As a professional web analyst, I work with Google Analytics for many of my clients. It is undoubtedly the most popular web analytics tool and perhaps the most powerful one for e-commerce. This tool is top of mind for every digital marketer and is even known by non-professionals.
However, for my private digital projects, I do not use GA. You might ask, “Why?” and that’s what I’m going to explain in this blog article.
What Makes a Good Web Analytics Tool?
What I expect from a web analytics tool is performance across the three main pillars of web analytics: collection, measurement, and reporting.
So, the tool I use must excel in these three areas:
- Collection: A web analytics tool needs to have technical reliability to ensure it will be triggered on every page view or any action I decide to track (clicks, scrolls, etc.).
- Measurement: The tool needs to accurately aggregate data across different scopes (hit, session/visit, user, etc.), calculate the metrics I need, and allow me to segment the data as I wish.
- Reporting: The tool should display data in an understandable way and be compatible with other tools such as data visualization or data storage tools.
These are the main features I look for in a web analytics tool. Any tool that underperforms in one of these areas is not suitable for me.
Google Analytics v4
Google Analytics v4 is the latest version of Google Analytics, released in 2020 and intended to be the future of the platform. It’s a complete overhaul of the previous version, Universal Analytics, designed to be more user-friendly, powerful, and privacy-conscious.
However, this software was rushed to release and initially lacked the completeness of the previous version, leaving professionals in doubt for several months.
Google’s teams have tried to address this by adding new features every month, but the tool still isn’t quite suitable for easy, effective analysis.
It definitely isn’t as user-friendly as promised, and its privacy features are not as robust as expected.
The main benefits of GA4 for my clients include:
- It’s free.
- It’s easy to implement, thanks to GTM.
- It appears easy to use for non-professionals.
- It integrates with other Google tools such as Google Ads, Google Data Studio, etc., centralizing data.
- It connects to the Google Cloud Platform, enabling the use of BigQuery for advanced analyses.
Why I Don’t Use Google Analytics v4 for My Private Projects
My personal projects are small websites without e-commerce features. I don’t need a sophisticated tool. I just need something simple that provides the main KPIs for my website.
GA4 is excessive for my needs.
Also, as a European citizen and privacy advocate, I prefer not to use a tool that isn’t privacy-conscious. Despite Google’s claims, their tool is not privacy-friendly. It still collects a significant amount of personal data and is not compliant with GDPR or CCPA.
I prefer using a tool that can function without cookies, even if it means having less data.
What Do I Use Instead?
There are many web analytics tools available, but for my personal projects, I need a simple, free, privacy-conscious tool that excels in collection, measurement, and reporting, and is easy to implement.
I don’t require a fancy UI, so the aesthetics of the tool are not a criterion for me, though I understand some people might prefer a more visually appealing interface.
I prefer using Matomo or Piwik Pro for my personal projects. These tools are privacy-friendly, easy to implement, and perform well across the three main pillars of web analytics.
Piwik Pro is particularly appealing because it offers an all-in-one solution that includes a tag manager, a privacy manager for cookies, a data visualization tool, and a data storage tool. It’s also connected to Piwik Pro Cloud, so I don’t have to worry about the technical aspects of the tool.
Some of my clients use Piwik Pro and are very satisfied with it, especially its e-commerce features.
Also, as a professional in web analytics I need to be aware of all the solutions of the market to give better recommandation to my clients. I use my websites as experimental fields where I can try things even if it fails. This is why I more interested in less popular tools to “crash test” them before presenting them to my clients.
Conclusion
Don’t use a tool just because it’s popular. Choose a tool that best meets your needs.
Growing up in the 80s, I saw many people using an illegal version of Photoshop just to crop a picture and boost colors. They didn’t need Photoshop, but they knew it was the best tool for photo editing, which was overkill and ridiculous as they only used a fraction of its capabilities. They were unaware of other tools that could do the job for free and legally.
I’m not criticizing anyone for using Google Analytics v4. I still recommend it to many of my clients when it’s the most appropriate tool for their needs. However, I believe many people use it simply because it’s popular. They do not know there are other tools that could meet their needs for free and with better privacy features.