User ID tracking with Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager

Summary

In this tutorial, Julius from Analytics Mania demonstrates how to set up user ID tracking on a website using Google Analytics 4 (GA4). He explains the importance of this feature for recognizing users across multiple devices and guides viewers through the process, from integrating it into Google Tag Manager to verifying its implementation. Julius also covers how to create a user-scoped custom dimension for using the user ID in various GA4 reports, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of tracking user behavior on websites.

Takeaways

• 😀 Implementing user ID tracking in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is beneficial for correlating user activity across multiple devices to a single user profile.
• 🔒 User ID tracking requires a login functionality on the website, enabling the association of a unique user ID from the database with GA4.
• 🛠️ The user ID must be pushed to the data layer, which can vary depending on the content management system or platform being used.
• 👩‍💻 Developers play a crucial role in custom websites, needing to insert the user ID into the data layer for GA4 to recognize.
• 🔄 For platforms like WordPress, plugins such as 'Google Tag Manager for WordPress' can automate the process of adding user IDs to the data layer.
• 🔍 The Google Tag Manager (GTM) preview mode is used to verify that the user ID is correctly pushed to the data layer after login.
• 📊 In GTM, the user ID from the data layer is turned into a variable to be used in GA4 configuration tags.
• 📝 The 'user_id' parameter in GA4 configuration tags should be populated with the user ID variable created in GTM.
• 🕵️‍♂️ Debugging in GA4 allows for the verification of the user ID being received and associated with user activities.
• 📈 User ID information can be found in standard reports and the explore section of GA4, helping to differentiate logged-in users from regular visitors.
• 🔄 To use the user ID as a dimension in other GA4 reports, a user-scoped custom dimension must be created and the user ID sent as a separate parameter.

Q & A

What is the purpose of user ID tracking in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)?

User ID tracking in GA4 helps to identify a user across multiple devices as the same individual, ensuring that a person using a smartphone and a laptop is not reported as two separate users.

Who is the presenter of the video and what is the channel's focus?

The presenter is Julius, and the channel, Analytics Mania, focuses on teaching people how to work with Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics.

What is a prerequisite for implementing user ID tracking on a website?

The website must have a login functionality, allowing users to sign up and log into their accounts, as this is necessary to assign a unique user ID from the database to each user.

What is the role of Google Tag Manager in user ID tracking?

Google Tag Manager is used to configure tags that send user IDs from the website's data layer to Google Analytics, enabling the tracking of user activity across different devices as a single user.

How can one check if the user ID is being sent to the data layer?

One can check this by using the preview mode in Google Tag Manager, where the user ID should appear as part of the event data after a user logs in.

What is the importance of the user ID being unique and not containing identifiable information?

The user ID must be unique to avoid混淆ing users and must not contain identifiable information like email addresses or social security numbers to comply with Google's terms of service.

How can a developer assist in the implementation of user ID tracking?

A developer can assist by implementing code on the website to push the user ID to the data layer, ensuring that each user's ID is unique and corresponds to their account in the database.

What is the process for creating a variable in Google Tag Manager to capture the user ID?

In Google Tag Manager, one must go to the Variables section, create a new User-Defined Variable, configure it to capture the data layer variable that contains the user ID, and name it accordingly.

How can one verify if the user ID tracking is working properly in GA4?

One can verify by logging into the account on the website, checking the Google Tag Manager preview mode to see if the user ID is being sent, and then checking the GA4 debug view to confirm the user ID is received.

What additional step is required to use the user ID as a dimension in other GA4 reports?

To use the user ID as a dimension in other reports, one must create a user-scoped custom dimension in GA4 by sending the user ID as a separate custom dimension and configuring it in both Google Tag Manager and GA4.

How long does it take for the new user-scoped custom dimension to appear in GA4 reports?

It takes approximately 24 hours for the new user-scoped custom dimension to be processed and appear in GA4 reports.

What should one do after confirming that the user ID tracking is working properly?

