GOV.UK GA4 improvements roadmap
This page details upcoming and recent changes to the GOV.UK GA4 data collection and processing.
See the changelog for previous releases.
What we’re working on now
Creating useful tables joining GOV.UK GA4 and Knowledge Graph data
Creating summarised tables or views combining GOV.UK GA4 and Knowledge Graph data.
Investigating using the User Deletion API to delete users’ GA4 data
Investigating using the User Deletion API to delete users’ GOV.UK GA4 data.
Increasing the reliability of the Content Data app query
Increasing the reliability of the query used to populate a table that provides the Content Data app with GOV.UK GA4 data.
Enabling easier access to site search data
Creating simplified tables or views containing GOV.UK site search data in BigQuery.
Recently released
Resolved issues with some custom dimension fields in the GOV.UK GA4 flattened dataset
Issues with the query_string, ui_text, response, search_term, autocomplete_input, autocomplete_suggestions, and link_text fields in the GOV.UK GA4 flattened dataset have been resolved in the data processing going forwards. The processing for these fields was only including string values, but we observed that some data was coming through as having an integer or double data type. We have now edited the processing so that integer and double type data will be included in these fields in the flattened table.
Note that these fields have not yet been backfilled (an upcoming task), so historic flattened data will still only include the string values.
Taxonomy dimensions renamed in the GOV.UK GA4 flattened dataset
Four taxonomy dimensions have been renamed in the GOV.UK GA4 flattened dataset to help users find the correct fields.
taxonomy_all_DEPRECATED has become taxonomy_all and taxonomy_all_ids_DEPRECATED has become taxonomy_all_ids, as these are the fields containing current taxonomy information.
full_taxonomy has been renamed full_taxonomy_DEPRECATED and full_taxonomy_ids has been renamed full_taxonomy_ids_DEPRECATED because these fields have not been populated since November 2023.
Smokey test data filter updated with other test IP addresses
The ‘Smokey’ data filter set up in the GOV.UK GA4 property has been updated with the IP addresses now used for the E2E tests. The GOV.UK GA4 data quality notes contain further details on the potential test bot data being collected and notes on how to filter it out of reports.
Bug fixed on contact form_complete events
A bug which led to contact type form_complete events firing on the completion of other forms across GOV.UK has now been fixed.
Page path (cleaned_page_location) field updated in the GOV.UK GA4 flattened dataset
The cleaned_page_location field in the GOV.UK GA4 flattened dataset has been updated following the implementation of the canonical URL.
The cleaned_page_location now defaults to the canonical_url value, with the hostname removed, if it is available.
If the canonical_url is null, the cleaned_page_location is calculated as before - by stripping the hostname, anchors and query string from the page_location.
Alternative methods of backfilling datasets investigated
We have investigated changing our backfilling processes, focussing on developing a process for backfilling individual columns of the GOV.UK GA4 flattened dataset. In this investigation, we learned how to backfill individual columns, but also that this was a fiddly and expensive task. We will only use this single column method on rare occasions, and will instead continue to prefer whole day backfilling, with human intervention required to delete the days needing to be backfilled.
Assets domain Search Console BigQuery export set up
We have set up the bulk export for the assets.publishing.service.gov.uk domain Search Console property. This should facilitate analysis of users’ journeys to files on that domain.
Updates
As we’re still at an early stage, our plans may shift. We’ll update this page when this happens and add more detail when we can.