GA4 Explorations: Going Beyond the Standard Reports

What explorations are for

Google's Explorations overview describes them as "a collection of advanced techniques that go beyond standard reports to help you uncover deeper insights about your customers' behavior." The default reports are built for monitoring key metrics; explorations give you "access to data and analytical techniques that aren't available in reports." Google says Explorations is available for all Google Analytics properties, so you do not need the paid 360 version to use them.

In practice, explorations are for ad hoc questions. You build a table or chart, apply segments and filters, drill down, and then either save the result, share it with colleagues or export it. If you have not set up GA4 yet, or your enquiries are not recorded as key events, start with our GA4 basics guide: an exploration can only analyse the data your property collects.

How the editor works

You open explorations from Explore in the left navigation. Each exploration has three areas:

• Variables (left): the date range, and the dimensions, metrics and segments you have imported for this exploration. Google allows "up to 20 dimensions and 20 metrics" per exploration.
• Tab Settings (middle): the technique for the current tab and where each variable goes, such as rows, columns, values, breakdowns and filters.
• Canvas (right): the result. An exploration "can contain up to 10 visualizations", each on its own tab, so you can mix techniques in one exploration.

You can start blank, from a template, or from a standard report: open the report, click the comparison button, then Explore. The date range behaves differently depending on how you save it. With a preset such as "Last 28 days", the exploration always shows the most recent 28 days when you open it. With a custom range, the dates stay fixed.

The seven techniques

Google lists seven techniques. Each has its own help page, which is worth reading before you rely on the numbers.

• Free form: a crosstab table that can also be shown as a donut, line, scatterplot, bar chart or geo map. You can nest rows, compare metrics side by side and create segments and audiences from selected data. Line charts include anomaly detection, which flags outliers against a training period you choose.
• Funnel exploration: shows how users move through steps you define, with up to 10 steps and up to 4 segments. A closed funnel counts only users who start at step one; an open funnel lets users enter at any step. You can show the average elapsed time between steps and the most common next actions, and save a funnel exploration as a funnel report.
• Path exploration: a tree of the pages, screens or events users went through after a starting point, or before an ending point when you use backwards pathing. Google notes that "A path exploration can have a starting point or an ending point but not both." Each step shows the top 5 nodes by default and up to 20 with + More.
• Segment overlap: compares "up to 3 user segments" in a diagram, for example new users, mobile traffic and converters, so you can build a new segment from the intersection.
• Cohort exploration: groups users by a shared starting condition, such as first visit or first transaction, and shows how many come back by day, week or month. Google notes that cohorts "are based on the user's device data only".
• User explorer: lists the individual users in a segment and shows a timeline of one user's events, useful for troubleshooting a specific flow. It also holds the option to delete a user's data, which Google warns "is not reversible."
• User lifetime: shows behaviour and value across each user's whole lifetime, such as lifetime revenue by first source or medium. The end date is fixed to yesterday, and its own sampling limit is "1M users for the free Google Analytics product".

For most small business websites, free form, funnel and path explorations cover the useful questions. Cohorts and user lifetime matter more for shops and apps with repeat customers.

Data retention decides your date range

This is the setting that catches most people out. Google's data retention page says the retention setting "does not affect standard aggregated reports" and "only affects explorations and funnel reports." For a standard property you can keep event and user-level data for 2 months or 14 months; the longer periods are for 360 only. Google adds that "The two-month retention period is always applied to age, gender, and interest data regardless of your settings."

The overview notes that properties "retain 2 months of data" by default. If you leave that unchanged, an exploration cannot look back further than about two months, even though your standard reports show more. Google explains that when an exploration's date range is longer than the retention period, "data for that additional time is not visible in reports." Raising the period applies to data you have already collected and not yet deleted, so change it early. You need the Editor role, and Google waits 24 hours before applying a change, during which you can revert it. Check the longer period against your privacy policy, as our GA4 basics guide suggests.

