Blog & Articles

Technical deep-dives on GA4, GTM, Shopify, Amazon, and AI — written by practitioners who do this work every day.

All Articles

GTM 12 min read

Google Tag Gateway + Akamai CDN: Complete Setup Guide for Enterprise First-Party Tracking

Google just expanded Tag Gateway beyond Google Cloud to Akamai's global CDN network—giving enterprises a faster, more flexible path to first-party tracking without vendor lock-in.

Read Article
Freebies 14 min read

13 Free Shopify Liquid Snippets That Replace Paid Apps (Copy-Paste Ready)

A complete collection of free, production-ready Shopify Liquid snippets and JavaScript scripts covering GA4 tracking, cart drawers, color swatches, infinite scroll, sticky ATC bars, and more — no apps required.

Read Article
GA4 8 min read

GA4 Real-Time Reports Not Working? Here's What's Broken and How to Diagnose It

Google's real-time reports in GA4 have been partially broken for weeks, and Google has quietly acknowledged the issue. If you're seeing zero users or missing events, you're not alone—and there's a sys

Read Article
GTM 14 min read

Server-Side Tracking in 2026: Complete Migration Guide from Client-Side GTM

Client-side tracking accuracy has dropped below 60% for many sites in 2026. Server-side tracking isn't just a nice-to-have anymore—it's becoming the baseline standard for any business that relies on c

Read Article
Shopify 12 min read

Shopify Fake Abandoned Checkouts: How to Identify Bot Traffic and Clean Your Data

That spike in abandoned checkouts isn't lost revenue—it's bots polluting your data and wrecking your email automation. Here's how to identify fake checkouts and stop them from destroying your conversi

Read Article
Analytics 12 min read

IndexNow: Instant Search Engine Notification Without Plugins or Tools

IndexNow lets you notify Bing, Yandex, and other search engines the moment you publish or update a page — no waiting for crawlers. This guide explains exactly how IndexNow works and implements it from scratch using a key file and a single HTTP request.

Read Article
GA4 10 min read

session_start Missing in GA4? Here's Why and How to Fix It

When session_start events disappear from GA4, your session counts, engagement metrics, and attribution all break. This guide covers the five most common causes and their fixes, inspired by a pattern seen across multiple client properties.

Read Article
Amazon 12 min read

Amazon Ads API Q1 2026: Brand Stores GA, MCP Server, and the New Attribution Model

Three significant Amazon Advertising API changes happened quietly in Q1 2026 — Brand Stores API is now production-ready, an MCP Server lets AI agents query Amazon Ads via natural language, and a new attribution model changed how view-through credit works from January 1.

Read Article
Shopify 12 min read

Shopify AI Analytics in 2026: Sidekick, AI Traffic Attribution, and the April Cookie Deadline

Shopify's analytics stack changed significantly in early 2026 — Sidekick now writes ShopifyQL queries, AI-sourced orders get their own attribution, and Hydrogen stores face an April 30 cookie migration deadline. Here's what you need to know.

Read Article
GTM 10 min read

Google Tag Gateway Expands: Now Available via Akamai and Google Cloud

January 2026 brought two significant Google Tag Gateway updates — Akamai CDN support and a one-click GCP setup path. If you're already on either platform, first-party tagging is now significantly easier to deploy.

Read Article
GA4 8 min read

GA4 Generated Insights: What the New AI Home Page Summary Tells You

GA4's February 2026 update added AI-generated insights to the Home page — automatically surfacing the top data changes since your last visit. Here's what triggers an insight, how to read them, and where they fall short.

Read Article
GA4 11 min read

How to Track AI Traffic in GA4: ChatGPT, Perplexity, and the New Referral Channel

AI chatbots are sending measurable traffic to websites in 2026. This guide shows how to identify AI referrals in GA4, why the default channel grouping misses them, and how to set up custom tracking to see the full picture.

Read Article
AI Agents 9 min read

n8n Gets Autosave, Version History, and Multi-User Editing: What Changed in v2.4

n8n's January 2026 v2.4 release finally added autosave, versioned publishing with rollback, and concurrency protection for teams editing workflows simultaneously. Here's what changed and how to use the new features.

