v18 release: what’s new in GA4Dataform Core

We just released GA4Dataform Core version 18 – a version with some small changes to the default channel grouping logic.

• Default Channel Grouping changes:
  • Organic Social is now better aligned with GA4: we now correctly match social domains that use wildcards (tumblr, blogspot, substack)
  • Organic AI (not found in GA4) has more domains and better matching
• A long lingering bug triggering false positive assertions is fixed: app properties and GA360 using “fresh” are now correctly handled
• We improved Measurement Protocol detection – MP now supports new fields (which we used for matching)
• We cleaned up the default_config.js file

GA4Dataform Community (the open source GitHub version) is going to be updated with these changes, too

Next version: schema change (and GA4Dataform Premium release!)

There’s also some notable changes we did NOT publish in this branch (but are coming), and are going to require a rebuild (since the output schema changes).

• some standard event parameters were added by Google since our first release
  • gad_campaignid
  • gad_source
  • unique_search_term
• the SA360 click parameter gclsrc

We will release these changes later, at the same time that we’re releasing GA4Dataform Premium. And yes, the Premium version is real, and it has a bunch of new features and models. Currently we’re hard at work testing and documenting. Stay tuned!

Note to those who update

The current version can be updated without a mandatory full refresh, we did not change the schema of the output tables.
However, if you want to retroactively see the better Channel Grouping and MP detection: feel free to run a full refresh.

Refresh historical data (optional)

To run a full refesh the most efficient way: include only these actions in a full refresh:

• int_ga4_sessions
• ga4_sessions
• source_categories
• and custom tables that use the channel grouping

Next steps

Jump to Get started if you’re new or go to the GA4Dataform installer to install or update your installation.

When you have questions or want to drop feedback: either leave a comment here on this blog, or raise a GitHub issue. We’re here to help you!