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What is the maximum limit for data privacy in Google Analytics 4 (with Google Signals)?
“Hey there! We’ve been wrestling with Google Analytics 4 using data thresholding in their API. Basically, if the number of users for an event is too small, GA4 hides that data. We’ve noticed this seems to happen because we’re using Google Signals. After some digging, it seems the limit where this happens is somewhere between 35-40, although it can change randomly. Even Google themselves are a bit vague about it. Some say it’s actually closer to 50. Problem is, no matter how often we’re pulling the data – daily, weekly, monthly, yearly – we still hit this thresholding. We want to figure out what the limit is, so we can give our customers an idea of their margin for error. Btw, we can’t just stop using Google Signals – it’s too useful. Any ideas?”
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2 Replies
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Hey there, it sure sounds like quite the pickle you have there! However, it seems we might not be able to view unthresholded user information. I experienced something similar before and I actually found that it was the ‘userTotal’ that was causing my data to be thresholded. I ended up removing it and turned to using Sessions instead; it’s not an exact figure, but it’s close enough for most needs.
A suggestion would be to start removing metrics or dimension from your data requests one at a time. This can help you identify which ones might be causing the issue. Sure, you might need to get a bit creative without some of them, but it could be worth it to avoid hitting that thresholding limit.
If you really can’t do without some of the elements you removed, then you could try fetching both sampled and unsampled reports. Then, just add an estimated column to your unsampled data exports based on what you find in the sampled data. That way, you might be able to get a more complete picture. Keep experimenting and I have no doubt you’ll find a workaround that suits your needs!
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Google has set thresholds in place to ensure the privacy of individual users. When the set threshold is not met, the data is not shown. The exact number where thresholding occurs might change and isn’t specified by Google for user privacy reasons. However, it is noted to be somewhere between 35-50. This range can provide you with an approximation for your customers’ margin of error. Unfortunately, this thresholding practice is observed regardless of the frequency of pulling data from the Google Analytics 4 API and is not affected by whether Google Signals is used or not.
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