Read Article
GA4 11 min read

GA4 Cross-Channel Budgeting Beta: Plan Spend Across Google and Non-Google Channels

GA4's January 2026 beta added cross-channel budget planning — the ability to model spend scenarios and project outcomes across Google Ads, Meta, TikTok, and other channels from inside GA4. Here's what it does and how to use it.

Read Article
GA4 10 min read

GA4 Analytics Advisor Is Now Live: What Gemini AI Can and Can't Do For Your Analytics

GA4's Gemini-powered Analytics Advisor reached general availability in early 2026. We tested it across real properties — here's what it's genuinely useful for, where it falls flat, and how to get the most from it.

Read Article
GTM 9 min read

New GTM Built-In Variables: Client ID, Session ID, Session Number

GTM's January 2026 update added three new built-in variables — Client ID, Session ID, and Session Number — ending years of fragile cookie-parsing workarounds. Here's what they do and how to use them.

Read Article
Amazon 14 min read

Amazon Advertising API: Automate Bid Management and Campaign Reporting

The Amazon Advertising API gives programmatic access to Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and DSP campaigns. This guide covers authentication, key endpoints, automated bid management, and building a reporting pipeline.

Read Article
GA4 11 min read

GA4 Predictive Audiences: Target Likely Buyers Before They Decide

GA4's predictive audiences use machine learning to identify users likely to purchase or churn in the next 7 days. This guide covers how predictive metrics work, how to build effective audiences, and how to sync them to Google Ads for remarketing.

Read Article
GA4 10 min read

Unassigned Traffic in GA4: What It Is and How to Fix It

Seeing 'Unassigned' in your GA4 channel grouping reports? This guide explains the four root causes, how to diagnose which one applies to your property, and the specific fixes for each.

Read Article
GTM 11 min read

GTM First-Party Mode vs Server-Side GTM: What's the Actual Difference?

First-Party Mode and Server-Side GTM both route Google tag traffic through your domain, but they work differently and suit different use cases. This guide clarifies exactly what each does, what it costs, and when to use which.

Read Article
GA4 13 min read

How to Build a GA4 Dashboard in Looker Studio That People Actually Use

Connecting GA4 to Looker Studio is the easy part. Building a dashboard that gives stakeholders clear answers — without drowning them in data — requires design choices most guides skip. Here's how to do it right.

Read Article
Amazon 11 min read

Amazon SP-API Fees in 2026: What You'll Pay and How to Minimise Costs

Amazon introduced SP-API subscription and usage fees in January 2026. This guide breaks down the pricing model, estimates costs for common use cases, and shows strategies to reduce your API spend.

Read Article
Amazon 12 min read

Amazon SP-API Rate Limits Explained: How to Stop Getting Throttled

SP-API throttling kills data pipelines silently. This guide explains how Amazon's rate limiting works, which endpoints are most restrictive, how to implement exponential backoff, and how to restructure high-volume integrations to avoid throttling entirely.

Read Article
GTM 11 min read

GTM Workspaces and Version Control: A Team Workflow Guide

How to use GTM workspaces to manage parallel development, avoid conflicts between team members, version your container changes, and roll back safely — whether you're a solo analyst or an agency managing dozens of accounts.

Read Article
AI Agents 12 min read

AI Agents for Shopify: Automating Inventory Alerts, Reorders, and Reporting

Practical guide to building AI agents that connect to Shopify's API to monitor inventory levels, trigger reorder alerts, generate daily sales summaries, and automate routine operations — using n8n and Make.com.

Read Article
AI Agents 13 min read

How to Build an AI Agent That Sends GA4 Reports to Slack Using n8n

A step-by-step guide to building an n8n workflow that pulls data from the GA4 Data API, formats it with an AI summary, and posts it automatically to Slack on a schedule.

Read Article
GA4 13 min read

GA4 Attribution Models Explained: Data-Driven vs Last-Click vs Linear

GA4's attribution models determine which touchpoints get credit for conversions. This guide explains every model, how data-driven attribution works, and how to choose the right one for your reporting.

Read Article
GA4 12 min read

(not set) in GA4: Every Cause Explained and How to Fix Each One

Seeing (not set) in your GA4 reports is frustrating but fixable. This guide covers every reason it appears — in session source, landing page, item name, and other dimensions — and the specific fix for each.

