How to Delete PII Data in GA4?

Google Analytics 4 has been a nightmare for some people because it’s a bit difficult to harness. Similarly, it has become challenging for people to delete their PII data. Truth be told, deleting the data can be scary, but there are data deletion requests which can make data deletion stress-free and convenient. So, if you want to delete PII data and don’t know how to, we are sharing the details!

Deleting PII Data – Why Is It Important?

PII data is known to collect personally identifiable information. For this reason, you have to delete the PII data to ensure the websites aren’t collecting personally identifiable information. That’s because GA4 collects data through the user IDs. You need to remember that these user IDs comply with terms of service, which are important for users’ privacy. There are other reasons for deleting the PII data as well, such as:

Deleting Unwanted Data

We have already mentioned that people remove/delete PII data because it has personally identifiable information. However, another reason is to remove the unwanted data. This is basically the data that doesn’t provide practical or usable insights. For instance, there might be some customized parameters that aren’t in line with your analysis. So, the data collected through these parameters will not provide any actionable insights.

Deleting Bad Data

Another reason to delete PII data is to ensure that data doesn’t skew or tamper with the metrics. For instance, if there is huge traffic coming to your website, you will become excited that the website is getting popular. However, if you see closely, you will notice that it’s all bot traffic, and it won’t help with the ranking of your website. Still, before you launch the data deletion request, make sure you conduct proper data analysis to find out the bad data.

Launching the Data Deletion Request

The only way to delete PII data in Google Analytics 4 is to launch the data deletion request. Keep in mind that you will need edit-level access. So, if you have this access, we are sharing the step-by-step guide to help you delete the PII data.

• Open the Google Analytics 4 dashboard or property and open the admin tab. In particular, it will be on the bottom left side.
• In the admin tab, you’ve to click on the property button and tap on “data deletion requests.”
• From the top right corner, tap on “schedule data deletion request” and choose the deletion type. In addition, you’ve to choose the end and start dates as well.
• If needed, you’ve to add the parameters as well.
• In case you have to delete the user properties as well, you’ve to check the box at the bottom and add some text.
• Once you’ve selected everything, tap on the “schedule request” button on the top right, and you will be able to delete the data.

The Bottom Line

There are multiple reasons why someone would want to delete the PII data. Irrespective of the reason, we hope that the steps we mentioned will help you streamline data removal!