Understanding your audience is paramount to success. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) provides a wealth of user attributes and demographic data that can significantly enhance your marketing strategies and decision-making processes.
This article will explore how to effectively leverage this information, define key attributes, and guide you through creating insightful comparisons and reports.
How GA4 Acquires and Applies Data
GA4 employs various methods to collect user data. Known users are individuals signed into their Google accounts while interacting with your property. GA4 can provide more detailed and accurate information for these users, including cross-device behavior and demographic data. For users not signed into Google accounts, GA4 still collects and applies data, but with some limitations. It uses device information and cookies to track these users, but cross-device tracking and some demographic information may be less accurate or unavailable.
- Client-side tracking: This is the primary method, where JavaScript code embedded in your website or app sends data directly to Google’s servers.
- Server-side tracking: For more complex setups, data can be sent from your server to Google’s servers, offering more control and potentially improving data accuracy.
- Measurement Protocol: This allows you to send data to GA4 from any internet-connected device or system, enabling tracking of offline interactions or custom implementations.
- Google Signals: When enabled, this feature allows GA4 to use data from users signed into their Google accounts, providing more comprehensive cross-device tracking.
It’s important to note that GA4 uses a blend of deterministic (based on known user identifiers) and probabilistic (based on behavioral patterns and device information) methods to identify and track users across sessions and devices.
Sampling in GA4 Reporting
Sampling is a technique used to analyze a subset of data to estimate trends in the larger dataset. In GA4, the use of sampling depends on the type of report and the volume of data:
- Standard Reports: Most predefined reports in GA4 use unsampled data, providing a complete view of your property’s performance.
- Explore Reports: When using the Explore feature for custom analysis, sampling may be applied if your query exceeds certain thresholds. The sampling rate can vary based on the complexity of the query and the date range selected.
- BigQuery Export: For properties linked to BigQuery, you can access raw, unsampled data for the most detailed analysis, though this requires additional technical skills to query and analyze.
GA4 generally provides more unsampled data thanks to its event-based data model and improved processing capabilities. However, some sampling may still occur for extensive datasets or complex custom queries to balance accuracy with processing speed and resource utilization.
Understanding these aspects of data collection, application, and sampling in GA4 is crucial for interpreting your analytics data accurately and making informed decisions based on the insights provided.
Understanding User Attributes and Demographics in GA4
GA4 offers a range of user attributes and demographic details that can provide valuable insights into your audience. Let’s break down the key categories:
Standard User Properties
- User ID: A unique identifier assigned to a user across different devices and sessions. The website or app owner sets it and helps track individual user behavior across multiple interactions.
- First session date: When a user first visited the website or used the app. This helps analyze visitor retention and longevity.
- Session count: The number of sessions a user has had with your website or app. A session is a group of user interactions within a given time frame.
- Device category: Classifies the device used to access your site or app into three main categories:
- Mobile: Smartphones and other handheld devices
- Desktop: Traditional computers and laptops
- Tablet: Larger touchscreen devices like iPads
- Operating system: The software platform on which the user’s device runs, such as Windows, macOS, iOS, or Android.
- Browser: The web browser used to access your site, such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.
Demographic Information
- Age: The approximate age range of the user, typically grouped into categories like 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, etc.
- Gender: The user’s gender, usually categorized as male, female, or unknown.
- Language: The primary language setting of the user’s browser or device.
- Country: The country from which the user is accessing your site or app.
- City: The specific city location of the user, when available.
Interest Categories
- Affinity categories: Groups of users with specific interests or lifestyles. These categories represent long-term interests and can include things like:
- Sports fans
- Cooking enthusiasts
- Travel buffs
- Technology early adopters
- In-market segments: Categories of users who are actively researching or comparing products and services. These represent short-term purchase interests and can include:
- Actively shopping for automobiles
- Looking for home improvement services
- Researching financial products
Custom User Properties
Custom properties provide flexibility to track and analyze user data most relevant to your business goals and user base. They can be set up through the GA4 interface or implemented via code in your website or app.
- Customer properties allow you to track information unique to your business or audience. Examples might include:
- Subscription status (free, premium, enterprise)
- User role (admin, editor, viewer)
- Customer lifetime value
- Loyalty program tier
The Importance of Applying Targeted Audiences in GA4
One of the most critical yet often overlooked aspects of using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) effectively is the application of targeted audiences. Every GA4 user should create and apply audiences that accurately reflect their target market. Failing to do so can lead to skewed data and misguided business decisions.
Why Default Settings Can Mislead
By default, GA4 provides data on all visitors to your website or app. While this comprehensive view can be useful in some contexts, it often doesn’t align with your specific business goals or target market. Here’s why this can be problematic:
- Geographic Irrelevance: If you’re a local business in Chicago, data from visitors in Australia might inflate your metrics without providing actionable insights.
- Age Misalignment: If your product primarily targets seniors, including data from younger age groups could distort your understanding of user behavior and preferences.
- Interest Mismatch: For a B2B software company, data from casual browsers uninterested in business solutions can dilute the insights relevant to your actual potential customers.
How Unfiltered Data Skews Reports
When you don’t apply targeted audiences, virtually every report in GA4 can be affected:
- Engagement Metrics: Your average session duration, bounce rate, and pages per session may appear worse if you’re including users outside your target market who are less likely to engage deeply with your content.
- Conversion Rates: Including all users in your data can artificially deflate your conversion rates, as many of these users may have no intention of converting.
- User Flow and Behavior: Analyzing the behavior of all users, rather than your target audience, can lead to misunderstandings about how your ideal customers navigate your site or app.
- Campaign Effectiveness: When evaluating marketing campaigns, including out-of-market users can skew your results, potentially leading to undervaluation of targeted efforts.
Example Scenarios
- Local Business: A Chicago-based retailer should create an audience focused on users in the Chicago metropolitan area. This ensures that metrics like site traffic and conversion rates are relevant to their actual market.
- Age-Specific Products: A company selling retirement planning services should focus on audiences in older age brackets, perhaps 50 and above, to get an accurate picture of how their most likely customers interact with their site.
Configuring and Accessing User Attributes
While GA4’s default of including all users can provide a broad overview, businesses must define and apply targeted audiences that align with their specific goals and market. By doing so, you ensure that your analytics data provides accurate, actionable insights that can drive meaningful business decisions. Remember, in analytics, more data isn’t always better – it’s about having the right data for your unique business context.
To leverage user attributes in GA4, ensure your data collection is properly set up, configure custom user properties, and access reporting via the User section of Google Analytics 4.

