How to import Uplifter short link clickthroughs metric into GA4

You may want to view the Uplifter short link clickthrough's metric in Google Analytics (GA4) interface to compare short link clickthroughs to other GA4 metrics which require cookie acceptance. This will give you a larger click value, which is independent of ad platforms / agencies clicks data. Letting you compare clicks on a like for like basis rather than comparing apples and oranges from different ad platforms. 

To import this data we use Google Analytics (GA4) data import feature, which has some benefits but lots of considerations, therefore we recommend you read this article before setting it up.

Imported data benefits

• View data in one place - Importing data allows you to see your Uplifter click through data within the Google Analytics Interface, where you can make and share reports with colleagues.

  While we rather you use Uplifters user-friendly Report module - we understand your organisation may require you to report in GA4 and some users may only have access to this.

   

• Doesn't require cookie consent - Consent management means Google Analytics traffic can go under reported as the Google Analytics tag is not able to record data before the user clicks accept on a cookie banner. The Uplifter short link click count can give a clearer picture of how a campaign is performing.  

   

• No reprocessing risk - The imported data is joined at query time in Google Analytics and does not alter or change the existing data.  You can remove the imported data at any time and it won't affect data in Google Analytics.

   

Imported data considerations

• Can only be imported / joined using some UTM parameters - The join is based on the the value for utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign and utm_id. Meaning you won't be able to break it down by other parameters, like utm_content or custom parameters unless you have a unique utm_id in each Uplifter link. This can mean its suitable for some clients taxonomies, but not others.

   

• Can't be broken down by hour - Data can only be imported on a day granularity and not reported by hour or real time.

   

• Up to 24 hour time lag - It takes up to 24 hours between to import the data and display it in GA4 reports. Meaning you shouldn't create reports with today or yesterday's data in it, you need to teach this to your GA4 users.

   

• Can't be used to build segments or audiences. A side effect of the data being joined only at query time. 

   

• Upload data limit - Although large, there is a file size limit across imports.  If you are importing from multiple sources you might reach this limit although GA 360 customers have a higher limit.

   

How does the data import feature work

The import works by classifying campaign data within Google Analytics after data is collected.

Currently this is restricted to joining it by using the following GA4 parameters:

For the import to work successfully, only the utm_source and utm_medium parameters are required to be in the URL.  If you are using utm_campaign or utm_id, Uplifter will add those to the import if they are present in your links.  Campaign data can only be added on a day granularity.

Uplifter takes all links created in the platform and extracts the values from the url for each of the utm parameters. If they are encoded it will perform decoding, so that they match exactly with the values that you see in the interface.  

For each unique combination of utm_source, medium (campaign and id if present) parameters we then aggregate the short link clicks that include those parameters and upload this as short link click count to Google Analytics.

For example in Google Analytics we see:

This Non-Google click number is the combined Uplifter short link clickthrough's for two Uplifters links in the table below, which have the same Source / Medium / Campaign.

Whilst these two links have different parameters for utm_content and utm_creative_format, we can't see this breakdown using data import.

Common issues with data import

• Short link clickthroughs is considerably higher than other metrics in GA4 - The Uplifter click count is not restricted by consent or cookies.  The click count data is anonymized in such a way that it does not require the permissions and restrictions that Google Analytics requires.  As such it can provide a higher figure of traffic that either bounced, blocked the Google cookie or did not load the Google tag as expected.

   

• The GA4 import interface shows a low "match rate" - This is not necessarily an issue - the match rate is the number of imported rows against identified combinations within Google.  Uplifter uploads all combinations from the Uplifter workspace and the match rate is based off only the last 2 years of data within Google Analytics.  If you have had your Uplifter workspace longer than 2 years you can expect a lower match rate.

Where do I find this data in Google Analytics 4?

The metric is called "Non-google clicks" in some places and "Ads clicks" in others within the user interface.

1. The main location for reports on imported data is the "Non Google Campaign" report (where its called "Ads clicks"):

2. Additionally you can build reports in the "explore" (here its "Non-Google Clicks"):

3. Imported data is available in the "Advertising" section under "Conversion Performance" as "Ads clicks".  If your data is joined with Google Ads this will also include your clicks from Google Ads:

Setting up GA4 Data Import in Uplifter

The following step by step instructions will allow you to import Uplifter clickthrough data into GA4.

Requirements to setup:

• On our enterprise plan as it uses an Uplifter API key
• Uplifter workspace admin
• Google Analytics (GA4) profile admin

Set up steps:

1. Sign in to the Uplifter workspace you wish to import short link clickthroughs from.
2. From Settings > You > Support, copy "Workspace ID"

3. From Settings > Company > API token, copy "Your API token"

4. Sign into Google Analytics, navigate to the GA4 profile relevant to the Uplifter workspace. 

5. In the left-hand navigation menu, at the bottom, click into "Admin"

6.  Under "Data collection and modification" click "Data import"

7. Click the blue "Create data source"

8. Give the data source a name, select "Campaign data" and "HTTPS" as the data source and click "Next"

9. Enter the following into the boxes:

10. Click "Next" until the modal closes