Sampling and data thresholds

Explorations query event-level data, so large queries may be sampled. Google's data sampling page says "The quota limit for event level queries is 10 million events for standard Google Analytics properties". Above that, Analytics uses a portion of the data and scales up the result. When sampling is applied, the data quality icon shows the percentage of data used. A typical small business site rarely reaches 10 million events in one query, but a long date range on a busy shop can. Shortening the date range is Google's own suggestion when you want to avoid sampling. If you need exact counts or more history than retention allows, the raw, unsampled GA4 BigQuery export is the other route.

Thresholds are a separate privacy control. Google's data thresholds page says they stop anyone viewing a report or exploration "from inferring the identity or sensitive information of individual users". Thresholds "are system defined. You can't adjust them." They are most likely when you include demographics or data from Google signals, or use a narrow date range with few users; Google suggests expanding the date range to see thresholded data. When sampling or thresholds apply, the icon at the top right of the exploration changes from green to yellow.

Why explorations and reports can differ

Do not expect an exploration to match a standard report to the last visit. Google's page on data differences between reports and explorations lists the usual causes:

• Some dimensions and metrics in reports are not supported in explorations, and they are dropped when you open the report in Explore.
• Exploration filters are case sensitive and let you choose the match type; the search field in reports is a "contains" match and is not case sensitive.
• Date ranges in explorations "are limited to your property's data retention settings".
• Data thresholds may withhold rows when user counts are low.
• With behavioural modelling for consent mode, reports and explorations use different data sets, so modelled numbers can differ slightly.
• Data processed at different times can give slightly different results for the past 48 hours.

When you report numbers to someone else, say where each one came from. Our guide to website analytics reporting covers which numbers to put in a monthly report.

Sharing, exporting and limits

A new exploration is private: "When you first create an exploration, only you can see it." To share one, you need at least the Analyst role in the property. Google's access management page says the Analyst role "Can share created explorations to other users of the property." Shared explorations can be viewed but not edited by Viewers; to change one, a user duplicates it. Only the person who created an exploration can delete it.

You can export to Google Sheets, TSV, CSV or PDF. Sheets, TSV and CSV exports include all the data in the visualisation, which may be more than is on screen; PDF saves what is displayed. Google also lists these limits:

• up to 200 individual explorations per user per property;
• up to 500 shared explorations per property;
• up to 10 segments per exploration;
• up to 10 filters per tab.

If several people need the same view every week, an exploration is the wrong tool. A dashboard that refreshes on its own, such as one built in Data Studio (Looker Studio), is easier to share with people who do not work in Analytics.

Three explorations worth building first

1. An enquiry funnel. Steps from a landing page view to the contact page to your form's key event. An open funnel shows where people join; a closed one shows how many make it from the first step. Compare mobile and desktop with segments.
2. A backwards path from the enquiry. Set your form submission or booking event as the ending point to see the pages people viewed just before it. This often shows which service pages actually lead to contact.
3. A free form table of landing pages by source. Rows for landing page, columns for session source or medium, values for sessions and key events. Add campaign dimensions if you tag your links with UTM parameters.

Before you build any of these, raise data retention to 14 months, make sure your enquiry is a key event, and save the explorations with clear names so they are easy to find later.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between GA4 reports and explorations?

Reports are pre-built views for monitoring key metrics. Explorations are ad hoc analyses you build yourself with techniques such as free form, funnel and path, using data and techniques that are not available in reports.

Why does my GA4 exploration only show two months of data?

Explorations are limited by the property's data retention setting, which defaults to 2 months. Standard properties can choose 14 months in Admin under Data retention. The change applies to data not yet deleted, but not to data already removed.

Are GA4 explorations sampled?

They can be. Google says the quota for event-level queries is 10 million events for standard properties; above that, Analytics uses a portion of the data and scales up. The data quality icon shows when sampling applies.

Who can see my explorations?

Only you, until you share them. Sharing needs at least the Analyst role. Viewers can see shared explorations but not edit them; they can duplicate one to make changes.

Can I turn off data thresholds in explorations?

No. Google says thresholds are system defined and can't be adjusted. A longer date range can reduce how often they appear, and they are most likely with demographics or Google signals data.

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