Google Analytics Audit Test #

42

Custom Dimensions Implemented to Match Business Questions

Why It Matters:

Critical to understanding the attributes of visitors and actions they take on your website that matter to your business.

Industries:

All

Checks For:

Utility

How powerful is your current implementation?

Insight Category:

Behavior

Can you tell what visitors are doing?

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Background

A GA4 audit is essential for uncovering missing insights—key data points that organizations don't yet know and can act upon. A well-done audit evaluates both behavioral tracking and traffic attribution, ensuring each is accurate and useful. It also assesses whether the data collected truly supports business decisions and reporting.

Test Detail

This test evaluates whether the number of custom dimensions in GA4 is appropriate for the organization’s analytics maturity and needs.

GA4 allows up to 50 event-scoped and 25 user-scoped custom dimensions, and both overuse and underuse can present problems:

  • Too many custom dimensions may lead to:
    • Hitting limits and blocking future strategic needs
    • Storing low-value or redundant data
    • Increased risk of high-cardinality dimensions degrading report performance
  • Too few may indicate:
    • Missed opportunities to track valuable user behaviors or attributes
    • Underutilization of GA4's customization capabilities
    • A reliance on standard reports that don’t reflect your business model

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Google Analytics audit test results.

How to Conduct This Test

Basic Tests

  • In GA4 Admin > Custom definitions, review the number of:
    • Event-scoped custom dimensions (limit: 50)
    • User-scoped custom dimensions (limit: 25)
    • Consider:
      • Are you using <5 dimensions in total? You may be missing out on valuable insights.
      • Are you using >80% of the available slots? You may be overextended or tracking unnecessary fields.
    • Also check:
      • Whether names and scopes are consistent and meaningful
      • If any are collecting high-cardinality data (e.g., long URLs, search terms, unique IDs)
      • If some dimensions are outdated or unused in reports

Automated, Free Audit

Run our Instant Audit to check your current dimension count and usage.

Want help balancing your tracking strategy? Hire a pro.

How To Fix

  • If you have too many custom dimensions:
    • Audit for redundancy, cardinality issues, or fields with little analytical value
    • Retire dimensions that aren’t tied to business KPIs or aren’t used in reporting
  • If you have too few:
    • Brainstorm high-value behaviors, metadata, or user traits you could track (e.g., subscription tier, content type, product category)
    • Create a tracking plan and reserve space for upcoming needs
  • Maintain naming conventions and documentation so your analytics setup is scalable and consistent.
  • Hire a pro to right-size your custom dimensions, improve your signal-to-noise ratio, and unlock more meaningful insights in GA4.

Tips from a Google Analytics Consultant

Focus on Insights

Every Google Analytics audit should result in a plan for more insights.

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An insight is:

  • something you don't know
  • and can act on to improve performance

The Goal

Identify and remove insight blockers. Don't get tempted to track things you can't act on!

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