By: Earl Brown, Autofusion (2024)
Welcome, Automotive and SEO professionals, to the brave new frontier of Google Analytics 4 reporting! After many months spent trying to learn this new cookieless and privacy-focused Google Analytics 4 platform (which replaced our beloved Universal Analytics), plenty of dealers have found themselves longing for the simpler reporting interface of the past. Remember how easy it used to be to get all of the data you cared about, in a few clicks or less?
After a decade with few changes to Universal Analytics, it can feel like the rug has been pulled out from under us, and suddenly some are walking around in the dark, spending money on marketing and advertising that we can’t figure out how to properly measure. This, of course, leads to wasted budgets and a loss of revenue. Most of the frustration is caused by the confusing nature of GA4’s multi-faceted reporting features, some of which we attempt to clear up in this recent article: The Differences Between GA4 Standard Reports & Explore Reports.
Developing your own optimized reporting takes a little patience and practice, but if you want the most accurate and valuable insights into your dealership’s marketing (and don’t like wasting money), it’s necessary. Earlier this year, we wrote an article on how you can Setup The Best Custom Reports Using The Library Feature, visit that article for a detailed look at how you can setup your own custom reports from scratch, with step by step breakdowns, so that you can track all of the unique events and conversions happening on your website.
Below, you’ll find information on a few of the key GA4 reports we think are imperative for dealers to understand and use regularly. Keep in mind that this is a great starting place, but most reports can (and should) be customized to include the unique metrics, dimensions, and compositions that matter most to you. If you’re not technically inclined, Autofusion automatically includes GA4 audits for our new Website clients, and you can reach out to our sales team if you’d like a more in-depth consultation.
The Most Popular (and useful) Reports For Car Dealers in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)