The Google Analytics Measurement Protocol for Google Analytics 4 enhances
measurement for web and app streams by
sending events
directly to
Google Analytics servers in HTTP requests. You can record server-to-server and
offline interactions, and send them as Measurement Protocol events to Google
Analytics, where they can be viewed in
reports
.
You must use tagging (gTag, Tag Manager, or Google Analytics for
Firebase) to use this protocol. See
key features
for important
information on how this Measurement Protocol works with Google Analytics 4.
Use cases
Here are some ways to use the Measurement Protocol:
- Tie online to offline behavior.
- Measure client-side and server-side interactions.
- Send events that happen outside standard user-interaction, like offline
conversions.
- Send events from devices and apps where automatic collection isn't
available, like kiosks and watches.
Get started
See
send events
to learn how to send events to Google Analytics using the
Measurement Protocol.
If you're implementing the Measurement Protocol for an app stream, you can start
with the
Send app events to GA4 using Measurement Protocol
codelab.
Architecture
Here is an overview of the Measurement Protocol.
Key features
This section explains important information for using the Measurement Protocol.
You must use gTag, Tag Manager, or Google Analytics for Firebase for tagging to
use most of the Measurement Protocol features with Google Analytics 4.
Same device remarketing is supported when
Google signals
is turned on. For
cross-device remarketing, a User ID is required.
Advertising identifiers
Advertising identifiers such as GBRAID/WBRAID collected during online
interactions are automatically joined using the Client ID or App Instance ID
with Measurement Protocol events.
Privacy settings
Measurement Protocol events are joined with online interactions
using the Client ID or App Instance ID to functionally adopt user privacy
settings such as "non personalized ads" and "limit ad tracking".
Google Analytics 4 automatically joins the most recent geographic information
from tagging with Measurement Protocol events using
client_id
or
app_instance_id
.
This ensures that your Measurement Protocol events are reflected in reports that include
geographic dimensions.
You can't send geographic information using the Measurement Protocol.
Device information is only available through automatic collection from gtag,
Google Tag Manager, or Google Analytics for Firebase.
Full server-to-server
While it's possible to send events to Google Analytics solely with measurement
protocol, only partial reporting may be available. The purpose of measurement
protocol is to augment existing events collected using gtag, GTM, or Firebase.
Some event and parameter names are
reserved
for use through automatic
collection and cannot be sent through the measurement protocol.
Rules for
generating or renaming events
are not automatically triggered based on events sent with measurement protocol.
Your application should implement the logic to send custom events through
the measurement protocol similar to the rules configured in Google Analytics UI.
Next steps