GA4 Annotations allows you to add notes directly to Google Analytics 4 reports.
You should use annotations to
- Record events that might have affected your data e.g. newsletter sends, promotions, changes in your site/features, local/global events etc.
- Explain what might have caused the changes in your data
- Highlight key observations for yourself and your team
- Share insights with your team
Some examples to annotate:
- Campaign Launch
- Informational emails
- New Tracking
- TV Ads, Radio Ads, Billboards etc.
- Press mentions
- Site design changes
- New feature launches
- Holidays
- World events
- Local events
- Major announcements
- Viral Social Media posts
How to Create an Annotation
- In GA4 got to the report that you want to annotate
- Select appropriate date that you want to annotate
- Right click on the data point on the line graph
- Click on "Add annotation"
- This will open up a side bar where you can add the annotation.
- Fill the following fields.
- Title
- Description
- Select a single date or date range.
- Select a color that will show up on your charts.
- Click on Create annotation button at the bottom.
- Your annotation is now created. Annotations are visible across all reports and report cards with line graphs. However, you can also hide all your annotations and annotations bars for date ranges.
Once an annotation is created, an icon appears below the line graph on the report (see the green and purple squares in the image bellow). Hover over the icon to see the annotation details or click the icon to open the “Annotations Viewer” panel.
View All Annotations For a Property
- In GA4 go to the Admin panel.
- Under "Data display", click on Annotations.
- You will now see the details of all the annotations.
- You can also create, edit, delete, or export these annotations from Admin panel.
Change Annotation Settings
You can change your annotation settings in the “Annotations Settings”. Folow these steps
- Click on the document icon on top right corner (it is selected in the image below) to open "Annotation Viewer". You can also open it by clicking on any annotation.
- Click on the "wheel" icon in the bottom right of the “Annotations Viewer” panel.
- Use a toggle to hide or unhide all your annotations and/or annotations bars for date ranges. Note that ehen you change your settings, they are applied to all of your annotations.
GA4 System Created Annotations
GA4 can also create system generated annotation when a significant data-impacting event occurs. These notification are used by GA4 to notify users about the issue on the relevant date and data. Please note that you can’t be edit or delete system created annotation.
If you have any questions about annotations or GA4 then do not hesitate to reach out to support@optizent.com or fill out the contact us form.