If you’ve used Google Analytics for your website, chances are you’re familiar with Universal Analytics (UA) — the long-standing version that most marketers and analysts grew up on. But now, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has taken center stage, and it’s not just a redesign — it’s a whole new way of thinking about analytics. Key … Read more
Introduction In web and app analytics, sessions are the foundation of most user-level metrics. However, GA4 fundamentally redefines sessions compared to Universal Analytics (UA). Where UA relied heavily on time-based rules, cookies, and pageview hits, GA4 is event-driven, focusing on user engagement and cross-device tracking. Understanding GA4 sessions is critical to correctly interpreting metrics like Active Users, Engagement Rate, Conversions, and … Read more
Introduction Analyzing GA4 data in BigQuery can be incredibly powerful — but it’s easy to end up with slow, expensive queries as your logic grows. After writing complex GA4 SQL for things like session stitching and consent-aware attribution, I’ve learned some valuable techniques to keep things efficient, readable, and scalable. In this post, I’m sharing … Read more
Marketers often ask the big question: “Which channel really drives conversions?”With GA4 and BigQuery, you can move beyond guesswork and analyze attribution models directly in your data warehouse. In this post, we’ll show how to implement last-click attribution using SQL and compare it with GA4’s data-driven attribution (DDA) tables. This helps you evaluate channels side … Read more
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has been evolving rapidly, but one hot topic in 2025 is data sampling. Many marketers and analysts are noticing that GA4 reports now apply sampling more aggressively than before, which can lead to inaccurate insights. This change is pushing professionals to rely more heavily on BigQuery for precise, unsampled data. In … Read more
Marketing teams constantly ask: “Which channel truly drives conversions?” GA4 provides user-level metrics and event data, but discrepancies between the GA4 interface and BigQuery exports can make attribution tricky. For example, Active Users or New Users may not match when you try to analyze traffic by campaign, source, or medium in BigQuery. This guide shows … Read more
If you’ve ever compared GA4 user metrics in the interface with BigQuery exports, you might have noticed discrepancies. For example, Active Users, New Users, or Total Users in the GA4 UI often don’t match what you calculate from the raw BigQuery data. Understanding why this happens is crucial for accurate reporting, marketing attribution, and data-driven … Read more
In this guide, we’ll walk you through SQL queries to calculate Active, New, and Returning Users, explore cross-device behavior, and share best practices for deduplication and segmentation. By the end, you’ll have a complete toolkit to analyze GA4 users in BigQuery with precision—perfect for building reports, dashboards, or feeding insights into your CRM or marketing … Read more
GA4 completely changed how we think about website and app users. Instead of just counting every visitor like Universal Analytics (UA) did, it focuses on real engagement. To truly master GA4, you have to go beyond the basics and understand how it defines, measures, and reports on users, especially when you dive into the raw … Read more
If you’ve logged into GA4 in the morning and noticed that the previous day’s session count doesn’t look quite right, you’re not alone. This is a common GA4 behavior — not necessarily an “issue.” The Main Reason: Data Processing Latency GA4 does not process data in real time for standard reports.Here’s what you should know: … Read more