Hour and date dimensions now available in GA4

Google has just added hour and date dimensions for Google Analytics 4.

A dimension is an attribute of your data. It describes your data and it’s usually text as opposed to numbers. An example of a dimension is Event name, which shows the name of an event that someone triggers on your website or application (such as “click”). 

The new dimensions. An explanation of the new dimensions is below:

• Hour is the hour when an event was collected.
• Nth hour is the number of hours since the start of a specified date range.
• Date + hour is the date and hour when an event was collected.
• Week is the week of the event, a two-digit number from 01 to 53. Each week starts on Sunday, and January 1st is always in Week 1.
• Month is the month of the event, a two-digit integer from 01 to 12.

What the dimensions do. Google says you can use these dimensions to quickly answer questions like:

• How did my online sales data trend, hourly, after our Superbowl commercial aired?
• What months do I see the most traffic on my website?
• Are users of my app more likely to convert in the evening hours, or during the day? What about users of my website?

Add custom dimensions and metrics as primary dimensions in saved reports. Google just announced that you can now add custom dimensions and metrics to your custom reports as primary dimensions, enabling you to more easily report on custom information that’s important to your business.

Additionally, the dimensions and metrics pickers in the Reports Builder have been updated to allow for easier navigation to help you find dimensions and metrics quickly. 

Dig deeper. Learn more about analytics dimensions here.

Why we care. Advertisers will be able to see more information about their events so they can better optimize their campaigns. Use the dimensions to see the date and hour your event received clicks, conversions, or any other event name that’s specified.