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The issue of duplicate TotalUsers in GA4 Query Explorer
Hey there, I’ve been playing around with the GA4 Query Explorer and noticed something funny. If I’m running a request with a duo of dimensions, like appVersion and firstUserCampaignId, for example, I’m getting twice as many totalUsers as I’m expecting. Weird, right?
But then, if I just request a single dimension, the totalUsers sum clears up and gives me the numbers I’m after.
Do you think this could be a GA4 glitch? I can’t quite piece together why the counts would be off.
Here’s an outline of my request, for reference
{"dimensions":[{"name":"appVersion"},{"name":"date"},{"name":"firstUserCampaignId"},{"name":"platform"},{"name":"streamId"}],"metrics":[{"name":"newUsers"},{"name":"totalUsers"}],"dateRanges":[{"startDate":"2023-01-27","endDate":"2023-01-27"}]}Shouldn’t the sum value of totalUsers stay consistent, no matter the set of parameters I’m using? You’d think so, right?
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2 Replies
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This isn’t necessarily a glitch, but more of an understanding of how GA4 processes data. When you add extra ‘dimensions’ to your query, GA4 shows totals by each unique combination of dimension values. That means when you request multiple dimensions, the ‘totalUsers’ is split across those dimensions and might appear doubled or more. This is because a user can fall into multiple categories defined by your dimensions. If you want a simple sum of ‘totalUsers’, you should request this metric with fewer dimensions.
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This isn’t necessarily a glitch in GA4. Rather, it’s due to the way GA4 calculates and presents data based on different dimensions. When you select multiple dimensions, like appVersion and firstUserCampaignId, GA4 provides a count of totalUsers for every unique combination of those dimensions. This means if a user matches multiple combinations, they will be counted multiple times, hence the higher total. When you use just one dimension, the count will be more straightforward as the user matches fewer combinations. So the sum value of totalUsers does vary depending on the parameters you choose.
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