le Analytics 4: 10 Things We Hate //

Google Analytics 4 isn’t off to a great start for marketers.

It’s becoming a bit awkward. Some advertisers are so dissatisfied with the new program, they’ve hosted funerals of its predecessor, Universal Analytics.

What is it about GA4 which has the digital marketing world so excited?

To find out, we decided to poll our readers via a GA4 ready poll. We’ve compiled a list below of the most common complaints. Please let us know if your team and you can relate…

1. User interface

The user interface of GA4 was the most common complaint from our readers.

The UI has been described as “slow”, ‘laughable’ and a few more adjectives that we have chosen not to publish.

John Erikson is an independent sales and marketing consultant.

• “When selecting segments/dimensions, instead of being able to select/deselect multiple segments from a list in Universal, you must open customization or compare, click on add filter, choose a dimension in a dropdown and then select the dimension value in another dropdown. Then you apply. (You can only select one).
• It’s frustrating to have to do the same UI actions over and over again when you were used to doing it quicker.
• The same dropdown structure was used to create/edit GA4 reports. It is difficult to locate what you want in the long dropdown list. Once you know the names, you can search for them more quickly by typing in a partial name. However, it’s difficult to scroll through all of them and find exactly what you are looking for.
• You can only choose one, so it’s hard to see multiple dimensions/values. I don’t have the answer for fixing it, but I find it difficult to use.

2. Data lag

The delay in same-day data on GA4 is another major concern among marketers.

Advertisers are confused about why the new analytics platform does not appear to include this feature.

Ron Weber, Sr Director at Actian, explained:

• The data latency is a joke, and the fact that it takes 12-24 hours for the tool to report what’s happening makes it useless.
• “I wish that I hadn’t been so backlogged the last few years, and therefore could/would have realized it sooner.”
• Maybe Google will move the computing power of UA to GA4 in order for this to change? [praying]!”

3. Data discrepancies

Marketers have also expressed concern about GA4 discrepancies.

Some people were concerned that GA4’s data was not accurate because of the differences in information. They questioned if they could trust it.

Sabine Walton is Senior SEO Manager for Handlerbund Marketplace.

• What I find problematic, is the discrepancy in the Looker Studio connector and GA4 API. Looker Studio connector appears to be missing dimensions that are available in the API, and are even defaulted in the GA4 reporting tool. Landing Page dimension.”
• Google Team appears to be working on it, as the landing page dimensions are now available. The UA data collection ends in two days, so I will have to adjust my reports and double-check them.
• “I’m ready to use GA4, but I don’t want to work exclusively with it.” “I am also considering alternatives to GA4..”

4. Useful but difficult to use

Many marketers have reported that GA4 has been a difficult tool to use.

Even experienced advertisers find it difficult to navigate the new platform.

Search Engine Land interviewed SEO and marketing expert Jason McDonald:

• “GA4 is an absolute disaster.” It’s so much more difficult to use than UA and totally non-intuitive.”
• “It’s nearly impossible to drill into a page by clicking, as it was possible with UA.
• It is like the Windows Vista version of Google Analytics. All the experts are afraid to publicly admit that it’s garbage. “But everyone knows that it’s garbage.”

5. Insufficient resources

Many marketers are struggling to understand GA4 and wonder why Google doesn’t provide more resources that explain how it works.

The marketing team of Storis has told us that:

• “I finally found the answers I was looking for by taking private courses at SMX, or talking to a Google team member who is knowledgeable.
• “Their documentation was lacking, especially in areas where there were significant functional changes or gaps. I tried to duplicate things that were not brought over.
• Google’s support team is also not up to date, making calls confusing.

6. No Basic Option

Some marketers explained that marketing is not a uniformed process.

Some of the advanced settings might suit some professionals. However, others, like bloggers, are more interested in basic tools and waste time and money learning features they won’t use.

