How to Use the New Google Web + App Properties Update

In 2019, Google introduced its Web + App Analytics property type so that online businesses can measure engagement in a more convenient and effective way. Previously, businesses had to measure website engagement and app engagement with Google Analytics and Firebase. The App + Web property type enabled businesses to better understand the general picture by combining web and app data to obtain unified analysis data and reports.

This property type is an updated beta version of standard Google Analytics tracking. Web + App properties have a lot in common with the default (Universal) properties, which are used quite often. However, App + Web discards the hierarchical structure of events and doesn’t focus on session data. Instead, App + Web relies on an event-driven approach. If you want to get started with Google Analytics or you’re new to this property type, you will certainly benefit from learning how to use Google Web + App Google Analytics by SumoMe .

Benefits of Using App + Web

This property enables you to not only consider a combination of your web and app data but also track customer journey on both your mobile app and the website. Therefore, you can:

• Fix attribution issues when working with multiple devices;

• Evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing efforts on different platforms and devices. For instance, you can understand which marketing channel drives the most conversions.

• Do advanced analysis with an updated set of reports;

• Get a reporting view on the number of unique users across platforms, which is impossible to do with other property types;

• Better understand your customers’ purchase journey and therefore improve user experience.

Now let’s consider Google Web + App property in more detail.

The New Analytics Account Structure

After the Web + App property type was introduced, the structure of Google Analytics accounts changed. The Google ecosystem calls companies that use Google products organizations. To access your organizations, you can visit the Google Marketing Platform. Your organization can be linked to one or more Google Analytics accounts, and every account can have one or more properties. Previously, there were only two properties available: the Web property, which collects data from your website, and the Apps property, which focuses on the app data. Now, you can also select “Apps and web.”

When configuring this property, you should select data streams, such as Android, iOS, and web streams. Keep in mind that you can select multiple app data streams when configuring App + Web, but you can only select one web stream. Your Google Analytics reports will reflect the data from multiple streams. The reporting view doesn’t work retroactively, so when you add a Web + App property to your account, you’ll need to wait for 24 hours before the new data appears in reports.

How to Configure Web + App

Web + App properties are based on Firebase and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Firebase is a mobile development platform, while GCP focuses on computing, data storage, machine learning, and other aspects. “On the one hand, App + Web is built on Firebase. On the other hand, it works with data from Google Analytics, and the relationships between Google Analytics and these properties are a reason why configuring can be a challenging task,” explains Lee Butler, a digital marketer at a writing services review website Pick The Writer.

First, you should Create a Web + App property. If you don’t have an app, you should configure it from Google Analytics. If you already have an app, you should configure it from a Firebase project. After this, you need to set up data streams in Analytics. Let’s consider each of these steps in more detail.

1. Create a Web + App propertyFirst, you should set up the property. You can do it through either Google Analytics or Firebase. For example, you can associate an existing GCP project with a new Firebase project. Your Firebase project should be created from the Firebase console. Associating an existing GCP project with a Firebase project enables you to use Web + App data in one project with Universal Analytics data.

It’s better to configure your Firebase project first. If you’ve already configured a Firebase project for other purposes, you might want to use this project instead of creating a new one. You can also create a new project from the Firebase console. A new project will also be created if you create an app stream in Google Analytics. You can allow this project to be created behind the scenes and then locate it in Firebase later if you need it.

If you create a Web + App property without creating a project in Firebase, your property will still have a Firebase project if you’ve created an app stream. The project will be generated automatically if you create a Web + App property in Analytics and only configure an app stream.

Once you’ve finished this step, you’ll be able to see the data collected with Web + App in Firebase. A good thing about Web + App is that, even though Firebase has many paid products, this property is free, and you don’t need to use paid products to use Google Web and Apps.

1. Set Up Web + App

-   **Set it up via Firebase if you have an app**  
    As we’ve already mentioned above, you can use an already existing project. If you’re using Firebase, we recommend that you create a new Firebase project even if you’re not going to use Firebase products. You should also configure your Firebase project first. Keep in mind that you can use a project that is configured for other objectives.

If you create a Firebase project, you’ll be able to access all the Firebase features. You’ll also be able to use product linking configurations, such as linking Google Analytics to @BigQuery. We suggest that you create a Firebase project if you’re going to use BigQuery integration because it’s only available in the Firebase console. Such configurations are not available in Web + App properties yet.

Visit your Firebase console and click “Create a project.” You can choose a name for your project and enable Google Analytics for the project with a toggle. Click “Continue” and select the Google Analytics account that will be linked to the Firebase project. After this, a new Web + App property will be available in your Google Analytics account.

