GA4 Explorations and their Purpose

This article will review each of the Explorations our team has created for you. We will highlight their purpose and how to adjust filters as needed.

Instruction for how to adjust each base exploration for your agency's site are included in the section below explaining the explorations.

Disclaimer

GA4 Explorations automatically save any change made to them. When experimenting with or making changes to Explorations, it is best to make a copy first so you can revert any changes made to the Exploration if needed.

To make a copy of an Exploration, use the left-hand flyout menu to select "Explore."

On the Explorations page, locate the report you want to make a copy of and click the three vertical dots found on the right side of the reports. Select "Duplicate" from the drop-down menu, and a copy will be generated.

General Exploration information

This section will break down information that appears in each Exploration and will provide a brief explanation of their purpose

Variables

The Variables section defines the data you want to look at, including date range, rows and columns, and the metric you are exploring.

You can utilize the plus buttons under each section to add additional metrics (this is the data you are exploring) or add dimensions (these are utilized to generate your rows and columns).

Tab Settings

The Tab Settings section is where you organize your data. You can choose how to visualize your data and set your rows and columns. Below you will find a screen capture of this section and a breakdown of each section.

• Technique is the exploration method used to present your data.
• Visualization is the chart style you use to display the data.
• Segments are used to look at a specific section of your data such as mobile traffic.
• Rows define what Dimensions will be utilized in your Explorations rows.
• Columns define what Dimensions will be utilized in your Explorations rows.
• Values define what Metric your exploration is reporting on.
• Filters allow you to break down and see your individual site's data.

Exploring the Explorations

The following sections will detail each Exploration we have created for you to use.

Page Views: Descending by Views

This Exploration details information on total page views for oregon.gov webpages. This data does include repeated views. Below is an overview shot of the report that we will break down:

This free-form table exploration uses the page path + query string Dimension as its row data to generate individual pages. This Exploration then utilizes the views Metric in the Values section to report how many views each page received. Finally, this Exploration has a hostname Dimension in its filter to only report on www.oregon.gov traffic. You could also add a page path Dimension in the filter to filter down to specific agencies' pages.

Adjusting for your site

Use the 'Filters' section of the Tab Settings section to make adjustments.

For www.oregon.gov sites: leave the Hostname as 'contains' 'www.oregon.gov'
Add a filter for the 'Page path - query string' element Click 'Drop or select dimension or metric' Select 'Page path - query string'
Adjust the filter for your agency click 'Apply' This example would yield all the page results for the www.oregon.gov/oya website.
For host header sites: Host header sites are like 'osha.oregon.gov' and wcd.oregon.gov' where a non-www triad of letters precede 'oregon.gov' in the domain. modify the host name to match that of your site. click 'Apply'. This will show all results for wcd.oregon.gov in this case.
A page path - query string filter is not necessary for host header sites, but it can be added for more narrowly defined results if desired.  Just enter the sub-site URL name or a path to a location in a page path - query string filter.
This filter set will show all results for the wcd.oregon.gov/rtw subsite

Page Views: Ascending by Path

This Exploration details information on total page views for oregon.gov webpages. This data does include repeated views. Below is an overview shot of the report that we will break down:

The Page Views: Ascending by Path exploration shows the same information as the Page Views: Ascending by views exploration but is alphabetized by the relative path of the page. This report helps to locate a specific page and view its data.

Helpful Page Poll: Page Feedback

This exploration details information on pages that received a comment in the helpful page poll on your website.

This free-form table consists of three columns, the page path, event name, event label, and event value. The first column is just the relative path to the page on your site where this comment or vote was left. The event name column consists of the comment type (idea/comment/problem) type that the end users left. The event label is the comment left by the users. Finally, the event value is a numerical representation of whether the user found the poll helpful.

Helpful Page Poll: Page Votes

This exploration details the total counts of helpful page poll votes

The Helpful Page Poll: Page Votes exploration consists of three columns Page path, event count, and event value. The page path displays the relative path of the page where the vote was recorded. The event count displays the total number of votes (yes/no) on a page. Finally, the Event value column displays the number of Yes votes a page received.

DataTables: Keyword Searches

This exploration details what users search for through the DataTables on your website.

The DataTables: Keyword Searches exploration consists of the Event label, Event Name, and Event count columns. In this case, the Event label is the page that contained the DataTable used. The Event name column shows what users were searching the DataTable for. Finally, the Event count details how often that particular search term was used. The example above shows that the DMV's form index DataTable was searched for the term '226' 84 times in this given timeframe.

Document Downloads: By Page

This exploration details how often a given document was downloaded from a page.

The Document Downloads: By Page exploration consists of three columns page path, file name, and event count. The column page path displays the relative path to the page where the user downloaded a given file. The file name column details what file was downloaded from your website. The event count column displays the total number of downloads for each file.

Document Downloads: File & Source

This exploration details how often a given document was downloaded and from what pages it was downloaded.

The Document Downloads: File & Source displays the same information as the Document Downloads: By Page exploration but in a slightly different format. Instead of the primary sort being the page path, this exploration sets the file as the primary and then breaks down each page it can be downloaded from.

Form Submissions: Counts & Page

This exploration details Formbuilder form submissions in a given timeframe.

The Form Submissions: Counts & Page exploration consists of four columns event name, page path, event count, and event count per user. The event name is the action taken by the user when the form is completed (this will almost always be submit). The Page path is the relative path of the page where the form was located. The event count is the total number of submissions for that page. The event count per user is the average number of times the form was submitted by visiting users.

Outbound Links: By Link

This exploration details information on links that take users away from the oregon.gov domain.

The Outbound Links: By Link exploration comprises three columns event name, page path, and event count. The event name is the link users visited, taking them away from the oregon.gov domain. The page path is the relative path of the page the link was on. The event count is the number of times that link was utilized in a given timeframe.

 

Redirects: Campaign & Landing

This exploration details information on redirect