The Side Effects of Creating or Modifying Events in Google Analytics 4 UI

The Side Effects of Creating or Modifying Events in Google Analytics 4 UI
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

This article reviews things you should consider before creating or modifying events. Be sure to check out the best practices section at the end of the article for a summary.

If you’re interested in how to create or modify events in Google Analytics 4, check out part 1!

Outline

    • General Limitations
    • Disjointed Processes
    • Roll-up Properties
    • BigQuery
    • Custom Definitions
    • Monthly Quota
    • Best Practices

General Limitations

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Creations/Modifications are:

  • Not retroactive
  • Cannot exceed 50 modified events or 50 created events
  • Cannot modify or create parameters based on items array

Note: You need an admin or editor role to be able to use this feature.

Disjointed Processes

Creating and modifying events within the GA4 UI can lead to disjointed, messy, and inefficient processes depending on who’s creating or modifying events compared to who’s managing the data flowing into the properties. In turn, this could lead to duplicate, inaccurate, and/or unneeded data being captured by this feature. If you use this feature, be sure to outline clear responsibilities, roles, and processes. 

Here are just a few examples of what can happen:

  • Missing Data: Users modify important standard events like page_view only to capture sections or parts of the website.
  • Duplicate Data: Developers and your tag management team capture new data which overlaps with and duplicates data created through GA4 UI.
  • Duplicate Data: Uninformed users create a new event or parameter even though one already exists.
  • Unneeded Data: Users create or modify events/parameters instead of creating filters, segments, etc. to extract the information they need within reports.

Roll-up/Sub-properties

Any modified or created event will also appear in your roll-up and sub-properties. I recommend that if you use this feature, make sure that your modifications or creations have consistent naming conventions, values, etc. alongside other properties flowing into your roll-up or sub-properties.

What You Need to Know about Google Analytics 4 Account Structure

BigQuery

If you have BigQuery linked within GA4, that means all information being sent client-side directly to GA4 will then also be stored in BigQuery.

The Google Analytics and BigQuery Integration

Custom Definitions

You can create a custom dimension or metric in your property via the create/modify events feature in GA4. When you do, you’ll need to register the custom definition

Before you do, consider your custom definitions limit with the table below. It’s best practice to avoid high cardinality parameters so values are not grouped under (other) in GA4 reporting. 

ScopeStandard property limits360 property limits
Event-scoped custom dimensions50125
User-scoped custom dimensions25100
Item-scoped custom dimensions1025
All custom metrics50125

Monthly Quota

Creating or modifying events can count against your monthly quota.

For Standard Properties, this means that data over your quota will not be processed. For 360 clients, you will be charged overages if you exceed your quota.

Basic Properties (non-360)

GA4: 10 million hits per month per property 

UA: 200,000 hits per user per day / 500 hits per session

360 Clients

Contact your representative

Google Analytics Collection Limits and Quotas

Best Practices

We recommend creating, modifying, or deleting events using your Tag Management System (such as Google Tag Manager) first.

If you do use this feature, we recommend that you have a plan in place to eventually migrate this to your Tag Management System and then delete modifications or creations following the migration.

Remember, it’s important that your teams are aligned, processes are in place, and responsibilities are assigned to keep your properties properly maintained.

Feeling confused about creating and modifying events?

Our team of digital analytics experts is here to help whenever you need us.
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Originally Published: May 8, 2023
May 8, 2023

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