After confirming that the user ID tracking is working properly, one should publish the changes in Google Tag Manager and wait for the data to appear in GA4 reports.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to User ID Tracking with Google Analytics 4

In this video, Julius introduces the topic of configuring user ID tracking on a website using Google Analytics 4 (GA4). He explains the importance of user ID tracking for accurately identifying users across multiple devices and highlights that this tutorial assumes some basic knowledge of Google Tag Manager (GTM) and GA4. He also mentions a link to a beginner's tutorial for those new to GTM.

05:02

🔐 Understanding User ID Tracking

Julius explains that user ID tracking requires a website with login functionality, as each user has a unique ID in the database. This ID helps GA4 recognize users across different devices. He demonstrates logging into a demo website and stresses the need to push the user ID to the data layer, which is crucial for configuring GTM to send the user ID to GA4.

10:04

👨‍💻 Implementing User ID in the Data Layer

To get the user ID into the data layer, Julius discusses working with developers to implement the necessary code. He provides sample code for pushing the user ID and shows how to check its proper implementation using GTM's preview mode. He emphasizes that sensitive information like email addresses or social security numbers should not be included in the user ID field.

🔧 Creating a Data Layer Variable in GTM

Julius demonstrates creating a data layer variable in GTM to capture the user ID. He guides through the steps of configuring the variable and integrating it into GA4 tags. He highlights the importance of naming conventions and case sensitivity when creating variables.

📝 Adding User ID to GA4 Configuration Tag

Julius shows how to add the user ID to the GA4 configuration tag in GTM. He explains the steps to insert the data layer variable for user ID and discusses how multiple GA4 tags can inherit this parameter automatically. He then tests the implementation to ensure it works correctly by checking the tag assistant and GA4 debug view.

📊 Viewing User ID Data in GA4

Julius explains how to view user ID data in GA4 reports. He demonstrates creating comparisons in standard reports and exploring user data in the User Explorer section. He notes that logged-in users will have shorter IDs from the database, while others will have randomly generated client IDs.

🔍 Creating User-Scoped Custom Dimensions

Julius addresses the limitation of user ID not being available as a standalone dimension in GA4. He explains how to create a user-scoped custom dimension by sending the user ID as a separate custom dimension. He walks through configuring this in GTM and GA4, testing the implementation, and ensuring the custom dimension works correctly.

🚀 Final Steps and Publishing Changes

Julius summarizes the final steps of testing and publishing the GTM container. He encourages viewers to regularly check for updates and mentions the importance of sending the user ID with every event from the website to GA4. He concludes by inviting viewers to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and stay updated with more tutorials.

Keywords

💡Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Google Analytics 4 is the latest version of Google's web analytics service. It is designed to provide more comprehensive insights into user behavior across various platforms and devices. In the video, GA4 is central to the discussion on how to configure user ID tracking, which is a feature that helps in identifying the same user across multiple devices or sessions. The script mentions setting up a GA4 configuration tag and using it to send user ID data.

💡User ID Tracking

User ID tracking is a method used to recognize individual users across multiple sessions and devices. It is crucial for accurate analytics, as it prevents the same user from being counted multiple times. The video script explains the importance of implementing user ID tracking with GA4 to ensure that a person using different devices is reported as a single user.

💡Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is a free tool that allows marketers to quickly and easily add tracking and marketing tags to their website or mobile app without having to edit the code. In the context of the video, it is used to implement user ID tracking by sending user IDs from a website's data layer to GA4.

💡Data Layer

The data layer is a part of a website's code that is used to pass data from the website to tools like Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager. In the video, the data layer is where the user ID is placed so that it can be accessed by Google Tag Manager and sent to GA4 for tracking purposes.

💡Unique User ID

A unique user ID is a specific identifier assigned to each user in a database, ensuring that each user is individually recognized. The script emphasizes the need for a unique user ID in the database to facilitate user ID tracking in GA4.

💡Login Functionality

Login functionality refers to the features on a website that allow users to sign in to access personalized content or services. The video script mentions that for user ID tracking to be effective, the website must have login functionality, as this is how the unique user ID is associated with the user's account.

