Google Signals to be removed from GA4 Reporting Identity

Google have recently announced that from 12th February 2024 Google Signals will be removed from being used for “reporting identity” in GA4.  What will this mean for your user data and how will this impact your reports?

In addition to providing demographics reporting, Google signals can also be used to de-dupe data where users, who are logged into Google, access your site from different devices.  This cross-device reporting provides a more unified view of user touchpoints with your site across multiple sessions and via different channels.

Demographics data will continue to be available following the change, but cross device reporting will stop. 

To assess the impact of this change on your data first check your “Data Display / Reporting Identity” settings in GA4.  If you are using either the “blended” or “observed” settings then Google Signals will no longer be used following the change.  If you are using the “Device Based” option however there will be no change as this uses the GA4 cookie set on the user’s device

To assess the impact of the change on your user data head over to the Explore tool in your GA4 account and create a “Segment Overlap” report. Create one segment for users with a “device category” of mobile and another for desktop users.

In the example below, the overlap between mobile and desktop users represents the volume of users identified via Google Signals cross device reporting. Once Google Signals is no longer used for reporting identity these users will no longer be de-duped from your data. In this example you’d thus expect to see a small increase in your overall user data.

Have a question about GA4 reporting identity or need assistance with an analytics project?  Why not drop us an email at info@andersanalytics.com.