Webmasters and business owners are excited to learn about the advanced Google Analytics 4 features.

This doesn’t come as a surprise considering the limitations of Universal Analytics.

With GA4’s features, you can take your data analytics, reporting, and decision-making to the next level.

It gives you more detailed and accurate insights about your site visitors, allowing you to make better business decisions.

Learn to leverage GA4’s advanced features by reading this in-depth guide.

Let’s go. 

Table of contents

Top 10 new and advanced Google Analytics 4 features

1. Custom reporting

2. Predictive analytics

3. Create and monitor a maximum of 30 Conversions

4. Make and track up to 300 Events

5. Set a permanent audience segment once

6. Anomaly detection

7. Customizable automated tables

8. BigQuery linking

9. Enhanced debugging

10. Improved elapsed time and time measurement

Elevate your GA 4 data analysis and tracking with advanced Polymer features 

People also ask

1. Is Google Analytics 4 the latest version?

2. What is the format of GA4 data?

3. What are the disadvantages of GA4?

Try out the Google Analytics 4 new features

Top 10 new and advanced Google Analytics 4 features

Before we dive into the advanced features of GA4, it's crucial that you at least understand the basics.

If you’re new to GA4 and want to learn more about it, read our guide on What Is Google Analytics 4.

With that squared away, it’s time we power through some of GA4’s advanced features.

It’s worth mentioning that GA4 kept some of the essential functionalities Universal Analytics offers. 

However, GA4 also offers new and advanced features that can supercharge your data analytics.  

1. Custom reporting

Universal Analytics (UA), the version before Google Analytics 4, gave you access to custom dashboards. 

These dashboards are handy but don't always offer a comprehensive view of your data. 

GA4 takes this up a notch through the Explorations (Analysis Hub) feature, which lets you create custom reports. 

A free-from Explorations report follows an Excel-like structure where you’ll see tabs with unique data across the top. 

Use Explorations and its reporting tools to create visualizations and tables for funnels, cohorts, segments, or paths to make them easier to understand. 

Must read: Google Analytics 4 Reporting Templates

2. Predictive analytics

GA4 has Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities. 

While Universal Analytics has AI and ML features, you’ll get more advanced functionalities when you learn how to upgrade to Google Analytics 4 (from UA), such as getting purchase probability insights.  

For example, GA4 will gather the necessary data to build predictive audiences for churners, purchasers, or users on your website once you set up purchase events. 

You can access predictive analytics in Explorations and edit the predictive conditions to create your desired audience. 

Leverage the predictive audiences as comparative segments across your GA4 data. 

3. Create and monitor a maximum of 30 Conversions

Conversion tracking in GA4 is so easy. 

After GA4 tracks the event, you can tag it as a conversion by toggling it on. 

UA lets you track 20 conversions (goals), and you can’t change or remove them. 

However, GA4 allows you to track a maximum of 30 conversions, and you can delete conversions you no longer need. 

Compare UA and GA4’s other features more in-depth by reading our guide about Google Analytics 4 vs. Universal Analytics: 10 Key Differences.

4. Make and track up to 300 Events

GA4 can track most basic events through enhanced measurement events and automatically tracked events. 

If you don’t see the events you wish to track from GA4’s pre-set tracking, you can easily create new events (custom events). 

GA4 creates the pre-set events by putting conditions using existing tracked parameters or modifying previously tracked events.  

The best part is that you can create 300 events per property, allowing you to track more data. 

You can read our Event tracking in Google Analytics 4: Ultimate Guide to learn more about tracking GA4 events.

You can also refer to Google Help Center’s recommended events if setting up event tracking for the first time. 

Set up GA4 events with Google Tag Manager (GTM). 

5. Set a permanent audience segment once

With Universal Analytics, you must create segments each time you want to filter an audience. 

While this isn’t too bad, creating segments to filter an audience takes up storage space.

Google Analytics 4 eliminates this by letting you create audience segments without saving them. 

You can do this using the comparisons tool on each reporting page. 

To create a permanent audience segment, go to Explorations or the Configuration screen and select Build an Audience before saving your segment. 

6. Anomaly detection

Another nifty Google Analytics 4 AI and ML functionality is anomaly detection on almost all line graphs. 

GA4 detects anomalies when it spots something that should happen on your website but didn’t. 

For instance, if your data indicates that you were supposed to make $15,000 a day, but didn’t, GA4 detects this as an anomaly. 

