Beware of this GA4 data stream quirk
In GA4, the general recommendation is that you record all platforms (web, iOS , Android) data into a single GA4 property so that you can better understand how your users navigate and convert across your platforms.
This is done by using GA4 data streams.
Now, if you have multiple websites, you may be tempted to use different data streams to “separate” the data. For example:
- www.mycakeshop.com
- shop.mycakeshop.com
- blog.mycakeshop.com
However, doing so would create a problem — Each data stream has a unique ID and it uses this ID to record the GA session. In the above scenario if a user navigates across the three websites, it would seem like the (same) user has three SEPARATE GA4 sessions!
Google’s documentation emphasizes this point too:
Data streams are not the equivalent of views in Universal Analytics and should not be used to separate data. Doing so limits your ability to tie users across data streams, since each stream is a separate collection source of data.
So the quick tip here is this — Stick to a single web data stream for all your websites, particularly subdomain websites of the same digital property (eg. mycakeshop).
Sparkline aims to provide data accuracy, comprehension and consolidation, and most importantly, tangible insights for businesses. Get in touch if you’d like to find out more about GA4.
