Jim asks, “We’ve actually gotten pushback internally for using GA because of data privacy. Ever come across this?” Plenty of times. There are situations in which Google Analytics would not meet regulatory requirements. Google Analytics is not HIPAA compliant; the only industry certification for security it possesses is ISO 27001. And while no PII/SPI/PHI is…
Summary In today's episode, I break down when Google Analytics does and doesn't meet data privacy and compliance standards for organizations handling sensitive information. Here's what this means for you. You'll understand the real reasons teams get internal pushback on using GA and how to audit your site to avoid accidentally leaking personally identifiable information…
Summary In today's episode, I recommend Microsoft Clarity as a free, simple way to see what visitors actually do on your website. Here's what this means for you. You get session recordings, heat maps, and UX diagnostics that go far beyond what Google Analytics offers, helping you fix real friction points on your site. You'll…
Tanner asks, “Can you explain why Google Analytics 4 is supposedly going to be better in the long run?” Three major benefits that will take time to see the value: The event model gives us much more granularity with our data. BigQuery for all gives us the ability to create much more advanced attribution models…
Summary In today's episode, I explain why Google Analytics 4 is supposedly better in the long run despite its current rough edges and transition challenges. Here's what this means for you. Companies that develop technical proficiency with GA4's data capabilities gain a sustainable competitive advantage through custom models and deeper insights that other companies miss.…
Jakes asks, “I’ve moved 5 sites To Google Analytics 4, set up a host of custom events in Tag Manager to recreate what I’m missing from GA3, but where do find Source Medium Campaign In Data Studio With GA4? Am I missing something obvious?” Yeah… it’s not there yet. That connector is still in beta,…
Summary In today's episode, I walk through a workaround for accessing source, medium, and campaign data in Google Data Studio when using Google Analytics 4. Here's what this means for you. You discover a practical way to retrieve critical traffic attribution data that's currently missing from the GA4 API by leveraging BigQuery and Firebase as…
Tara asks, “It seems pretty quick and simple to set up GA4, but do I need to set up all of the different triggers in the Tag Manager separately? Or can I just set up one Tag with all of the triggers?” Google Analytics 4 relies much more heavily on Google Tag Manager than GA…
