Are you still using the default My Dashboard, or have you considered benefiting from your Google Analytics 4 data? GA4 offers some great tools for analyzing your website performance. One of the best features is the custom dashboard, which helps you share and visualize significant numbers. With GA4, you can turn all that raw data into insights that actually matter by creating and personalizing dashboards to fit what you need. Let’s check out how to make custom dashboards in GA4 so you can see all your key info at a glance.
What is a Google Analytics Dashboard?
The Google Analytics dashboard is a report you can customize to keep an eye on your website’s key metrics. Even though Google Analytics 4 (GA4) doesn’t have the built-in dashboards feature that Universal Analytics had, you can still create a similar setup in GA4. It might take a bit more manual work, which can be a bit tricky for some users, but it’s definitely doable if you know the basics.
Google Analytics is the most used internet analytics tool, being used by 50.9% of all websites. Unlike earlier versions, GA4 offers several reporting options through Looker Studio for better data visuals and the Library for changing basic reports and explorations. With these tools, you can enhance your marketing strategy, make better decisions, and create reports that show off the key metrics you care about.
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Key Features of Google Analytics 4
Google Analytics GA4 dashboards make it easier to understand data and give clear insights for better decision-making. They can handle different needs, whether looking at user engagement, sales, or marketing efforts. Here are some top Google Analytics features of 2025 that make it a handy tool for checking your SEO activities.
- Adaptable Widgets: One of the best features is the custom widgets. You can set them up to show the data that matters most to you, helping you stay focused on what’s important for your goals.
- Real-Time Data: GA4 dashboards let you see real-time updates on how users are interacting with your site or app. This is really helpful for tracking campaigns and understanding user behavior as it happens.
- Connectivity to Google Services: You can make your data analysis better by combining GA4 dashboards with other Google services. This way, you’ll have a clearer picture of your marketing and performance metrics.
- User-Friendly Design: GA4 dashboards are designed to be easy to use. You can create, change, and manage your data panels without any hassle. It’s simple enough for anyone to navigate, no matter their skill level.
Customizing Your GA4 Dashboard
Setting up and customizing your GA4 dashboard helps you visualize and understand your data better. This makes it easier to keep track of important metrics, see how users behave, and make choices based on the data. Here’s how it all works!
Step 1: Access the Dashboard
Login to GA4 and navigate to the “Explorations” section of the GA4 property you have set up.
Step 2: Use the available templates.
Click “Create detail report” to begin generating your own report. Instead of attempting to build a blank report, we advise using one of the templates and adding filters.
- Create a filter after choosing your metrics and dimensions. For example, you can add a landing page filter to the report so that it only displays data from specific landing pages if a stakeholder is only interested in data from those pages.
- Give your report a distinctive name after you’ve finished creating it. To make sure you set it apart from other reports, you can even include a description.
- Reports can be added to new or existing collections. Click “Create new collection” and then “Blank” to add it to a new collection.
You can design custom metrics and dimensions using GA4 to meet your specific business requirements. This can be especially useful for monitoring industry-specific KPIs, activities, or website performance.
- Find a data piece that is essential to your research but is not natively captured by GA4.
- To create your own metrics or dimensions, use the Google Analytics dashboard’s “Custom Definitions” section.
- For a more thorough understanding of the performance of your website, incorporate the custom statistic or dimension into your dashboard cards.
Step 3: Add more data to the dashboard
To choose which GA4 Custom dimensions and metrics to add, use the “Variables” window. To customize your visualizations, drag and drop these measurements and dimensions into the “Tab Settings” box.
Step 4: Personalize the Visuals
Add more chart types to your dashboard, such as scatter plots, line charts, and bar charts. Additionally, you can add various data cards to your dashboard. You can personalize each graphic by selecting the appropriate dimensions and metrics and modifying parameters like filters, segments, and date ranges.
Step 5: Personalize GA4 Reports Snapshots
The Reports Snapshot is the first item you see when you log into GA4 and go to the Reports tab.
#1: Click the pencil symbol in the top right corner of the screen to get started:
#2: A Customize Report side window will then open. You can view each of the report cards here. It comes with 13 cards by default and can carry up to 16 of them. First, you’ll see that you can drag a card to a new spot by clicking the six dots on the left to rearrange the cards.
#3: Click Add cards at the bottom of the list to create a new report card. To add to your dashboard, you can choose from Google’s pre-made cards here.
#4: When the down arrow is accessible, click it to view the additional measurements for each card. Click the blue Add Card button after selecting the checkbox to add a card to your dashboard.
#5: Remember to click and drag it up into a new place if you wish to move it up. Click the blue “Save” button once it’s in the desired location.
You can further customize your cards after selecting them to get an in-depth understanding. Here’s how:
- Date Range: Select the duration you wish to examine so that you may monitor patterns over time.
- Segments: Use your data filter to focus on particular user segments, including mobile users, new versus returning visitors, or specific demographics.
- Comparisons: To find areas that need improvement, compare data points. Performance can be compared across time, user groups, or advertising campaigns.
Step 6: Customize Topics
Within collections, topics serve as subcategories. Think of subjects as separators that bring related reports together and collections as folders. For example:
- Audience and demographic information is the main emphasis of the User Attributes topic.
- The Tech subject offers information on technological aspects such as browsers and gadgets.
Step 7: GA4 Explorations
With the help of GA4 Explorations, any on-page SEO expert will suggest you find hidden insights in your data and go beyond basic analysis. Using a drag-and-drop interface, users can construct bespoke visualizations and conduct in-depth analyzes of user groups or website interactions. They also provide several ways to personalize the way data is shown, such as:
- Free-form exploration
- Cohort exploration
- Path exploration
- User lifetime
- Funnel exploration
- Segment overlap
- User exploration
You can identify possible reasons for the bounce rate, such as slow loading speeds, unclear navigation, or a lack of important product information, by thoroughly examining user behavior and tracking links in Google Analytics on that page using Explorations.
After your dashboard is configured, click the “Save” button to save it. By clicking the “Share” button and selecting the relevant parameters, you can share your dashboard with other people.
Step 8: Keep an eye on and update
Regularly review your dashboard to analyze vital indicators and spot patterns. Make any necessary changes to your website/app or GA4 setup based on the data. If your monitoring or reporting needs to change, make the necessary updates to your dashboard.
Summing Up
The customizable dashboards offered by Google Analytics 4 offer a versatile and effective means of visualizing and disseminating website performance data. It promises that you and your team have instant access to the metrics that are most important by configuring and personalizing dashboards. You can access relevant data by customizing GA4 reports, which will assist you in making well-informed marketing decisions.
Icecube Digital, a leading SEO services company in the USA, is a great partner that offers both live and stored data, enabling an infinite lookback window, comparisons, and analytics, allowing you to get the most out of GA4. Get a comprehensive understanding of user behavior and performance with our advanced reporting, explanations for in-depth analysis, and the Library to customize common reports today!