Key terms to remember
- Session : One visit to your site (ends after 30 min of inactivity)
- User : A unique visitor to your site
- Commitment rate : Replacing the bounce rate in GA4
- Conversion : The final objective of your site (purchase, form, call)
Session
A session is a visit to your website, i.e. an opening of your site. A visitor coming for the first time will be considered a user and will have created one session. If he comes back the next day, he will still be a user, but will have created two sessions. A session ends after 30 minutes of inactivity.
Bounce rate vs. engagement rate
Visit bounce rate measured in the old version (Universal Analytics) the number of people who saw only one page. This was a delicate notion, as a visitor could find what he was looking for on the first page without needing to go any further.
In GA4the bounce rate is replaced by the commitment rate. A commitment corresponds to :
- A visitor who spends more than 10 seconds on the site
- A visitor who views more than two pages
- A user who scrolls
- A user performing an action (form, click...)
This rate can vary between 50% and 80%, and should be as high as possible.
Event
An event in Google Analytics GA4 is an action of your choice that you wish to track. Usually configured with Google Tag Manager, events represent user behavior: scrolling, form filling, video viewing, button clicks...
Objective / Conversion
Visit conversions are specific events that represent your site's objective. The conversion event is distinguished by its ability to be the central pivot of your activity. On an e-commerce site, the purchase will be the main objective. It's through conversions that you'll be able to calculate the KING of your business.
Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager is a tag configuration tool. Often used in conjunction with Google Analytics, it's used to send information so that GA4 is aware of what's happening on your site. It can also be used to launch tracking scripts for Facebook, Instagram and other platforms.
Audience
L'audience in Google Analytics is a part of your traffic that matches certain characteristics (age, gender, interests, behavior). You can create audiences based on behaviors, such as checkout without purchase, for targeted remarketing with Google Ads.