Google Analytics: Quick Wins and Hacks for Marketers Course

Lesson 1 • Standard Reports Marketers Use Most

Walks through Acquisition, Engagement, and Retention reports. Builds the habit of locating actionable data quickly without custom configuration.

Lesson 2 • GA4 Interface and Navigation Basics

Covers the GA4 dashboard layout, menu structure, and report navigation. Establishes the spatial literacy needed for every subsequent task in the course.

Lesson 3 • Core GA4 Data Model Explained

Explains the event-based data model replacing sessions and pageviews. Understanding this model is essential for interpreting all GA4 reports accurately.

Lesson 1 • Essential Admin Settings for Marketers

Configures data retention, time zones, and channel groupings for marketing accuracy. These settings directly affect attribution and cohort report correctness.

Lesson 2 • Account and Property Structure

Explains the hierarchy of accounts, properties, and data streams in GA4. Correct structure prevents data mixing and simplifies multi-brand reporting.

Lesson 3 • Configuring Data Streams and Settings

Sets up web and app data streams with enhanced measurement options. Proper stream settings capture scroll, video, and file-download events automatically.

Lesson 1 • Building a UTM Naming Convention

Creates a standardized naming system that keeps data consistent across teams. Consistent naming prevents fragmented channel data in acquisition reports.

Lesson 2 • Using the Campaign URL Builder

Demonstrates the Google Campaign URL Builder and spreadsheet-based bulk tagging. Efficient URL creation reduces human error and speeds up campaign launches.

Lesson 3 • UTM Parameters Explained

Defines all five UTM parameters and their roles in campaign attribution. Correct parameter use is the single biggest lever for clean source/medium data.

Lesson 1 • Defining Conversions in GA4

Explains how GA4 marks events as conversions and how this differs from UA goals. Aligning conversion definitions with business KPIs ensures meaningful reporting.

Lesson 2 • Using Google Tag Manager for Conversions

Configures conversion events via GTM triggers and tags without editing site code. GTM-based setup enables faster iteration and reduces developer dependency.

Lesson 3 • Verifying and Troubleshooting Conversions

Uses DebugView, Realtime reports, and GA4 event reports to confirm conversion firing. Verification prevents reporting on broken or double-counted conversion data.

Lesson 1 • Exploration Reports Overview

Introduces the Explore section and its available templates for custom analysis. Explorations answer questions that standard reports cannot address without customization.

Lesson 2 • Cohort and Retention Analysis

Uses cohort exploration to measure how well campaigns retain acquired users over time. Retention data reveals channel quality beyond initial conversion volume.

Lesson 3 • Applying Segments to Explorations

Adds user and session segments to explorations for comparative behavioural analysis. Segment comparisons expose performance gaps between audience groups and channels.

Lesson 4 • Building Audiences in GA4

Creates audiences using event conditions, user properties, and predictive signals. Well-defined audiences power both analysis and remarketing campaign targeting.

Lesson 1 • Comparing Channels with Custom Reports

Builds custom comparison reports to benchmark channels against shared KPIs. Standardised comparisons eliminate the bias of platform-native reporting.

Lesson 2 • GA4 Attribution Models Explained

Compares data-driven, last-click, and linear attribution models available in GA4. Model choice significantly changes which channels receive conversion credit.

Lesson 3 • Traffic Acquisition Deep Dive

Analyses session source, medium, and campaign dimensions in the Acquisition report. Layering secondary dimensions reveals which campaigns drive quality traffic.

Lesson 1 • Automated Insights and Anomaly Detection

Activates GA4's automated insights to surface traffic anomalies without manual checking. Insight alerts act as a passive monitoring layer that flags issues proactively.

Lesson 2 • Keyboard Shortcuts and Search Tricks

Uses GA4's search bar and keyboard shortcuts to jump directly to any report or metric. These micro-efficiencies compound into significant time savings across a workweek.

Lesson 3 • Customizing the GA4 Homepage

Pins key reports and cards to the GA4 home screen for instant daily access. A personalised home screen cuts report-finding time by eliminating repetitive navigation.

Lesson 4 • Saved Reports and Collections

Creates saved report collections accessible from the left nav for recurring analysis. Collections reduce setup time and ensure team members use consistent report views.

Lesson 1 • Building Executive Marketing Dashboards

Designs concise dashboards that communicate channel ROI and conversion trends to leadership. Effective dashboards reduce stakeholder questions and accelerate budget decisions.

Lesson 2 • GA4 BigQuery Export for Power Users

Enables the BigQuery export to access raw, unsampled GA4 event data for deep analysis. BigQuery unlocks queries impossible in the GA4 interface due to sampling limits.

Lesson 3 • Turning Data into Strategic Recommendations

Translates GA4 findings into prioritised marketing recommendations with supporting evidence. Structured insight delivery increases the likelihood that data drives real decisions.