Get ahead with Google Analytics 4

GA4 is packed with new capabilities that help you improve acquisition, engagement, revenue, and retention for your website.

In five hours, we’ll have you confident, capable, and armed with new insights into your business and your website. This course pays back for you real quick.

Online course: Google Analytics 4 for Beginners

By Fred Pike,

Managing Director / COO @ Northwoods Software

Course length: 5h 04min

Sign up to All-Access: $289 / month Buy just this program for $299

Updated 05/2023 English subtitles Certificate included

Some of the companies that train their teams at CXL:

From beginner to proficient in 5 hours

Our GA4 for Beginners course covers what you need to know so that you can measure and improve your business performance around:

  • Acquisition
  • Engagement (including conversion)
  • E-commerce
  • Retention

If you’re a Universal Analytics (GA3) user, you’ll find helpful comparisons to help you understand what’s changed, what’s stayed the same, and what the new opportunities for insight are.

If you’ve never used Google Analytics before, key concepts are explained from scratch. You’re ready to go.

Introduction video

Find the hidden capabilities of GA4 that too many people miss

GA4 is more customizable than ever, easier to drive insight from, and delivers all the core functionality of UA3. A lot of these capabilities aren’t easy to find, though, until we show you how.

You’ll walk around four real GA properties, and follow along in your own GA to unlock the reports you know you need, and the ones you didn’t know existed.

You will leverage features that were previously only available in Google Analytics 360, and get ahead of the curve with practitioner-level expertise in acquisition and engagement reports.

Understand the new meaning of key metrics in GA4

GA4 redefines bounce rate. It also introduces a new concept of active users. That’s right: some of the basic terms of digital analytics are redefined in GA4 and not understanding them is an easy way to look dumb.

GA4 isn’t an upgrade to UA: it’s a powerful new way of understanding customer behavior using an events-based database.

Own the new UI

GA4 is more customizable than ever. Your homepage is a custom dashboard, with filters that help you look at what is most important without the noise, and comparisons that help you spot trends and anomalies.

If there’s one powerful message in this course it’s this one: own your UI to make important changes in customer behavior immediately obvious. That’s the way to be able to take action more quickly.

Make your GA4 property work for your business

With custom channels and custom measurements, GA4 puts you in control like never before. 

Use the new powers GA4 gives you to track the behaviors that matter to your business. 

Nail the key concepts

What’s the difference between user acquisition and traffic acquisition? And which one should you care about most? How does Google define a user?

Fred Pike takes you through key concepts which should be familiar to strong users of UA3, but which still catch people out.

E-commerce tracking that works

E-commerce tracking is hard. For the non-specialists, this course covers the importance of the items array as the underpinning data structure powering all e-commerce reports and helps you understand how key events in GA4 relate to real customer behavior and real web pages.

Who is this course for:

  • Marketing generalists who need to report on on-site behavior, acquisition, campaign performance, and site revenue
  • PPC specialists who need to ensure that all campaigns are properly tracked and full insight is easy to get
  • Digital analytics specialists who need to understand key capabilities and ensure they’re driving maximum value from new capabilities
  • Anyone still using Universal Analytics (GA3): from July 1, 2023, you won’t even have that option

Above all, anyone who is scared of GA4, or frustrated because “my reports have gone” or “things are missing” or “my data isn’t the same as it was in UA3” will feel more confident, more capable, and more able to identify how to drive real value from GA4 after taking this short course.

Please note that this course focuses on the use of GA4 for websites, not for apps or games.

Take this course and you will…

  • Be able to answer specific business questions using Google Analytics 4
  • Use GA4 data to improve your product, marketing, and strategy decisions
  • Know who your visitors are and where they’re coming from, so you can focus on getting more of them.
  • Navigate the GA4 interface, read data with confidence, and provide meaningful reports.
  • Master the new reports and track acquisition, engagement, and landing page performance to understand how visitors find you and what they do on your website.
  • Learn everything you need to get started with the GA4 event model and the different event types.
  • Customize the GA4 home screen to create a dashboard that fully reflects your key business objectives.

Skills you will master

Using analytics toolsData driven analyticsTracking and reportingGoogle Analytics 4 EventsGoogle Analytics 4 reportsGoogle Analytics 4 SegmentsGoogle Analytics 4 SetupProduct Analytics

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Get a lesson preview

  • Understand the hidden features inside the new interface.

    In this lesson, you arere going to have a look at some of the hidden features in the UI and own the interface. Learn the basics in this free lesson.

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Your course curriculum

Google Analytics 4 for Beginners

1 Course Introduction

The intro course is really designed for people who are going to be using Google Analytics 4 as opposed to setting it up.

2 GA4 Event Types

In this lesson you’ll understand the different types of events and to show an example of a custom event. This Google documentation page is one of the most valuable ones you can bookmark.

3 Getting Started

Let’s get started.

4 GA4 Properties We’ll Use

GA4 properties we will use throughout the course.

