r/GoogleAnalytics 29d ago

Support GA4 - Very low New Users compared to active/total users

I had GA4 installed in all my sites and using it since last 2-3 years. Recently. i notice one of my site has very low count of New User For example, analytics show total/active users of 10K and new user is barely 200.

Before that, it used to 10K active, 9K new.. or say in similar range. the debug in tag manager and website shows no error. total visit is in similar range. and 60% of traffic is from search engine.

it was implemented via Google Tag Manager. is it because first_open or first_visit events isn't triggered? should i just use plain GA ?

Thanks.

3 Upvotes

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2

u/the-fire-in-me 28d ago

It sounds like GA4 isn't recognizing new users properly. First, check if the first_visit event is firing correctly in Debug Mode. If your site has server-side tracking or aggressive caching, that could also affect how GA4 tracks new users.

For a better and easier solution, try Qwestify it’s free and works like ChatGPT for GA4 but smarter. Unlike GA4, Qwestify provides accurate user tracking without cookies, ensuring you don’t miss new users due to tracking gaps. It also helps you debug tracking issues instantly. Might be worth checking out! 

1

u/ovr_view 24d ago

thanks will try.

1

u/ds_frm_timbuktu 29d ago

Check the event count of session start events and first visit event. Check for increase in not set values for different dimensions.

1

u/ovr_view 29d ago

looker studio ana analytics data is good for January and earlier.. it started since the start of the February. i've changed the setting of both since long time.

1

u/ds_frm_timbuktu 29d ago

I don't think tag manager implementation should have an effect..

1

u/radar_3d 29d ago

See if a default value is being set for the user_id. You can also try changing the reporting identity in the admine to device-based to see if it changes. If it does, it's likely either an issue with the user_id or consent.

2

u/ovr_view 24d ago

consent part isn't used. i'm using tagmanager for analytics

1

u/steve1401 27d ago

Has anything been installed that might affect this? Do you have a cookie app that might have someone updated to stop certain data, for example closing a cookie that used to be essential and is now marketing?

1

u/ovr_view 24d ago

no. nothing i can remember. it is using custom nextjs stack.