💡Custom Dimension

In Google Analytics, a custom dimension is a way to send additional data about user interactions to GA4 that isn't automatically tracked. The video script describes creating a user-scoped custom dimension to make the user ID available for reporting in GA4.

💡Event Tracking

Event tracking is a method used to monitor user actions on a website, such as clicks, form submissions, or other interactions. The script mentions setting up an event tag in Google Tag Manager for tracking purchases, which is an example of event tracking.

💡Preview Mode

Preview mode in Google Tag Manager allows users to see how tags will fire on their website without affecting the live site. The video script describes using preview mode to verify that the user ID is being correctly sent to the data layer and subsequently to GA4.

💡Publish

In the context of Google Tag Manager, publishing refers to the process of making changes to tags, triggers, or variables live on the website. The script instructs viewers to publish their changes after testing to ensure that user ID tracking is implemented correctly.

💡Debug View

Debug view in GA4 is a feature that allows users to see the data that is being sent to Google Analytics in real-time. The video script suggests using debug view to confirm that the user ID is being received by GA4 after implementation.

Highlights

Introduction to configuring user ID tracking on a website with Google Analytics 4.

Importance of user ID tracking to avoid reporting the same person as different users across devices.

Explanation of sending user IDs from the website database to Google Analytics for better user tracking.

Basic requirement of having a Google Analytics 4 configuration tag with a measurement ID.

Steps to implement user ID tracking if the website has a login functionality.

Instruction to get the user ID into the data layer for Google Tag Manager to access it.

Example code snippet provided for developers to push user ID to the data layer.

Using Google Tag Manager preview mode to verify the user ID is correctly pushed to the data layer.

Creating a data layer variable in Google Tag Manager to use the user ID.

Adding user ID as a field in Google Analytics 4 configuration tag within Google Tag Manager.

Testing the implementation by logging in and verifying user ID is received by Google Analytics 4.

Exploring where to find user ID information in Google Analytics 4 reports and debug view.

Steps to create a user-scoped custom dimension in Google Analytics 4 for using user ID in reports.

Publishing the changes in Google Tag Manager after testing the implementation.

Encouragement to subscribe to the channel for more tutorials on Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4.

Transcripts

in this video you will learn how to

properly configure user id tracking on a

website with google analytics 4.

[Music]