The feature can tell you if something in your data is statistically significant.

It makes it easy to spot potential anomalies or things you must look into and improve.

That’s not all. 

You can switch on anomaly detection for your GA4 line graphs in Explorations and set the learning period and sensitivity accordingly. 

GA4 will also suggest custom insights for anomaly detection that you can apply to your data and create as a custom insight.

‍Must read: Using Google Analytics 4 Reports And Analysis Hub

7. Customizable automated tables

While UA’s countless data tables are helpful, they’re not always easy to handle when viewing other dimensions or different metrics. 

With Google Analytics 4, users with admin access can customize the report data.  

You can also set the metrics and dimensions for each session and save the views.

Read our Understanding Google Analytics 4 Metrics and Dimensions guide to learn more.  

8. BigQuery linking

One of GA4’s new and most useful features is its integrations, including the option to set up a BigQuery export for free. 

GA4 lets you integrate BigQuery into your Google Analytics account, select the data you want to include and export your raw data with a few clicks.

9. Enhanced debugging

GA4’s new debugging view feature lets you send all your test data to a single report for debugging. 

The DebugView simplifies your troubleshooting, allowing you to:

• Click on data to check if it has the correct metadata
• View your data streams in order
• Spot and resolve issues promptly

10. Improved elapsed time and time measurement 

UA can only measure time per session, user, and page. 

GA4 goes above and beyond by letting you measure the time between user interactions. 

The enhanced feature allows you to build your desired funnels and view the exact time it takes users to go through each funnel. It can simplify your funnel analysis.  

That said, you can measure how long a visitor converts even if they don't convert on their first visit to your website. 

You can better understand how long your site visitors take to purchase and the factors that can influence their decision. 

Combine this with GA4’s ecommerce tracking, and you have a powerful Google Analytics platform in your arsenal. 

Learn more about setting up ecommerce tracking in Google Analytics 4 from our guide. 

Elevate your GA 4 data analysis and tracking with advanced Polymer features 

While setting up a Google Analytics 4 Property (no UA) can enhance your data analytics and reporting, you can go a step further by integrating GA4 with the Business Intelligence software Polymer. 

Polymer’s Google Analytics 4 integration and reporting features simplify visualizing your GA4 data.

The software lets you set up the integration using the pre-built connector with a few clicks and pull your GA4 data into Polymer in seconds. 

Use Polymer’s intuitive tools and insights to create stunning reports and visualizations, such as bar graphs and line charts.

You can highlight significant changes or targets in your Google ads, campaigns, and other GA4 data. 

Share your reports and dashboards when you’re done by setting your preferred sharing settings and options. 

 Polymer supercharges and streamlines building beautiful and easy-to-understand visualizations and simplifies organized reporting of your GA4 data. 

People also ask

Below are the common questions users ask about Google Analytics 4.

1. Is Google Analytics 4 the latest version?

Yes. 

Google Analytics 4 is a new property designed to collect website and app data to help users understand customer or user journeys better. 

GA4 is a new version replacing Universal Analytics. 

Many users, from ecommerce website owners to SaaS companies, are migrating their Google Analytics data from the prior versions to GA4. 

Read this Google Analytics 4 for SaaS/Digital Products: Complete Guide to learn more. 

2. What is the format of GA4 data?

Instead of the tracking ID in UA, GA4 uses measurement ID as its data format. 

The measurement ID (G-XXXXXXX) identifies the specific data stream that sends data to your GA4 property. 

3. What are the disadvantages of GA4?

In a nutshell, some of the cons of GA4 include the following:

• Complex data migration from UA to GA4. The process requires planning, preparation, and the right steps to ensure you move your data properly, which can be complex and time-consuming. 
• The platform’s new interface requires a bit of a learning curve, requiring you to adapt quickly to hit the ground running. 
• GA4’s fewer attribution models can impact your data and its tracking visibility. 

Try out the Google Analytics 4 new features

Google Analytics 4 offers advanced features that help you gain deeper business and marketing insights into your website's performance and user behavior. 

Harness the power of new and advanced GA4 features to revolutionize how you report, analyze, and collect data, giving you more accurate and richer insights for strategic decision-making. 

Leverage Polymer to streamline building reports and visualizations of your new metrics and data. 

‍Try Polymer for free to explore its features and functionalities.