Leveraging Demographic Data for Audience Insights
Demographic data in GA4 can provide crucial insights into who your users are. To access and analyze this information:
- Navigate to the Demographics section in your GA4 reports.
- Review the overview dashboard for a quick snapshot of your audience’s age, gender, and location distribution.
- Drill down into specific demographic categories for more detailed analysis.
GA4 allows you to create audience segments and compare their behavior. To ensure your GA4 data accurately reflects your business goals:
- Regularly Review and Update: As your business evolves, ensure your defined audiences remain aligned with your current targets.
- Define Your Target Audience: Clearly outline the characteristics of your ideal customer base.
- Create Custom Audiences: Use GA4’s audience builder to create segments that match your target demographics, interests, and behaviors.
- Apply Audiences to Reports: Consistently use these audiences when analyzing data in standard reports and explorations.
- Compare and Contrast: Use your targeted audience as a primary view, but also compare it to the overall data to understand the difference and potential opportunities.
You’ll likely want to create and store audiences so they’re easy to apply throughout GA4. It’s important to note that GA4 audiences start collecting data from the moment they are created and moving forward. Audiences do not collect data retroactively.
This means if you create an audience today defined as users who visited a specific page in the last seven days, the audience will only start counting users who visit that page from today onwards. It will not include users who visited the page in the seven days before the audience’s creation.

- Create Audience Segments:
- Go to “Configure” > Audiences
- Click New audience
- Define your audience based on user properties, events, or conditions. In this example below, I’ve added an English Speaking audience.

- Compare Audiences:
- In your reports, click on the “Compare” button
- Select the audiences you want to compare
- Analyze the differences in metrics across segments
- Filtering Life Cycle Reports:
- Open any Life Cycle report (Acquisition, Engagement, Monetization, Retention)
- Click on the “Add filter” button
- Choose the dimension you want to filter by (e.g., User type, Device category)
- Select the specific values you want to include or exclude
Building Custom Reports with Explore
GA4’s Explore feature allows for more advanced analysis and custom report building:
- Navigate to the “Explore” section in GA4
- Choose a technique (e.g., Free form, Funnel exploration, Path exploration)
- Select dimensions and metrics based on user attributes and demographics
- Apply segments with your audiences or filters to focus on specific user groups. NOTE: After creating or modifying an audience, it takes some time for GA4 to process the data and populate the audience. This usually takes 24-48 hours.

- Customize visualizations to present your data effectively
Takeaways
- Respect User Privacy: Always adhere to data protection regulations and obtain necessary consent for applying custom audience variables.
- Combine Multiple Attributes: Cross-reference different user properties for more nuanced insights.
- Track Changes Over Time: Monitor how user demographics and behaviors evolve to adapt your strategies accordingly.
- Use Data for Personalization: Leverage insights to create more targeted and relevant marketing campaigns.
- Regularly Update Custom Properties: Ensure any custom user attributes you’ve defined remain relevant and up-to-date.
- Validate Data Accuracy: Regularly check that your data collection and attribution function correctly.
Leveraging user attribute and demographic data effectively in GA4 can provide invaluable insights for your marketing and business strategies. Understanding how to access, analyze, and act on this information can create more targeted campaigns, improve user experiences, and drive better business outcomes.
Remember, while data is a powerful tool, it’s most effective when combined with a deep understanding of your business goals and customer needs. Use these insights as a foundation for informed decision-making, but always consider the broader context of your market and business objectives.