What is a reporting identity in Google Analytics?
Reporting identity is the GA4 setting that decides how users are recognized across visits and devices: by user ID, Google signals, device or modeling.
GA4 can identify a person in several ways. A device ID (the client ID stored in a browser cookie) is the basic one. If your site has logins, you can send a user ID so the same customer is recognized on any device. Google signals and modeling can fill in more. The reporting identity setting, with options called Blended, Observed and Device-based, chooses which of these GA4 uses in reports.
Why it matters for your business: This setting affects how many users your reports count and how well visits on a phone and a laptop are joined into one customer journey.
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