Hey there, Benjamin from Loves Data here! Welcome to my Insiders Update! Today I'm
covering Google's announcement about Google Optimize, Shopify's upcoming GA4 integration,
new dimensions and metrics in GA4, and Performance Max campaign experiments in Google Ads. Plus,
I'll share some of my latest tutorials you can find right here on YouTube.
Google has announced that they will be shutting down Google Optimize at the end of September. I
really like Google Optimize, so I'm hoping they change their mind and we see similar
features added directly inside GA4. I think the chances of this happening are quite low, but
I'll be continuing to run experiments in Google Optimize until it's shut down. Here we can see
Google's announcement. So we have until the end of September for testing and personalization with
Google Optimize. After this, our experiments will end and we won't be able to access any historical
data. I'm going to continue running experiments until Google Optimize shuts down, but I'm also
looking at suitable replacements. I'm currently considering Crazy Egg, VWO, Zoho Page Sense,
and a couple of other solutions. If you would like to see me compare and review replacements for
Google Optimize, I'd love to hear from you. Let me know in the comments below! And moving on to GA4
and Shopify. Shopify has announced that they will be releasing their own GA4 integration in March.
I heard a rumor last year that they weren't going to support GA4 at all, so this is great news.
It's going to make it easier to collect data about your Shopify store and transactions
into Google Analytics. I'm guessing this will mean we will be able to measure the full path
to purchase by simply entering our measurement ID from GA4. So I'm looking forward to seeing
this feature released in March. Until then, you can continue to use the different methods I've
covered in my tutorials. I've included links in the description below this video. And another
GA4-related announcement is that Google has added new ecommerce dimensions and metrics. Let's take
a look. We can see there are a number of new ecommerce dimensions and metrics available in GA4.
This includes 'Item variant', 'Items added to cart', 'Items viewed', 'Shipping amount',
and more. This announcement also means Google has added item-scoped metrics to GA4 which allows you
to report on individual products. And we can see this highlighted at the bottom. So just remember
to use item-scoped dimensions and item-scoped metrics when creating custom exploration reports.
Finally, I wanted to mention that Google has launched the option to run experiments for
our Performance Max campaigns in Google Ads. This lets us run a test to see how
our Performance Max campaign compares to our existing campaigns. And we can
also run a test to see how our Performance Max campaign compares to standard shopping
campaigns. Let's head to Google ads to take a look. I've already opened a Performance
Max campaign in my demo account. So let's select 'Experiments'. Then 'Performance Max Experiments'.
And let's click the plus sign to create a new experiment. We can then choose from 'Test
Uplift from Performance Max' or 'Test versus Shopping Campaign'. Let's select 'Test Uplift'.
This type of experiment lets you understand if your Performance Max campaign improves
the overall results for your account. You can select an existing Performance Max campaign.
And then click 'Next'. We can see that we will be testing our existing campaigns with our existing
campaigns and our Performance Max campaign. This will let you measure the improvement of running
the Performance Max campaign in your account. I also want to mention some of my recent tutorials
on YouTube. Please take a moment to check them out. I've included links in the description
below this video. I've released an updated Google Ads tutorial that covers how to get started with
Google Ads. It covers the settings you should be using, tips, and more. If you're looking to
get started with GA4, Google Analytics 4, then check out my quick-start tutorial. It's under
15 minutes, and will show you how to start using the latest version of Google Analytics.
I also have a tutorial for setting up consent mode in Google Tag Manager.
And another tutorial that will walk you through how to set up enhanced conversion
tracking for Google Ads. Again, I've included links to these videos in the description below.
Okay, that's all for now! And as always, if you found this video helpful, then please
like it so I know to make more videos like this one. I'll see you in the next video!