Google Analytics 4 Integration

What You Can Do With GA4

Once connected, ILLIXIS:

• Syncs content metrics daily — Pageviews, users, engagement time, and bounce rate for every published article
• Creates retargeting audiences — Build GA4 audiences based on content topics that auto-sync to Google Ads
• Tracks demographic data — Age, gender, location, device, browser, and traffic sources
• Measures engagement — Session duration, pages per session, and engagement rate
• Evaluates predictions — Compare predicted traffic against actual GA4 data

All of this happens automatically. Connect once, and ILLIXIS handles daily syncs.

Prerequisites

Before connecting GA4, ensure you have:

1. A Google Analytics 4 property — Not Universal Analytics (UA). GA4 is the new version launched in 2020.
2. Editor access — You need at least Editor permissions on the GA4 property to authorize ILLIXIS.
3. GA4 tracking installed — Your website must have GA4 tracking code installed and sending data.

If you're still on Universal Analytics, you'll need to upgrade to GA4 first. Google has extensive migration guides on analytics.google.com.

Connecting Google Analytics 4

Step 1: Start OAuth Flow

1. Go to Settings → Integrations in ILLIXIS
2. Scroll to the Analytics & Search section
3. Find Google Analytics 4
4. Click Connect Google Analytics 4

This redirects you to Google's OAuth consent screen.

Step 2: Authorize ILLIXIS

1. Sign in with the Google account that has access to your GA4 property
2. Review the permissions ILLIXIS requests:

• analytics.readonly — Read your GA4 data
• analytics.edit — Create audiences for retargeting

3. Click Allow

You'll be redirected back to ILLIXIS with a success message.

Step 3: Select Your GA4 Property

After OAuth completes, ILLIXIS shows all GA4 properties you have access to.

1. Select the property that matches your website
2. The property name shows in parentheses (e.g., "My Website (Account Name)")
3. Click Save

ILLIXIS saves your property ID and is now connected.

What Gets Synced

Content Metrics (Daily)

Every morning at 6 AM UTC, ILLIXIS syncs the last 30 days of data for all published content. For each article, it fetches:

• Pageviews — Total screenPageViews
• Users — Unique visitors
• Engagement time — Average session duration
• Bounce rate — Percentage of single-page sessions

This data appears in:

• Content Hub (metrics column for each article)
• Content Decay alerts (traffic decline detection)
• Performance dashboards

Audience Data (Weekly)

Every Sunday at 5 AM UTC, ILLIXIS captures a demographic snapshot:

• Age breakdown — 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+
• Gender breakdown — Male, female, unknown
• Country/city — Top 20 locations by user count
• Device breakdown — Mobile, desktop, tablet
• Browser breakdown — Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.
• Traffic channels — Organic, direct, social, email, paid
• Interests — Google's affinity categories (requires Google Signals)

This powers retargeting audience creation and demographic insights.

Creating Retargeting Audiences

GA4 audiences you create in ILLIXIS automatically sync to linked Google Ads accounts within 24-48 hours. This lets you retarget content readers without direct Google Ads API access.

From a Specific Article

1. Go to Content Hub
2. Open any published article
3. Click Actions → Create Retargeting Audience
4. ILLIXIS creates a GA4 audience: "Readers: [Article Title]"
5. The audience includes anyone who viewed that article in the last 30 days

Use this to retarget readers of high-intent content (e.g., product comparison articles, buying guides).

From a Topic Cluster

1. Go to Advertising → Audiences
2. Click Create Topic Audience
3. Select a topic cluster (e.g., "sustainable fashion")
4. ILLIXIS creates an audience of anyone who viewed multiple articles in that topic
5. Membership duration: 30 days (configurable)

Use this to retarget people who have shown interest in a specific topic across multiple articles.

Audience Membership Duration

By default, users stay in audiences for 30 days. You can adjust this up to 540 days (18 months).

• Short duration (7-14 days): High-intent offers, limited-time promotions
• Medium duration (30-60 days): Standard retargeting, nurture sequences
• Long duration (180-540 days): Brand awareness, evergreen content

Viewing Synced Data

In Content Hub

Each published article shows GA4 metrics:

• Last 30 days pageviews
• Last 30 days users
• Engagement time
• Bounce rate

Click any article to see detailed metrics over time.

In Analytics Dashboard

Go to Intelligence → Analytics to see:

• Top-performing content by pageviews
• Traffic trends over time
• Audience demographics
• Device and browser breakdowns

In Content Decay

GA4 data powers content decay detection. ILLIXIS alerts you when articles lose 30%+ traffic compared to their 90-day average.

