Understanding User Metrics in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) - YouTube

Hey there, Benjamin from Loves Data here! Welcome  back! In this video, I'm going to explain the  

difference between four of the user metrics you  can find in Google Analytics 4 (GA4). We're going  

to look at 'Total Users', 'Active Users', 'New  Users', and 'Returning Users'. Let's get started!  

You've probably seen 'Users' (or 'Total Users')  in GA4. This metric tells you the total number  

of people who've been to your website based  on the date range selected for your reports.  

Now, I said people, because I like to keep things  simple, but really the total number of users  

is the total number of reporting identities  that have been collected by Google Analytics.  

A reporting identity can be a User ID  that you've sent to Google Analytics.  

For example, if people can log in on your website  or app, then you can send your own identifier for  

each individual to Google Analytics. Or  a reporting identity can be a Device ID.  

If you've implemented GA4 on your website,  then this will be the Client ID from the Google  

Analytics cookie. If you're measuring an app, this  will be the identifier from the app installed on  

the user's device, so the app-instance ID. And if  you've enabled Google Signals, then this can be  

used to identify an individual as they engage with  your website or app. (I'll talk more about Google  

Signals in a moment.) You can control how GA4  handles reporting identifies for your property.  

Let's head to Google Analytics to take a look...  To check how reporting identifiers are being used,  

you can navigate to 'Admin'... And choose 'Default  Reporting Identity' in the property column...  

We can see for this property that GA4 will make  use of User ID, then Google Signals, and then  

the Device ID to identify users on the website. So  if you're sending your own identifier for users,  

this will be used first. Then if this isn't  available, users will be identified by Google  

Signals and finally, if that isn't available,  then the Device ID will be used. Okay, so what is  

Google Signals? Google Signals is a feature that  can give you additional insights about your users.  

Once enabled, your reports can include aggregated  and anonymous data for people who are logged into  

their Google account as they browse your website.  So if someone is logged in and they're opted-in  

to 'Ad Personalization', then you can see how they  engage with your website across multiple devices.  

This means the feature can improve the accuracy of  your user metrics. Google Signals is also required  

if you want to create remarketing campaigns in  Google Ads using audiences from Google Analytics.  

And it's also required if you want to collect  demographic and interest data into your reports.  

Let's head back to Google Analytics to see  where we enable Google Signals... We're still  

in the admin area, so we need to select 'Data  Settings'... And then 'Data Collection'...  

Since the switch at the top is off, it means  Google Signals isn't enabled. You'll need  

to take a minute to read through the details.  When you enable Google Signals you are agreeing  

to Google's Advertising Features Policy, so  you might need to adjust your privacy policy  

and complete some other steps. So I  encourage you to read through the details.  

When you're ready, you can click the  button to enable Google Signals...  

This will now mean that you Google Signals can be  used to identify individuals as they access your  

website. If you have a smaller-scale website,  then you might not see much of a difference in  

your reports, since only a small percentage of  people will be logged into their Google account.  

So if, like most people, you're not sending  your own User ID to Google Analytics. The  

total number of users you see in your reports  will include the total number of Client IDs  

from the Google Analytics cookie and  any available data from Google Signals  

(if you've enabled the feature). Okay, so what's  the difference between a user and an active user  

in GA4? Well, a user is considered active when  they've had a page on your website visible  

on their device for at least one second. So if  someone navigates straight to your website and  

spends at least one second viewing your content,  then they will be counted as an active user.  

But if someone opens your website in a new tab  and it's hidden (so it's not in focus), then  

they won't be considered an active user until they  select the tab. Let's take a look at an example...  

We're looking at the Google search results. And  I'm going to open my website in a hidden tab  

by right-clicking and selecting  'Open Link in New Tab'...  

We can see the website has loaded, but it's  not in focus, it's hidden. So this means  

a page view event has been set to GA4 and we  will be reported as a user, but at this stage,  

we're not considered an active user.  Let's head to Google Analytics...  

We're looking at the DebugView which lets us  send events to GA4 and drill down on each event  

to view the parameters. I'm not going to go into  detail on how to use the DebugView in this video,  

so let me know in the comments if you would  like me to cover it in a future video.  

Anyway, looking at the DebugView, we can see  some events have come through, including a  

page view event for the page I just loaded in the  hidden tab. Okay, now let's open the hidden tab...  

My website is now in focus and  let's navigate to another page...  

I've definitely spent at least a second on the  website, so let's head back to the DebugView...  

We can now see the second page view, and  we can also see a user engagement event  

has been triggered. Let's select this  event... We can see a parameter called  

'engangement_time_msec' has also been sent  with the event. And this parameter includes  

the number of milliseconds I spent on  the website before the event was sent.  

So the number of active users is  based on the 'user_engagement' event  

and the 'engagement_time_msec' parameter that is  automatically collected by GA4. And you're likely  

to find these metrics are very similar, but you  might have slightly fewer active users compared to  

total users since some people might open a hidden  tab and close it before ever seeing your website.  

To see this, let's navigate to 'Explore'... And  create a new exploration report from scratch...  

Let's enable two metrics for the report... Let's  enable 'Total Users'... And 'Active Users'...  

And click 'Apply'... Now let's add  these two metrics under 'Values'...  

And we can see that for Google's demo  property, there's a difference of 94 users  

between the two metrics. This brings us to new  and returning users. A new user is anybody who  

is visiting your website for the first time.  Google Analytics checks to see if a user has  

an existing cookie and client ID, if they don't,  they're considered a new user in your reports.  

There are a number of impacts on the number of  new users you will see in your reports. The main  

things to consider are that people clearing  their cookies will be seen as new users when  

they return to your website. Privacy-focused web  browsers only save cookies for short periods.  

And people using multiple devices will also be  reported as two separate users (apart from those  

measured by Google Signals). A returning user  is someone who has already been to your website.  

This means Google Analytics has found an  existing cookie and client ID in their browser,  

so your reports will include them in the number  of returning users. Since Google Analytics can  

see they've been to your website before, you can  be confident that your number of returning users  

is accurate. While the number of new users you  see in your report is impacted for the reasons  

we've already covered. So that's the difference  between the 'Total Users', 'Active Users',  

'New Users', and 'Returning Users' metrics in  GA4. Remember that people need to spend at least  

one second on your website and your website  needs to be visible for them to be counted as  

active users. Are there any terms in Google  Analytics you're struggling to understand?  

Let me know in the comments below! And as  always, if you found this video helpful,  

please like it so I know to make more videos  like this one. See you in the next video!