Gemini's GA4 plugin and more GA4 and Looker upgrades

It’s David here, back again with a fresh batch of tips, analytics bits, and a sprinkle of life from behind the scenes at Backona.
Let’s jump in!

Chatting with your GA4? Google’s giving it a go

Google’s just launched a plugin to let Gemini chat with your GA4. Sounds cool, but the setup isn’t exactly smooth sailing. It needs a bit of technical know-how, so not the friendliest for the average marketing person.

I gave it a go, and honestly, Backona AI still feels way easier and faster. But hey, interesting to see where Google’s heading with this.

Branded searches, a new way to track awareness in Google

Ads

Google Ads has introduced a new conversion type called Branded Searches. It shows how many users started searching for your brand on Google or YouTube after seeing your ad.

This is especially useful for upper-funnel campaigns like YouTube Ads, Performance Max, or Demand Gen, where direct conversions don’t tell the whole story. Now, you can finally track the impact on brand awareness too.

Reddit Ads cost data now available in Google Analytics

You can now automatically import Reddit Ads cost data into Google Analytics.
This means no more manual uploads, and a clearer view of your total ad spend across platforms.

It’s a helpful update if Reddit is part of your advertising strategy and you want better cross channel performance insights.

Looker Studio adds new canvas sizes

Looker Studio has introduced two new canvas presets: A4 in portrait and landscape format.

This gives you more flexibility when designing reports, especially if you’re working with print layouts or tighter dashboard dimensions. Small update, but useful for daily reporting work.

And now… questionable life choices and wild stories from the Backona team

Here’s a little peek behind the dashboards.

In this new section, we’ll drop in a few updates from our day to day life.

Backona meets… bears?

One of our team members went on a road trip through Romania, tackled the legendary Transfăgărășan road… and spotted seven bears along the way.

Analytics may be wild, but apparently not as wild as the Romanian mountains.

A tiny visitor under the monitor screen

While our founder was deep in work, a surprise guest showed up under the monitor. Bug tracking took on a whole new meaning that day ;)

Google Ads connector launching soon!

I'm just a few days away from launching something I’m really excited about - the Google Ads connector in Backona AI!

It’ll pull in your spend, performance, and ROI straight from your ad accounts, so you can finally see the full picture without jumping between tabs.

It will be live 2 to 3 days after you get this email!

That’s it for this one.

Thanks for reading, more updates coming your way in two weeks.

See you in the next one!