Since the launch of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), many marketers, analysts, and business owners have raised recurring questions about how the tool works and how it differs from Universal Analytics (UA). Beyond the standard migration and setup issues, users are curious about how to measure performance, interpret metrics, and create meaningful reports.

This article explores the other common questions users ask about GA4, including performance metrics, reporting options, and unique measures such as Revenue per Click (RPC).

What Are Performance Metrics in GA4?

Performance metrics help you evaluate how well your website or app is achieving its business objectives. In GA4, some of the most commonly used performance metrics include:

• Active Users: How many people are actively engaging with your site or app.

• Engagement Rate: Replaces bounce rate and shows how often users interact meaningfully.

• Conversions: Specific events you define as business goals (e.g., purchases, form fills).

• Average Engagement Time: How long users remain engaged in a session.

• Revenue Metrics: For e-commerce businesses, GA4 automatically tracks purchase events, total revenue, and average purchase value.

Users often ask how to query these metrics — and GA4 offers two approaches:

1. Standard Reports for a quick overview.

2. Explorations for deeper analysis and custom queries.

How Do Standard Reports Differ from Custom Reports?

A frequent source of confusion in GA4 is the difference between built-in reports and customized ones.

• Standard Reports: These are pre-built, default dashboards such as Acquisition, Engagement, Monetization, and Retention. They give you a broad view of performance and are helpful for day-to-day monitoring.

• Custom Reports (Explorations): These allow you to choose your own metrics, dimensions, and filters. For example, you could build a funnel that shows users by traffic source → device type → conversion event.

Custom reports are essential when stakeholders ask for very specific insights that standard reports don’t cover.

What Insights Do Users Commonly Query?

Marketers and analysts often use GA4 to answer business-critical questions. Some of the most common queries include:

1. Users by Device: Are most visitors browsing on desktop, mobile, or tablets?

2. Traffic Source Trends: Which channels are driving growth — organic search, paid ads, email, or social media?

3. Conversion Rates Over Time: Are marketing campaigns improving conversions month over month?

4. Pageviews per Page: Which content is attracting the most traffic and engagement?

5. Goal Completion Stats: How many users completed key actions such as signing up, downloading, or purchasing?

By exploring these queries, teams can align marketing strategies with data-driven insights.

What is Revenue per Click (RPC)?

Another frequent question revolves around Revenue per Click (RPC). This metric is more commonly used in e-commerce analytics and paid advertising analysis.

• Definition: RPC measures the average revenue generated from each click on a paid advertisement.

• Formula:

$RPC=TotalClicksTotalRevenue$

• Use Case: If you spend heavily on ads, knowing RPC helps you compare the effectiveness of campaigns relative to their cost.

While not central in GA4, RPC can be calculated by combining Google Ads data with GA4’s revenue tracking.

What’s the Benefit of GA4’s Event-Based Model for Questions Like These?

GA4’s event-driven tracking makes answering user questions more flexible than Universal Analytics. Instead of focusing on rigid session-based metrics, GA4 lets you define exactly what matters as an event — from a button click to a video play or a purchase.

This model means users can ask very targeted questions, such as:

• How many users clicked a video but didn’t finish watching?

• What percentage of mobile users scrolled 50% down a blog post?

• How many repeat visitors came back within seven days?

These are insights that Universal Analytics often couldn’t capture without heavy customization.

Why Do Users Care About Data Freshness?

Many questions revolve around how quickly GA4 updates. Since standard reporting data takes up to 24–48 hours to finalize, marketers often check real-time reports to verify campaign launches, test events, or monitor sudden spikes.

For example, an e-commerce store running a limited-time promotion might monitor real-time purchase events to ensure conversions are tracking properly.

How Do Attribution Models Impact User Questions?

Users also frequently ask about GA4’s data-driven attribution compared to last-click. The new model redistributes credit across multiple channels.

For example, if a user first clicked a Facebook ad, later read a blog article, and then converted via Google search, GA4 spreads credit across all touchpoints rather than attributing the sale only to search.

This directly impacts how teams interpret “Which channel works best?” — a question that’s at the heart of most analytics discussions.

Final Thoughts

The most common GA4 questions go beyond setup and migration. Users want to know how to extract meaningful performance metrics, distinguish between standard and custom reports, and calculate actionable measures like Revenue per Click.

With GA4’s event-based structure, businesses can dive deeper into the specifics of user behavior, answering questions that Universal Analytics struggled with. By embracing this flexibility, analysts and marketers can move from surface-level tracking to more strategic, data-driven insights.