GOV.UK GA4 improvements changelog
This page details improvements made to the GOV.UK GA4 data collection and processing since January 2025.
Upcoming changes can be found on the improvements roadmap page.
For a more long-term history of changes to the GOV.UK GA4 data collection, please see the GOV.UK GA4 annotations report.
January 2025
New canonical URL field
A page’s canonical URL is captured in a new field/custom dimension sent with all events. This is available in the GOV.UK GA4 property, the Data API, and in BigQuery in both the raw and flattened datasets.
traffic_type parameter added to the GOV.UK GA4 flattened dataset
The traffic_type parameter is available in the GOV.UK GA4 flattened dataset to support analysis of GOV.UK GA4 data filters.
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.
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.
February 2025
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.