hey my name is julius and welcome to

another's mania youtube channel if you

are new here i teach people how to work

with google tech manager and google

analytics so if you want to stay up to

date with ga4 consider subscribing if

you have a website where people can log

in then it makes sense to implement user

id tracking because if you don't then

the same person with multiple devices

can be reported as different users user

id tracking can help you with that

because when a user logs in into his or

her account on your website you will

send a user id from your database to

google analytics then ga will understand

that this person with a smartphone is

the same as this one with laptop so

let's take a look at the implementation

in this video i presume that you already

have some basic knowledge about google

tag manager and google analytics so this

means that you have at least created a

google analytics four configuration tag

where you have your measurement id added

right here if you are completely new to

this then take a look at the google tag

manager tutorial for beginners and i

will post a link to it below the video

also in this google tag magic container

i have one google analytics for event

tag that sends the purchase when a

visitor makes a payment when it comes to

user id tracking it means that your

website must have some sort of login

functionality or in other words your

visitors can sign up and log into their

accounts this is needed because in your

database every user has its own unique

id and in this video we're going to send

that id to google analytics this is

important because google analytics 4 can

use that user id to understand that a

visitor who has logged in maybe from a

different device is still the same

person on this demo website i have a

login page where i can enter my username

and password and then log in so let's do

that let's enter my username

and click login this is obviously a fake

page and in reality i would be able to

do something but just for demonstration

purposes this is the only thing that you

can see basically a blank page but what

is important now is that i have logged

in and this is my account to implement

the user id feature you must somehow get

the user id into the data layer because

then we will configure google tag

manager to take that user id from the

data layer and send it further to google

analytics there are various ways how you

can get user id in the data layer but

those ways depend on what kind of

content management system or what kind

of platform are you using if you're

dealing with a custom built website then

your best shot would be to cooperate

with developers and ask them to push the

user id to the data layer here is a

sample code that your developer could

implement on a website once this code is

activated you will see in the preview

mode of google tag manager the event

name which is user data and then user id

which is this one your developer would

be responsible for replacing this with

the actual id of the user who has just

logged in simply copy pasting this code

will not be enough because this part

must be different for every user so the

id of one user can be something like

this while the other user's id might be

something like this if you're dealing

with a popular platform for example

wordpress then you could try to find a

plugin that you can install on your

platform and that plugin will push the

user id information to the data layer

speaking of wordpress there is a very

popular plugin called google tag manager

for wordpress and when a user logs in on

your website that plugin will add the

user id to the data layer but in my

example let's pretend that i'm dealing

with a custom platform therefore i ask a

developer to push the user id to the

data layer once your developer

implements the user id and pushes that

to the data layer here is how you can

check whether that is done properly you

can go to google tech manager click

preview

and then in this window you will be

asked to enter the url of the website in

my case i will enter the url of my login

page

then click connect

and a new tab will open that says

connected now i will log in with my

account click login and this is my

account now i should go to google tech

manager and one of the events right here

should be something related to login or

user data or whatever you have asked

your developer to push in my case that

event is called login i can click it and

then i can expand this api call so i can

click it right here and i will see two

parameters one is event login and the

other one is user id this is what i need

in order to implement user id tracking

in google analytics for but keep in mind

that your developer cannot place

anything he or she wants in this field

according to google's terms of service

this field cannot include things like

email address social security number or

anything else that can easily identify

the person it should be some random

string or number that is stored in your

website's database so since i already

have the user id in the data layer now i

have to turn it into a variable in

google tag manager because you cannot

use the data in google tag manager

unless you create a variable in my case

the user id is stored as user id with

the upper case i that is why i have to

create a data layer variable for that

let's go to google tag manager variables

then scroll down to the user defined

variables section and then click new

click variable configuration data layer

variable and then here i have to enter

the name of the key that is in the data

layer and in my case that is user id

with the uppercase i this is case

sensitive double click it copy and then

paste it right here then i will name

this variable here i can enter whatever

you want however here it must be exactly

as it is in the data layer if you have

something else like user underscore id

or id or something else then you must

enter that particular name right here

click save

now let's go to tags and as i've said

earlier in this video i presume that you

already have at least google analytics

for configuration tag in your container

click it

then click this pencil to edit the tag

and then click fields to set click add

row and here you should enter user

underscore id exactly like this this is

the parameter that google analytics 4

expects when it comes to user id

tracking and in this field you should

insert the data layer variable that you

have just created to insert the variable

click this button and then keep looking

for your data layer variable in my case

this is it i will click it and it will

be automatically inserted in this field

click save

if you have multiple google analytics

for tags for example event for purchase

event for click event for something else

and all of those tags are using the same

ga4 configuration tag those tags will

automatically inherit this parameter now

let's test whether this is working

properly click preview button to refresh

the preview mode here i am on the login

page once again i will log in and here

in tag assistant i will see that on the

container loaded event that fired after

the user id was pushed to the data layer

