How to Query GA4 Ecommerce Events in BigQuery to Analyze Your Checkout Funnel

Understanding your e-commerce checkout funnel is key to improving conversions and sales. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) exports detailed event-level data to BigQuery. This lets you slice and dice every user interaction in your funnel. These interactions range from product views to purchases. In this post, I’ll walk you through the GA4 e-commerce event schema in … Read more

Marketing Channel Performance in GA4: Tracking New vs. Returning Users

Understanding how different channels contribute to user acquisition vs. user retention is critical for optimizing spend and strategy. In GA4, while you get some visibility into user types, a more detailed analysis often requires BigQuery SQL. This guide walks you through: Why This Analysis Matters Most marketing teams ask: By breaking down New vs. Returning … Read more

How to Calculate GA4 Sessions Only When Consent Is Granted Using BigQuery SQL

When Consent Mode is enabled in GA4, your session reporting gets a bit trickier — especially if you’re working with raw event data in BigQuery. If a user hasn’t granted analytics consent (analytics_storage = ‘granted’), GA4 won’t assign session or user IDs. That means no session continuity and no proper attribution. But if you’re exporting … Read more

Understanding GA4 Sessions with Consent Mode Enabled

When Consent Mode is enabled in Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the way sessions are initiated, maintained, and reported changes significantly. This ensures compliance with privacy laws (like GDPR or CCPA), but also impacts how you interpret session data in BigQuery or the GA4 UI. Check Out Amazon Deals Discover top offers on books, gadgets & … Read more

Calculating Sessions in BigQuery GA4: Addressing Discrepancies

Calculating the number of sessions in BigQuery GA4 provides immense flexibility and granularity. However, it can often lead to discrepancies when compared to the GA4 user interface (UI). Understanding these differences and how to mitigate them is key to accurate analysis. How to Calculate Sessions in BigQuery GA4 The most accurate and robust method to … Read more

Understanding GA4 Attribution in BigQuery

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) BigQuery exports include a wide range of traffic source attribution fields. This variety can feel overwhelming when you’re first trying to understand and calculate attribution. You might envision it in a specific way. In this guide, I’ve outlined the key concepts and steps I’ve gathered so far in navigating GA4 attribution. … Read more

How to Calculate GA4 Sessions in BigQuery: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) stores event-based data in BigQuery, where sessions are derived from event timestamps and session identifiers. Below are the steps to calculate the number of sessions from GA4 BigQuery exports, including an example SQL query. Step 1: Understanding Sessions in GA4 Step 2: Writing the SQL Query Use the following SQL query … Read more

How to set up BigQuery linkage in your Google Analytics 4 property

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) allows you to export raw event-level data to BigQuery for in-depth analysis. Below are the steps to set up the export, along with examples. Step 1: Create a Google Cloud Project Example: If your company is “ABC Retail,” name the project “ABC-Retail-GA4.” Step 2: Enable BigQuery API Step 3: Set Up … Read more