Google Analytics 4 Eliminates Multi-Year Discrepancies in Reports with Google Ads
To ensure complete consistency of key metrics across products within its advertising ecosystem, Google is introducing a fundamentally new approach to tracking and classifying user actions in Google Analytics 4. The previous concept of “conversion” is being left behind — instead of this, user activity will be analyzed using “key events.”
This unification of terminology will finally eliminate one of the main pain points for marketers — discrepancies in reporting between GA4 and Google Ads regarding the same user actions. Now, when key events and conversions are synchronized, analysts will no longer have to deal with situations where the same user action is classified differently across the two key tracking tools for measuring the effectiveness of ads and websites.
In the updated version of Google Analytics 4, conversions will be automatically transformed into so-called “key events.” These represent the most important and valuable actions for a specific business’s target audience. The classic functionality of the reporting and data analysis system regarding conversions will remain intact, simply with the terminology surrounding conversions being updated to key events. The only difference is that the status of a successful conversion event will only be granted if the data is sent to Google Ads.
Alongside the unification of terminology, Google Analytics 4 will incorporate a dedicated section for cross-channel conversion analysis in advertising. This will become a unique centralized hub for tracking the effectiveness of all advertising campaigns, regardless of the promotion channel — be it search, display, video, banner, or any other form of advertising. The integration between Google Ads and GA4 will allow for a consolidated view of analytics across all advertising activities in one window.
According to Kamala Janardhikan, Senior Director of Product Management in the Measurement and Analytics department at Google, this update will address one of the most pressing issues faced by marketers — the inconsistency in defining key metrics across different Google tools. Ultimately, the conversion objectives and events will be synchronized between the two main products, significantly simplifying the reporting, analysis, and optimization processes of marketing campaigns.
“In this radically improved and fully unified solution, we are finally eliminating the longstanding discrepancies in conversion reporting between Google Ads and Google Analytics, which has long been a major concern for our clients,” emphasizes Janardhikan. “Now, key events for analyzing the effectiveness of your business in GA4 will maintain all the previous analytical functionality, helping understand which product elements or user experiences perform well and which need optimization on sites and applications.”
Overall, this update is set to substantially simplify the lives of marketers actively engaging across various advertising channels while optimizing analytics processes to maximize returns on advertising investments. Specialists will no longer need to manually synchronize disparate data sources. The standardized definitions of key events and conversions will ease consolidated reporting, allowing for a thorough analysis of the entire sales funnel and user behavior at every stage of interaction with the company.
