The “Users” metric in Google Analytics 4 tells you how many people visited your site or app. Simple enough on the surface, but GA4 actually tracks several types of users – and the default “Users” column in your reports may not show what you think it does.
As described in the Analytics documentation: “In order for Google Analytics to determine whether site traffic belongs to one user or another, a unique identifier must be associated with each user that is sent when a hit occurs.”
So how does Google Analytics define “Users”?
In simple terms, the “Users” metric is the number of new and returning people who visited your site over some defined period. When a user visits the site for the first time, a cookie is created on the user’s computer to which a certain unique identifier is assigned.
This identifier allows Google Analytics to characterize the person as a new user (New User). If the same person returns to visit your site at a later stage, they will be considered by Analytics as a returning user (Returning User).
However, there are situations where the same person will be considered a new user despite having visited your site before. For example, if they visited from a different device or from a different browser than the one used on the first entry, they would get a different unique identifier in a new cookie for that specific browser. For example:
- If someone visited your site via a mobile computer at work, a cookie with a unique identifier for that browser will be created, and that user will be considered a new user.
- If later that person comes home and visits the site again through the home computer, a new cookie with another unique identifier will be created, and in this case, he will be considered a completely new user.
Furthermore, if a user deletes the cookies in their browser and then visits your site, they will also be considered a new user by Analytics, even if they had visited your site previously from the same device or browser.
Why is the “Users” metric important?
The “New Users” metric in Google Analytics allows you to see how many people have visited your site for the first time over a certain period. This metric is an indication of your success in creating new users on the site if you are investing effort in marketing, say paying for advertisements and investing time in social media publishing to attract these users.
The “Returning Users” metric, on the other hand, describes how many people returned to your site and visited it more than once. For sites that publish content regularly like blogs, a high number of returning users can indicate that users find your content valuable and return to consume more. A related metric worth tracking is your bounce rate.
Graph describing new (orange) versus returning users on Savvy Blog in the past year
Is a low number of users necessarily negative?
A low number of users is likely not positive in most cases, but it varies from site to site. Although a higher number of users is generally positive, consider the time, energy, and money you are spending to attract these users and also understand how they interact with the site.
For example, if you are spending money on ads that bring you 50 new users but none of them convert to regular users, it’s likely that you’ve invested money and haven’t received the appropriate return.
On the other hand, if you’re not investing money in ads but your site organically attracts 20 users, of which five convert and become regular users, then this is a more positive situation since the number of regular users on your site is growing.
So, generally, you should try to increase the overall number of users on your site over time, both new and returning users alike. Traffic and the number of users indicate growth, but they are not necessarily the most important metrics. Setting up conversion tracking in GA4 gives you a clearer picture of what users actually do on your site.
Return and sales will probably be more important metrics for an online store and e-Commerce shops than the number of users visiting the site each week, despite the connection between the two.
“New Users” versus “Returning Users”
Understanding the division of users, i.e., the percentage of new users versus returning users is also important. An unproportional ratio between new and returning users can indicate several things about your site and business.
It may be that a low numerical value of returning users compared to a high numerical value of new users is a standard and normal situation in certain industries. But for other industries, this might imply that the content you are presenting does not resonate with your site’s user audience.
- For digital advertising agencies or retail e-Commerce stores (B2C), it is important to acquire both new and returning users in order to maintain their audience and increase sales.
- Conversely, for a software company selling to other businesses (B2B), acquiring new users is much more important than retaining them as returning users because the company’s goal is likely to acquire new customers interested in purchasing its product.
How GA4 Measures Users
Google Analytics 4 uses three metrics for user data: Total Users, Active Users, and New Users. The key difference from the old Universal Analytics (which was sunset in July 2023) is that Active Users is now the primary metric – it’s the default “Users” column you see in most GA4 reports.
If you haven’t set up GA4 yet, see our Google Analytics 4 WordPress installation guide.
For reference, here’s how GA4 user metrics compare to the old Universal Analytics definitions:
For a full breakdown of these metrics, see Google’s official comparison.
How GA4 Identifies Users
GA4 associates traffic with a user by sending a unique identifier with each interaction. The default method uses a first-party cookie named _ga, which stores the client ID.
For more accurate cross-device tracking, you can enable the User-ID feature that links sessions across devices when a user logs in. GA4’s Reporting Identity setting controls how user identification works:
- Device-based (default) – identifies users by their device cookie only. Simple but counts the same person on different devices as separate users.
- Observed – tries User ID first, then falls back to device cookie. More accurate for sites with login.
- Blended – uses User ID, then device cookie, then Google modeling to estimate activity when neither identifier is available.
You can change this setting under Admin > Reporting identity in GA4.
Active Users is the default “Users” metric in GA4. When you see “Users” in standard reports, it refers to Active Users, not Total Users. This is different from Universal Analytics, where “Users” meant Total Users.
FAQs
Common questions about user metrics in GA4:
first_visit / first_open. When GA4 reports show "Users," they mean Active Users by default._ga cookie is deleted. On their next visit, GA4 creates a new cookie with a new client ID and counts them as a new user, even if they visited before.The Bottom Line
The “Users” metric in GA4 is more nuanced than a single number. Differentiate between new and returning users, and pay attention to which metric GA4 actually shows you – Active Users is the default, not Total Users.
What matters most depends on your business. An e-commerce store needs both new and returning customers. A SaaS company may care more about new user acquisition. I always recommend combining user data with conversion tracking to see the full picture.
