Google Signals Will Be Removed from GA4 Reporting Identities

It’s official. Google Signals will be removed as a reporting identity from February 12, 2024. 

The news generated curiosity among several professionals about what it means for the Google Analytics 4 capabilities. 

Before we explain that, let us briefly review Google Signals and its role in your GA4 analytics. 

Why Google Signals Will Be Removed From GA4 Reporting Identities?

Data privacy laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) restrict how businesses collect and process users’ data online and offline. 

Google Signals data is Google’s proprietary data. Sharing it as such with businesses risks the exposure of personally identifiable information of the users. 

Google implemented a variety of measures to improve data privacy in GA4. 

These include using pseudonymous identifiers, applying data minimization and isolation, and showing aggregate user data in reports like demographics and interests. 

Data Thresholding is one of the ways Google Analytics 4 protects user data privacy. 

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What is Google Signals?

Google Signals comprises the website and app session data of the users who access these sites or apps from devices where they have logged into their Google accounts and authorized ads personalization. 

It is Google’s proprietary data. 

Google Signals is one of the four reporting identities in Google Analytics 4. 

• Device ID
• User ID
• Google Signals 
• Modeling

These identities came together to enable cross-device and cross-domain tracking in GA4. 

Google Signals has a vital role to play here. 

As of October 2023, Google received more than 277 million visitors from the US in 2023 alone, with over 1.8 billion Gmail users. 

That’s massive data. 

Google Analytics 4 uses vast data like this to identify when the same user visits from a mobile, tablet, or desktop. 

GA4 handles cross-device tracking by pooling data from the reporting identities into the website and mobile app data streams. 

Businesses then get three reporting options for the method GA4 can use to associate event data with users. 

• Device ID – comprises data from device ID alone.
• Observed ID – includes data from the user ID, Google Signals, and device ID.
• Blended ID – has data from the user ID, Google Signals, device ID, and modeling. 

Now let us explain why Google Signals will be removed if it is so great. 

What is Data Thresholding? 

Data thresholding in GA4 means Google Analytics 4 withholds user data when the number of users falls below their minimum threshold, an average of 500 users per day. 

Since the standard reports in GA4 use aggregate data, they remain unaffected by this issue. 

However, data thresholding may kick in when you try to apply filters or comparisons or use Explorations to analyze user data in detail, and the users fall below the threshold. 

You will see an orange triangle with an exclamation mark over the report, denoting thresholding. 

What Does Data Thresholding Have to Do With Google Signals?

Data Thresholding applies because the Observed and Blended reporting IDs use Google Signals data. 

Data that Google is supposed to protect to ensure that businesses cannot infer the identity of individual users. 

Despite that, it remains frustrating for businesses and analysts to face such restrictions when attempting to drill down into their data. 

Consider that all businesses may not want to or have the skills to import their data into BigQuery to perform the desired analysis without the thresholding.  

How Did Businesses Fix Data Thresholding?

To deal with the data thresholding, analysts tried a few options.

• Disable Include Google Signals in Reporting identity – in Data Collection in the Admin section to ensure that the Observed or Reporting IDs do not collect the Signals data, so thresholding does not apply. 
• Choose Device ID as the Default Reporting identity – since it does not collect the Signals’ data, using this ID would mean bypassing thresholding. 
• Increase the Date Range – to allow more users to be included in the report and avoid thresholding. 
• Import GA4 Data to Big Query – to gain access to unadulterated Google Signals free data to perform in-depth analysis. 

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How Does the Removal of Google Signals Affect Our GA4 Reports?

Demographics and Interests Report Will Remain Available

As mentioned earlier, GA4 will still collect the Google Signals data even after it ceases to be a reporting identity. 

So, if you enable Google Signals, you will continue to see the demographics and interests data in standard Google Analytics 4 reports. 

The standard reports show aggregate data, so the user data remains safe.

Cross-Device Tracking May Take a Hit

Google Signals data is used, among other things, for cross-device and cross-domain tracking. 

It means that when a user accesses a website or app from a device in which they are logged into their Google accounts and have enabled Ads personalization, Google can associate them with their account.

So, even when they visit from multiple devices in which they have logged into their Google accounts, GA4 counts them as one. 

Since Signals will no longer be a reporting identity, it can affect the count of users visiting your website or app. 

Find Out How Google Signals Removal As a Reporting ID Affects Your Data.

• Luckily, you can find out how the change can affect your reports in GA4.
• Go to Google Analytics 4 > Reports > Acquisition > Traffic. (Just for the sake of example, you may check any standard report).
• See the results, even download it. 
• Next, go to GA4 > Admin > Data collection and modification > Data Collection > Google Signals Data Collection, and toggle off Include Google Signals in reporting identity. 

• Go back to Reports, view the same report, and compare it with the previous report with Google Signals enabled. 
• Create a custom exploration report with Google Signals enabled and then create another report with Signals’ disabled. 
• Compare the data to see how the change affects your reports. 

Thresholds May No Longer Apply

An excellent news emerging from the discontinuation of Google Signals as a reporting identity is that business analysts will no longer have to deal with thresholding in GA4. 

The sole reason thresholding was in place was to ensure that access to users’ detailed personally identifiable information does not allow businesses to connect the dots and identify individual users.

Google does not sign a confidentiality agreement with the businesses using GA4. 

So, sharing their proprietary data with these businesses could expose user data without any safety measures had it not been for thresholding. 

With Signals out of the way in the default or custom reports, thresholding would not apply. 

Remarketing and Conversion Optimization is Still Possible

Google Signals has more uses than GA4 reporting, including the option to build predictive and custom audiences in Google Analytics 4 and import it to Google Ads. 

In this case, Signals’ data is a powerful tool to gain insights into customer preferences. Remember, they have enabled Ads personalization. 

Other vital marketing features like remarketing and customer optimization in Google Ads would also be available after Google Signals is removed as a reporting identity. 

Conclusion

Google Signals will be removed from GA4 reporting identity on February 12, 2024. 

Businesses would still have the Signals’ data in the demographics and interests report and use them for remarketing and customer optimization Google Ads. 

Google Signals is Google’s proprietary data about the customers who log into their Google accounts on their devices and enable Ads personalization. 

When included as a reporting identity, it contributed to Observed and Blended reporting IDs in GA4. So, users had access to aggregate user demographics and interests data in the custom reports. 

However, GA4 applied data thresholding when the users fell below 500 visitors/ day when building custom reports. 

Previously, business analysts resorted to disabling the Include Google Signals in reporting identity, selecting the device ID as the default identity, increasing the date range of their custom report, or importing data to BigQuery. 

Google Analytics 4 is discontinuing Google Signals as a reporting identity to counter data thresholding. It may affect the user count in GA4 reports. 

Despite the move, Google will continue to collect Google Signals data; it will be available for demographics and interests in the GA4 default reports. 

Businesses could also continue to build predictive and custom audiences in Google Analytics 4 and import them to Google Ads for remarketing and customer optimization.

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