i will see if my tag fired i click it

and i see that one of the fields is the

user id and here is that field's value

now let's test whether this is working

properly and whether user id was

received by google analytics 4. you can

do that by going to google analytics

then configure and debug view and here

you will see a stream of information

that was sent to google analytics for

and one of those things is user id user

id is highlighted like this and if for

example you click on the page view you

will see some event information and also

you will see user properties and you can

click and here is the user id that was

received by google analytics 4. keep in

mind that ga4 is currently under heavy

development therefore some things in the

interface might change and you might see

some differences between my video and

what you see in your interface but don't

panic and keep looking because

eventually you will see the information

somewhere right here and if you still

struggle then take a look at the

description of the video or maybe in the

comments because i might have mentioned

some updates there when you have tested

everything then go to google doc manager

click submit to publish these changes

for example you can name something like

user id in ga4 and click publish within

the next 24 hours you will start seeing

some user id related information in your

google analytics 4 interface let's take

a look at several places where you can

find that user id information for

example here i am in one of the standard

reports in this case that is the event

report and then i can take a look at how

many visitors on my website were tracked

with the user id feature and how many

were not because only part of the

traffic has actually logged into their

accounts in this report i can click on

edit comparisons right here or i can

click add comparison right here and then

as one of the dimensions i could select

signed in with the user id and then in

this field you should select yes thanks

to this comparison i will see the data

that is coming from users who have

signed into their accounts and with

their events i was also sending the user

id click apply and here you will see all

website visitors and only a small

fraction has actually logged in because

well most of my website visitors are

just reading blog posts and they are not

students of my courses then another

place where you can find user id

information is in the explore section so

click there and then keep looking for

the user explorer click it

and here you will find a list of all

users and visitors of my website those

ids that contain a dot like this they

are not logged in this is a regular

google analytics client id that ga gives

to any visitor and those ids are

generated randomly however those shorter

ids like this one they are coming from

my database and these are the users who

have logged into their course accounts

but we are not done yet because if you

want to use the user id dimension in

other reports for example free form

exploration unfortunately you won't be

able to do that because user id even

though you send it to google analytics

is not available as a standalone

dimension let's take a look for example

here i have a new free form exploration

and let's say that i will just add i

don't know let's say event count metric

and then in the dimensions section i

want to add the user id so if i click

this plus icon and then keep looking for

the user id i will not find anything

right here if you want to use the user

id as a dimension in your other reports

you must create a separate user-scoped

custom dimension in google analytics for

to do that first you have to send user

id not only as well actually user id but

also as a separate custom dimension and

to do that you have to go to google tag

manager then go to tags click on your

configuration tag and here we are going

to send it as a user scoped custom

dimension and to do that you have to

click on user properties add row and

then add some parameter name that is

named anything else except the user id

because user id as a parameter is

reserved and you cannot create custom

dimensions for user id written like this

but you can do something like user id

dimension for example this will work

just fine and here in the value you can

enter the same thing that you used right

here now click save and then in google

analytics you have to go to configure

custom definitions then create custom

dimensions and then enter user id you

can enter any name right here it can be

something like crm id internal id

whatever you want then the scope must be

user you can enter or leave this field

empty i mean the description and then in

the user property you have to enter that

very exact parameter name that you used

in the configuration tag right here in

my case that is user underscore id

underscore dimension

i will copy it

and paste it right here then click save

and within the next 24 hours you will be

able to use that user id in your

exploration reports as well now let's

test whether this is working properly so

click the preview button in your google

doc manager container

the page reloads i will log in once

again then i see that my page view tag

or in other words configuration tag has

fired the user id needed for the user id

feature of google analytics 4 and this

is my user property that i will see as a

user scoped custom dimension in google

analytics 4. now let's go to ga4

configure debug view and here i can see

my user scoped custom dimension if i

click on the page view now i see that

there are two user properties one is

user id needed for the user id feature

and this is for my user scope custom

dimension i wish that this part was more

straightforward meaning that it would be

just enough to have the user id and this

would be available as a dimension in

google analytics 4 automatically but

right now this looks like the only

viable workaround for the situation and

when the next day comes you should be

able to use that dimension right here by

clicking the plus icon in the

exploration then enter user id click

this check box click apply and then you

will see some data right here oh

actually i forgot to add that user id to

the rows and the reason why i'm still

seeing not set right here is because i

have just created that dimension still

not enough time has passed in order to

process this data properly so from

tomorrow you will start seeing some data

in this column after you have checked

everything and you are sure that this is

working properly publish your container

by clicking submit and then complete all

the other steps that are necessary and

that is how you can implement user id

tracking on a website with google

analytics for remember you have to

include the user id with every event

that you send from your website to ga if

you found this video useful hit the

thumbs up button below the video because

it helps me continue working on this

channel also if you want to learn more

about google tech manager or google

analytics 4 consider subscribing to this

channel my name is julius this is

analytics mania and i'll see you in the

next video

[Music]

you