includes only UA data.
- When your selected date range spans UA and GA4 data dates, you will see Average Engagement Time and Bounce Rate data for GA4 data only.
Content Optimization
We are investigating a data issue caused by GA4 not reporting pageview data by traffic source for all posts like in Universal Analytics. This is causing inaccuracies and underreporting of Search Pageviews in Performance Impact Details for some completed content briefs starting on June 26th. Our team is working to resolve this, and we’ll let you know when we have a solution.
One last thing to note:
- Once you've migrated to GA4, historical data from your Universal Analytics account will remain available in your Raptive dashboard.