How Do I Use GA4 for My Firm?

In 2024, GA4 replaced Universal Analytics (UA), which had been Google’s long-standing analytics tool. The transition to GA4 means adjusting to new ways of understanding website metrics. GA4 remains one of the best ways to assess whether your legal marketing is working. It shows you who’s coming to your site, how they got there, and the actions they take when they arrive.

Here’s our guide to find and use the information in GA4. 

Setting Up GA4

If you already have Google Analytics you can set up GA4. The first step is to create a property. Click Admin > Create Property. Your website name can be your property name. Configure the rest of the settings, including your time zone.

For GA4 to work you’ll also have to place a GA4 tag on your website. GA4 offers guidance on how to do this right inside the platform. Start by locating the tag settings in Analytics. Click Admin > Property > Data stream > Your stream > Configure tag settings.

You should see a box that says “Welcome to your Google tag.” Click on “Installation Instructions” on the right hand side of the page. Once the installation is done, you can go ahead and start collecting data and producing reports from your website. 

Your GA4 Dashboard

The Home screen in GA4 is your main dashboard, with at-a-glance information about your site and recent performance. This gives you a snapshot of the past seven days, a real-time report, and suggestions for areas to review or metrics to assess. If you need quick info about how your site is faring, the dashboard is where it’s at. 

Finding Reports in GA4

Under your “Life Cycle” options you’ll see a list of several different reports:

• Acquisition: This shows how people came to your website. “User acquisition” is how the visitor first came to your site. “Traffic acquisition” is a combined metric of all traffic sources. So if a user first came to you by clicking on a paid ad, then found you through a Google search, user acquisition would credit “paid search.” Traffic acquisition would credit both “paid search” and “organic search.”
• Engagement: This shows how people interact with your site. Engagement includes “events,” which is GA4’s term for all types of website activity. Events include “first visit,” “scroll,” “page view,” and “session start,” among many others. You can create up to 500 unique events for your GA4 account. Events have replaced what were called “hits” in Universal Analytics. 
• Conversions: This is also categorized under engagement, but includes action-oriented activity. You can also customize this report with conversions you want to identify, such as “filled out contact form,” or “engaged with live chat.” 
• Pages and screens: Also under engagement, this shows which pages on your site attract the most attention.

This is just the beginning of the data-rich reports available in GA4. They are the ones law firms will use the most.

Advanced Tools in GA4

These reports offer a wealth of information. But GA4 takes it a step further with advanced tools that give deeper insight. It’s with these tools that raw data become information you can use to improve your site’s user experience and to meet your target conversion goals.

Two of the more useful tools are path analysis and funnel analysis. 

Path analysis lets you see the journey people take through your website. Imagine an organic search leads to your practice area page on divorce. A path analysis shows where users go next. Do they dive deeper into pages on spousal support and custody? Or do they click the “About Us” page to learn more about the firm? 

A path analysis lets you see what’s happening so you can structure your pages to lead people where you want them to go. 

Funnel analysis is a bit different, but similar to path analysis. It allows you to see the steps people take before converting. Do they open the live chat right from the home page? Or do they spend time reading lawyer bios before clicking on the embedded contact form?

Like with path analysis, funnel analysis gives you insight you can use to change your website structure to encourage more conversions. 

Using GA4 to Optimize Your Law Firm Website

The insights from GA4 serve a purpose. They give you important data you can use to tailor your website to get the best results.

Here are some things you can do:

Use acquisition data to plan your marketing spend. Perhaps you’ve invested in quality content to boost organic search rankings. But, GA4 data reveal your law firm gets the best ROI on paid search strategies. You might shift to more paid ad campaigns.

Use page views and engagement to optimize content. Identify pages that aren’t performing. You might revise or restructure these pages. Remember performance isn’t just about views. A page with a low number of visitors might still have a high number of conversions. GA4 lets you look closely at this kind of performance data.

Use path and funnel analysis to improve user experience. If a large number of users are lingering on your site pages but never getting in touch, it’s a sign there’s something wrong. You can reassess navigation and layout to prevent losing these contacts.  

Think of this website analysis as an ongoing practice. Even the best legal marketing strategies often require refinement. This is natural, since client needs shift and change, as do the marketing goals of individual law firms.

Elevate Firm Marketing With Martindale-Avvo 

Google analytics for law firms is an excellent tool to help refine and improve your website. Working with the team at Martindale-Avvo can also elevate your law firm marketing with innovative campaigns. Talk to us today about how we can help.