Read Article
Shopify 13 min read

GA4 vs Shopify Revenue Discrepancy: Why the Gap Exists and How to Minimise It

GA4 and Shopify almost never agree on revenue. This guide explains every reason for the discrepancy — ad blockers, refunds, redirect chains, session gaps — and how to reduce it to an acceptable margin.

Read Article
GTM 12 min read

Basic vs. Advanced Consent Mode in GTM: Which One Should You Use?

A practical breakdown of Google's two Consent Mode v2 implementations — Basic and Advanced — when each is appropriate, how to set them up in GTM, and how to verify they're working correctly.

Read Article
Shopify 14 min read

Shopify Checkout Extensibility: What Merchants Need to Know in 2025

Shopify's new Checkout Extensibility replaced checkout.liquid in 2024. This guide covers what changed, how UI Extensions and Functions work, what you can and can't customise, and when to hire a developer.

Read Article
GTM 13 min read

GTM Server-Side Tagging: Is It Worth It for Small Businesses?

An honest assessment of GTM server-side tagging — what it actually does, the real costs, when it makes sense for small businesses, and a step-by-step setup walkthrough.

Read Article
GTM 11 min read

What Is a Google Tag Gateway and Do You Need One?

Google Tag Gateway proxies your gtag.js and GA4 measurement requests through your own domain, bypassing ad blockers. This guide explains how it works, how to set it up, and whether it's worth it for your site.

Read Article
GA4 15 min read

GA4 BigQuery Export: Setup Guide + 10 Useful Queries

How to link GA4 to BigQuery, what data gets exported, and 10 practical SQL queries for e-commerce analysis, funnel reporting, and cohort analysis that you can run today.

Read Article
AI Agents 10 min read

n8n vs Make.com for Business Automation: An Honest Comparison

Comparing n8n and Make.com for small business workflow automation — pricing, integrations, learning curve, self-hosting, and which one to choose for your use case.

Read Article
Amazon 13 min read

Amazon SP-API vs MWS: Complete Migration Guide for Sellers and Developers

MWS is fully decommissioned. This guide covers what changed from MWS to SP-API, how to migrate your existing integrations, and what SP-API does better.

Read Article
Shopify 12 min read

Shopify App Types Explained: Public, Custom, and Private Apps

A developer's guide to choosing between public, custom, and private Shopify apps — covering OAuth flows, API access, review requirements, and which type fits your use case.

Read Article
GTM 11 min read

7 Common GTM Mistakes That Break Your Analytics (And How to Fix Them)

The most expensive Google Tag Manager mistakes we see in client audits — duplicate tags, broken data layers, missing variables, and triggers that fire on the wrong pages.

Read Article
GA4 14 min read

GA4 Consent Mode v2: Complete Implementation Guide for 2025

Step-by-step guide to implementing Google Consent Mode v2 in GA4 and GTM — covering Basic and Advanced modes, CMP integration, and how to verify modeled data is working correctly.

Read Article
GA4 9 min read

GA4 Custom Dimensions and Metrics: Practical Implementation

Learn how to create, configure, and use GA4 custom dimensions and metrics to segment your analytics data by business-specific attributes like plan tier, user type, and product category.

Read Article
Amazon 11 min read

Getting Started with Amazon SP-API: A Developer's Introduction

A practical guide to registering an Amazon Selling Partner API application, configuring AWS IAM roles, and making your first authenticated API call.

Read Article
Shopify 14 min read

Shopify Analytics: GA4 + GTM Integration Guide

How to install Google Tag Manager on Shopify, build the e-commerce data layer for GA4, and correctly track purchase events on the checkout confirmation page.

Read Article
GTM 10 min read

Google Tag Manager Data Layer Best Practices

Learn how to design a scalable, maintainable GTM data layer architecture that your whole team can work with — including naming conventions, event schemas, and QA workflows.

Read Article
GA4 12 min read

Complete GA4 Setup Guide for E-commerce Stores

Step-by-step guide to configuring GA4 for e-commerce, including purchase event tracking, custom dimensions, Consent Mode v2, and Looker Studio dashboards.

Read Article

Have an Analytics Problem?

Our articles scratch the surface. Our team goes deeper. Book a free consultation and we'll apply these concepts to your specific situation.