Troubleshooting

"No authorized GA4 connection"

You either haven't connected GA4 yet, or the connection was revoked. Go to Settings → Integrations and reconnect.

"Permission denied creating audience"

Your Google account needs Editor access on the GA4 property. Viewer access is not enough. Contact your GA4 admin to upgrade your permissions.

"Analytics Admin API not enabled"

ILLIXIS uses the GA4 Admin API to list properties and create audiences. This API must be enabled in your Google Cloud project.

To enable it:

1. Go to console.cloud.google.com
2. Select the project used for ILLIXIS
3. Enable Google Analytics Admin API

If you don't have access to Google Cloud Console, contact ILLIXIS support.

"Failed to fetch pageviews"

Check that:

1. Your website has GA4 tracking installed and sending data
2. Published articles have URLs that match GA4 pagePath format
3. The GA4 property ID is correct

ILLIXIS matches article URLs to GA4 page paths. If your CMS uses a different URL structure, some articles may not match.

"No data synced yet"

GA4 sync runs daily at 6 AM UTC. If you just connected, wait until the next day for data to appear. You can manually trigger a sync from Settings → Integrations → Google Analytics 4 → Sync Now.

Automation Schedule

ILLIXIS runs automatic syncs to keep your GA4 data fresh without any manual intervention.

Sync Timing

| Sync Type | Frequency | Time (UTC) | What It Does |
|-----------|-----------|------------|--------------|
| GA4 Metrics | Daily | 6:00 AM | Fetch pageviews, users, engagement for all published content |
| Audience Sync | Weekly | Monday, 6:30 AM | Sync demographics, devices, channels, interests |

First Connection

When you first connect GA4, ILLIXIS performs a historical data pull that fetches:

• Last 30 days of content metrics for all published articles
• Current audience demographics and device breakdown
• Traffic channel distribution

This initial sync happens immediately after OAuth completes, so you'll have data within minutes of connecting.

Data Freshness

GA4 data in ILLIXIS is typically 24-48 hours behind real-time. This delay comes from two sources:

1. GA4 processing delay — Google Analytics takes 24-48 hours to fully process and finalize data
2. ILLIXIS sync schedule — Daily syncs run at 6:00 AM UTC

For example, if a visitor reads your article on Tuesday afternoon, that pageview will appear in ILLIXIS:

• Wednesday or Thursday morning (after GA4 processing + daily sync)

This delay is normal and expected. For real-time traffic monitoring, use the GA4 interface directly.

Manual Sync

Can't wait for the scheduled sync? Trigger a manual sync anytime:

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Google Analytics 4
2. Click Sync Now
3. ILLIXIS fetches the latest available data from GA4

Manual syncs still respect GA4's processing delay, so you'll get data up to 24-48 hours ago.

Security & Privacy

What ILLIXIS Stores

• Refresh token — Used to fetch data without repeated OAuth
• GA4 property ID — Identifies which property to query
• Access token — Short-lived (1 hour), refreshed automatically

ILLIXIS does not store:

• Your Google password
• Individual user data (we only fetch aggregated metrics)
• Personal information from GA4

What ILLIXIS Can Do

With the authorized permissions, ILLIXIS can:

• Read your GA4 reports and metrics
• Create audiences in your GA4 property
• List properties you have access to

ILLIXIS cannot:

• Delete data from your GA4 property
• Modify existing audiences
• Change GA4 settings or filters

Revoking Access

To disconnect GA4:

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Google Analytics 4
2. Click Revoke Access
3. ILLIXIS deletes your stored tokens

You can also revoke access from Google's side:

1. Go to myaccount.google.com/permissions
2. Find ILLIXIS
3. Click Remove Access

Best Practices

Connect Early

Connect GA4 as soon as you start using ILLIXIS. This builds historical data for content decay detection and audience insights.

Use Editor Access

While Viewer access works for fetching metrics, Editor access is required to create retargeting audiences. Connect with an Editor account from the start.

Match URL Structures

Ensure published article URLs in ILLIXIS match the pagePath format in GA4. ILLIXIS automatically handles common variations (with/without trailing slash, query parameters), but major mismatches will prevent metric sync.

Enable Google Signals

In GA4, enable Google Signals to unlock interest/affinity category data. This powers better audience targeting.

To enable:

1. Go to your GA4 property
2. Navigate to Admin → Data Settings → Data Collection
3. Turn on Google signals data collection

Related Features

• Advertising — Create and manage retargeting campaigns
• Content Decay — Monitor declining content using GA4 traffic data
• Analytics Dashboard — Cross-channel performance reporting
• Google Ads Integration — Sync GA4 audiences to Google Ads