5 Google Merchandise Store

Getting started with Google Merchandise Store

6 Home Screen – a customizable dashboard

Getting Started with the Home Screen

7 Insights

A look at Insights

8 Definitions –Sessions and Users

Understanding Sessions and Users

9 Reports Snapshot; Realtime

A look at Reports Snapshot

10 Acquisition Reports

A closer look into Acquisition Reports

11 User Acquisition

A look at User Acquisition

12 Hidden Features in the UI

A look at some of the hidden features in the UI

13 Default Channel Group

A look at the Default channel group

14 Traffic Acquisition

We’re going to look at a different way that Google segments the visitors coming to your website in the traffic acquisition report.

15 More Segmenting Features

When you segment, you’re breaking up the traffic into smaller chunks of data and that lets you analyze what’s going on a little bit better. It’s also what I call Owning the Interface, Part 2.

16 Acquisition Overview Report

We’re going to see one more UI change.

17 Customization

 We will look at customization options within the user interface.

18 Wrapping Up Acquisition Reports

Well, that wraps up the acquisition section.

19 Engagement Reports

We’re going to look at what users did on your website

20 Engagement Overview Report

We will be looking at the engagement overview report.

21 Landing Page Report – Part 1

This is the first of three parts where we will be focusing on the landing page report.

22 Landing Page Report – Part 2

This is part two of a three-part series.

23 Landing Page Report – Part 3

This is part three of a three part series, Investigating The Landing Page Report

24 Pages and Screens – Part 1

We start another multi-part section, this one on pages and screens.

25 Pages and Screens – Part 2

Part two of looking at pages and screens.

26 Events – Part 1

This is another two part lesson, this time on events.

27 Events – Part 2

It’s part 2 of our Events, and we’ll dive in a bit deeper into the Events Report.

28 Conversions

The Conversions Report

29 Wrapping Up Engagement Reports

Closing out Engagement Reports

30 Other Reports in GA4

Other reports, and the other aspects of the GA4 user interface

31 Ecommerce Background

A look into E-commerce background

32 Monetization Reports

A look into Monetization Reports

33 Retention – User Reports

A look into User Reports

34 Advertising

A look into Advertising Reports

35 Explorations – Part 1

Explorations part one of two

36 Explorations – Part 2

Explorations part two of two

37 Course Wrap-up

A recap of what we’ve covered so far

Fred Pike

Managing Director / COO @ Northwoods Software

Fred is a self-avowed GA & GTM freak.  He is a Managing Director at Northwoods Software and leads their GA/GTM Practice Area.  A sought-after educator, he has spoken multiple times at such events as MeasureSummit, SuperWeek, GA4Ward, MN Search, etc.  “GA4 Intro” is his fourth CXL course. 

At any point in time, you can find Fred digging into the intricacies of GA4, walking his beloved Pekingese Xuxa, or playing mandolin with the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra.

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Google Analytics 4 course: FAQ

How long does it take to complete this course?

This is entirely up to you – it’s how many study hours per week you can put in. This course is 5h 04min long. The majority of people will complete the course in between 5 and 5.5 hours.

Fred references Google support documentation, which you may choose to work through in addition.

You may also wish to pause recordings to apply your learnings in your own GA4 property.

However, Fred suggests in the course that you watch him at 1.5 speed, and there are no set exercises to complete in the course: the focus is on practical know-how.

Do I need previous experience with GA3 or GA4 before taking this course?

You don’t need any previous Google Analytics knowledge before taking this course.

Throughout the course, Fred will make comparisons between features in GA4 and UA (GA3) that may be useful if you’ve used Universal Analytics before, but the lessons assume you start from scratch.

What are some tips to get the most out of the course?

  1. Set up your GA4 property before starting the course, so you can get hands-on to make learning stick and apply your learnings immediately
  1. Open up your GA4 in one tab and the course in another. Fred walks you through step by step so you can follow along, see real data for your own business, and opportunities to customize

Who is this course for?

This course is for you if:

  • You have used Universal Analytics previously, and want to make a switch to GA4… or you haven’t used any Google Analytics product at all before.
  • You will be using GA4 (not implementing it from scratch) and want to fully understand its key terms, metrics, and interface.
  • You want to pull insights that relate GA4 data with your key business objectives.
  • You want to leverage the event-driven data model, the acquisition and engagement reports, and the new segmenting features in GA4.

Some careers that will especially benefit from this course are data analyst, digital marketing specialist, product marketer, SEO specialist, web analytics consultant, ecommerce manager, and digital analytics specialist.

What will you learn?

After taking this course, you will:

  • Understand the basics of GA4 and be able to drive insights for better decision-making.
  • Know who your visitors are and where they’re coming from, so you can focus on getting more of them.
  • Navigate the GA4 interface, read data with confidence, and provide meaningful reports.
  • Master the new reports and track acquisition, engagement, and landing page performance to understand how visitors find you and what they do on your website.
  • Learn everything about the GA4 event model and the different event types.
  • Customize the GA4 home screen to create a dashboard that fully reflects your key business objectives.

What does the course include?

Our Google Analytics 4 training includes 38 lessons, 10 downloadable resources, 5h 04min of video material, several assignments, and a final exam.

Are subtitles available for the lessons?

Lessons have English subtitles and transcriptions available.

Will I receive a certificate of completion?

After taking this course, you will receive the Google Analytics 4 certification from CXL, with credentials that you can add to your LinkedIn profile.

What is the refund policy?

All plans come with a 7-day refund period .