Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the data source. Bold is what turns that data into something usable, dashboards, trending collections, story-level numbers. The two aren't the same thing, and it helps to know where GA4 stops and Bold's own logic takes over.
GA4 gives Bold a data feed, not a finished product GA4 tracks a lot on its own, sessions, events, custom dimensions, real-time activity. Bold doesn't use most of that. It pulls one specific thing: page views tied to a story, section, or author, through GA4's Reporting API. Everything Bold shows you is built from that one slice of GA4 data.
Where GA4 and Bold line up, and where they don't
Area
What GA4 gives
What Bold shows
Data access
Reporting API and real-time API, with dozens of metrics and dimensions available
Only pulls what it needs: page views mapped to a story, section, or author, via the Reporting API
Page-path data
Real-time API doesn't expose page-path; Reporting API does
Bold uses the Reporting API specifically to get page-path, since that's how it matches a pageview to a story
Freshness
Real-time API updates within minutes; Reporting API can lag 4-8 hours
Bold relies on the Reporting API, so what you see in the dashboard is always the slower, 4-8 hour version
Accuracy
Reporting API data is 100% accurate (not sampled)
Bold inherits that same accuracy since it pulls straight from the Reporting API
Trending logic
GA4 has no concept of "trending" on its own, it's just raw view counts
Bold builds trending collections (4hr/12hr/24hr) on top of GA4 numbers; the 4-hour option is unreliable now because GA4 data isn't fresh enough to support it
AMP views
Not tracked by default in GA4
Bold doesn't display AMP views unless custom dimensions are set up on the site to capture them
What Bold actually displays Three dashboards, all fed by GA4:
Story Analytics
Section Analytics
Author Analytics
Each one says so directly on screen: Analytics menu in Bold - Story, Section, and Author Analytics
Story Analytics - page view data sourced from Google Analytics
Section Analytics
Author Analytics
Trending collections are Bold's logic, not GA4's GA4 doesn't have a "trending" feature. Bold builds that on top of raw view counts, sorting stories by activity over 4, 12, or 24 hours. The catch: that only works well if the underlying GA4 data is fresh. Since GA4's Reporting API can run 4-8 hours behind, the 4-hour trending option isn't reliable anymore. Bold now switches those collections over to latest-published automatically. 24-hour trending still holds up reasonably well.
You can see this in a collection's settings, under Sorted By:
A section's content list in Bold CMS (sample data shown)
Collection settings - Sorted By controls trending logic
Related Articles: Setting up GA4 To learn how to connect your GA4 property with Bold, refer to our Enabling GA4 guide.
