UA vs. GA4: What are the differences in Engagement Rate

Table of Contents

What GA4’s Engagement Rate is Telling You

Your engagement rate is one of the most important things to track when it comes to your business. 

After all, the engagement rate will tell you almost everything you need to know about your users’ interests and behavior: what they’re looking for, what causes them to drop off, and what keeps them coming back to your website.

To calculate your engagement rate, divide the number of engaged sessions by the total number of sessions over a specified time period.

However, it’s essential to keep in mind that with Google Analytics 4, the definition of an engaged session has changed – and so your GA4 engagement rate won’t mean exactly the same thing it did with Universal Analytics.

GA4 considers a session to be engaged if the session:

     

      • Lasts 10+ seconds, or

      • Has 2+ pageviews or screenviews, or

      • Records 1+ conversion events

     

    If the session does not meet any of the above criteria, Google will count it as a bounce.

    What does this new juxtaposition of engaged sessions and bounced sessions mean for your analytics?

    Watch Holger Tempel’s latest video to learn more about the changes in the Sessions metric and extract more meaningful insights from your engagement rate in GA4:

    Youtube Video: Difference between UA and GA4 - Part 8

    Picture of Holger Tempel

    Holger Tempel

    Holger is among the first Google Analytics partners worldwide since early 2005. Holger is considered one of the leading experts on digital analytics and is a renowned trainer who can simplify complex ideas into real-world practical examples with actionable insights.

    Related resources