Eb Gargano, from Productive Blogging, told us:

• “I have noticed that many bloggers and businesses online have lost their minds over GA4 — they have spent days, or even weeks, stressing about it when their time would have been better spent somewhere else.”
• “Most bloggers and online business owners only need a basic setup and a good understanding of reports. No one says that and many online business owners believe they have to spend a lot of money and time on expensive courses.
• “It’s a shame that there isn’t a Lite version of GA4 for users who just need the basic data.”

7. The lack of features

In our survey, marketers also complained about the limited features GA4 offers compared to Universal Analytics.

The removal of the attribution feature seemed to be a particular concern for marketers.

Elizabeth Rule is the account manager and local SEO expert for Sterling Sky. She told us:

• “I have been using GA4 for the last month as much as I can to get used it. But honestly, it feels like a slower version of GA3 that has fewer features than I want to use.
• “I want to go back to GA3 whenever I use GA4 and it’s definitely not because I am too used to it. “Some of the features that I use daily are missing or difficult to find in GA4.”

8. Reports are difficult to recreate

Marketers and clients alike have been desperately trying to recreate the reports that they used previously when using Universal Analytics in GA4.

This task seems to have proved more difficult than expected for many.

Tom Demers is the co-founder and managing director of SEO and PPC Agency Measured SEM. He told us:

• Clients have expressed frustration with the difficulty of recreating existing reports, especially for edge cases. They also express frustration when recreating dashboards using third-party tools – such as Looker Studio.
• There is also a great deal of work to recreate events and goals in GA4 (and confusion about not seeing these events in certain reports).

9. Reports

Marketers complained about the difficulty of creating reports with GA4 compared to UA.

Many marketers who participated in our survey said that Google made unnecessary changes to the way reports are built, increasing their workload.

Eric Bushaw, Search Engine Optimization Manager at G5, said:

• “I think GA4 will provide greater insight than UA in the future.”
• “With that in mind, I find some of the changes to reporting frustrating.
• The removal of views, the restrictions on how to use custom segments, and many other changes that seem unnecessary will make it difficult for us when UA really goes away.

10. Bugs

Search Engine Land received several reports from marketers who claimed that many GA4 features didn’t work as intended. Syncing issues with Looker Studio Dashboard, and AMP’s new script were among the problems flagged.

John McAlpin , SEO consultant, told us:

• The platform is still full of bugs. We spend more time trying to figure out why data is inconsistent and why attributions are not correctly labeled.

Don’t panic

It is reassuring that this migration challenge is felt by marketers across the industry.

Kayle Larkin, SMX Advanced speaker and search marketing expert, told Search Engine Land that despite the difficulty of the transition, it is important for marketers to get onboard with Google’s new analytics program because it will be around for a very long time. She said:

• There’s a saying that says the grass doesn’t always look greener on the opposite side.
• Google has a solution to future-proof website analytics. “People are using the internet in a completely different way than they did in 2012. I think GA4 is Google’s answer.” “The industry needs a FREE option.”
• “Marketers should pause and consider what information they really need to know.
• Himanshu Singh put it very well on LinkedIn. ‘It’s important to remember that data retrieval is not our business. We are in business to improve ROI.
• You need to know how your data supports your marketing efforts.

Larkin continued to explain how any change in any platform or industry can make people panicky. As time goes on, people’s confidence and familiarity increase, which leads to a change in attitudes. She concluded:

• Everyone was furious when Facebook changed their interface, and they ‘couldn’t find anything.’ It was “horrible” and ‘the death of Facebook’.”
• The old Facebook interface is quickly forgotten because we use it daily. No one can even recall what it looked like.
• The response to the GA4 interface is the same as any other platform that changes its interface. People do not like change.”
• “But GA4 has so many customization options, and LookerStudio gives you a variety of ways to present information and insights.”

Did deeper

Sign up for an GA4 course if you are having trouble navigating GA4.

For free resources and information on using GA4, you can read the Google Analytics Account Training Guide and Support guide

The article 10 Things We Hate About Google Analytics 4 first appeared on Search Engine Land.