You can also add a Web + App property to an existing Firebase project by visiting Project Overview > Project settings. Click the “Integrations” tab, and select Google Analytics. If this integration has already been enabled, you can skip this step because it should already exist in Analytics if you’ve created the project with Google Analytics enabled.

You should use the Firebase SDK to collect data. When adding an app to the Firebase project, click Project Overview > Settings and follow step-by-step instructions to install Firebase in your app. To track app interactions, you will need a tracking code.

• *Set up Web + App via Google Analytics if you don’t have an app
  *You can also create a Web + App property in Google Analytics, without setting up a Firebase project first. Go to the admin page and click “Create Property” to ad App + Web to an existing Google Analytics account. After this, specify the necessary details and click “Create.”

1. Setting up data streamsTo collect data, you should link the property to a data stream. In the App + Web property menu, choose platforms (Android, iOS, or Web) and configure the data stream. After this, you will see an “Enhanced measurement” option. You can configure it with a toggle to enable plug-and-play event tracking.

There’s no need for additional configuration, just select the necessary options from a list of interactions that are tracked most often. When configuring the data stream, you will have to follow the config instructions, and then you’ll need to add the Firebase SDK because it’s necessary for app tracking. Once the new data stream is created, you’ll see a stream management page, where you can configure all of your data streams and add new ones.

Tags

Google Tag Manager has two tags for Web + App properties, which work together: the Event tag and the Configuration tag.

• The Configuration tagThis tag launches Google Analytics for a certain page. It is responsible for behavior associated with Google Analytics cookies. It sends enhanced measurement and automatic events, as well as a common settings declaration. You should fire this tag on every page you want to gather data from, and this tag should be triggered before any event tags. To add this tag, click Tags > New > Tag Configuration. Select “App + Web Configuration,” and enter a measurement ID. After this, you can select additional parameters and up to 25 user properties. Click “Triggering” and select events that will trigger the tag.

• The Event tagThis tag enables you to send custom events. For instance, you can trigger this tag to get scroll depth data based on the scroll depth trigger. To add this tag, click Tags > New > Tag Configuration. After this, select “App + Web Event.” You can select your configuration tag and event name. You can also add event parameters and user properties. Besides, you can select “Tag Firing Priority” in “Advanced settings” so that your Configuration tag will fire before any events associated with it. After this, click “Triggering” to choose the events that will trigger the tag.

How Events and Parameters Work

Any actions of your website or app users that occur at a specific time are called events. For instance, there are such events as formsubmit, addtocart, and pageview. Parameters can be sent with each event. These are pieces of additional data that help you better understand the context of events. For instance, parameters can help you understand how, where, and how an event occurred.

Events enable you to see what happens in your application or on your website, including, errors, system events, and user actions. Many events are saved in Google Analytics logs automatically so you can collect some types of event data with no need to add any code. Some user properties are also collected automatically. For example, the global website tag collects such events and properties as sessionstart, pageview, firstvisit, and userengagement. “A great feature of Google Analytics is that your app can log an unlimited number of events so if you need to get some additional event data, you can choose from among 500 different types of analytics events,” notes Jenny Strickland, a digital marketer at a custom writing reviews website Writing Judge.

There are many parameters that are sent automatically. Besides, you can choose up to 25 custom parameters for any event. For example, when working with website events, the pagetitle event will be sent automatically, and you can also add such events as authorname, articleid, authorid, aticletitle, etc. To see the information on events and parameters, you can check the reports in _Web + App Google properties.

Recommended and Custom Events

Some events are recommended for apps of all kinds, while others are intended for specific types of businesses. To get the most detailed reports in Web + App properties, you should send the recommended events with the prescribed parameters. This way, you’ll be able to use new integrations and features to your advantage as soon as they become available. Recommended events can help you get data for detailed reports on combinations of events and parameters, ensure integration with other products (including Google Marketing Platform and Google Ads), and create audiences.

You can also create events that are not included as suggested or used automatically. However, you should keep in mind that the names of these events won’t be recognized by Web + App property reports. Therefore, your custom events must be analyzed using Google BigQuery . You can log both custom and recommended events from your website pages by using an event command. For instance, you can use this command for events where users log in using their Google accounts:

gtag('event', 'login', {

'method': 'Google'

});

Wrapping Up

We hope that this guide will help you use Google platforms and Google properties more effectively to get detailed actionable insights into your users’ behavior. Thanks to Web + App properties, you can see a general picture that reflects customer engagement across different channels. You can track the performance of your website and app simultaneously, monitoring customer journey, understanding what channels bring the highest ROI, and improving customer experience.