Viewing and Reporting GA4 Parameters: Using Explore and BigQuery

To view and report GA4 event parameters, you can use both the GA4 Explore tool and BigQuery, each offering different levels of detail and flexibility:

Using GA4 Explore:

• Navigate to GA4 > Explore > Free Form Reports.
• Select an event to analyze, then add event parameters as dimensions or filters to break down the event data.
• This lets you see detailed context such as the page location, campaign source, or specific user actions tied to each event.
• GA4 automatically collects default parameters (e.g., event_name, page_location, session_id), and you can add custom parameters for deeper insights.
• Explore is useful for interactive, ad hoc analysis and visualisation without needing SQL knowledge.

Using BigQuery:

• GA4 exports raw event data to BigQuery, where event parameters are stored in a nested array called event_parameters.
• To extract parameters, use BigQuery’s UNNEST function to flatten this array and query individual parameters as columns.
• This approach allows complex, custom SQL queries to analyze specific parameters like purchase revenue, transaction IDs, or search terms.
• BigQuery is ideal for advanced reporting, combining GA4 data with other datasets, or building automated dashboards.

Key points for effective parameter use:

• GA4 limits event parameters to 10 per event (25 for GA360), so plan which parameters to track carefully.
• Document your event parameters clearly, defining names, data types, and expected values to ensure consistent data collection and analysis.
• Focus on parameters that align with your business goals to get actionable insights.

In summary, use GA4 Explore for flexible, user-friendly parameter analysis and BigQuery for deep, custom querying of GA4 event parameters, especially when dealing with complex or large datasets. Both tools complement each other in reporting GA4 parameters effectively.