Guide To Setting Up Google Analytics 4 (GA4) On Your Website

If you are on my email list, you know I have procrastinated talking about Google Analytics 4 (GA4). However, it looks like Google Analytics 4 is here to stay and replacing the current Universal Analytics, whether I (and many other people in online marketing) like it or not.  In this post, I am helping you set up Google Analytics 4 on your website by sharing platform-specific articles and other posts and videos I think you might find helpful. This post is not going to dive into reading and understanding the data – just making sure you get GA4 set up and collecting data.

What is Google Analytics 4 (GA4)?

GA4 is the latest free version of Google's web analytics platform, which provides website owners and digital marketers with valuable insights about website traffic, user behavior, and performance.  Honestly, if you have a website, having Google Analytics installed on it is a must.

IMPORTANT: Google is going to stop counting visits on the old Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023.  That means if you haven’t installed Google Analytics 4 by that date, you won’t have any Google Analytics data about your visitors after July 1, 2023.

Benefits of GA4

Per Google, GA4 provides several benefits over the previous version (Universal Analytics), including:

• Enhanced cross-device tracking (since mobile is becoming more and more common)
• More accurate data tracking and reporting
• Integration with Google Ads (although Universal Analytics also did this)
• Simplified event tracking and measurement
• Enhanced data privacy controls

Setting up Google Analytics 4

Here's everything you need to know about Google Analytics 4 and how to set it up for your website platform. I will share the help file/document from each platform because setup varies across website platform. And a word of caution – even each WordPress site I have set up has been different. The key will be ensuring that GA4 tracks your data (this is an easy step to miss).

Setting up GA4 can be a beast or the easiest thing in the world. And nothing in between. Below is the help file from each platform, a blog post and a video for each website platform. I recommend reading/watching the ones pertinent to your platform before getting started.

Important notes:

• If you already have Universal Analytics, you will want to set up GA4 from the same account (see video).
• Do not delete Universal Analytics (if you have it).
• Make sure you are selecting “web” as your platform type and providing the correct URL.
• For many platforms, you will need to add code or tags to the code.
• It is key to go back in after about 24-48 hours and make sure data is being tracked. One thing I am finding with potential clients is that analytics has been set up – but improperly and no data has been gathered.
• Google has been changing the interface look and setup flow quite frequently, so what you see on your end may not exactly match the screenshots in the articles/videos.
• While you can add GA4 with Google Tag Manager, unless you are already using tag manager, I don't recommend this way because it adds another level of complexity that really isn't needed for small businesses.

To set up Google Analytics 4, click the link below for your specific platform.

WordPress – GreenGeeks Tutorial – YouTube

SquareSpace – DataDriven Tutorial – YouTube

Wix – Stewart Gauld – YouTube

Weebly – Making That Website Tutorial – YouTube

Shopify – Website Builder Insider – YouTube

BigCommerce – TagRocket Tutorial – YouTube

ShowIt – Evelventy7Marketing – YouTube

I tried to find the most current and detailed articles/videos that I could for each platform. I also made you this quick video below:

Quick Loom Video

Key features of GA4:

• Event tracking: Events are user interactions with your website, such as clicks, downloads, and form submissions. With Google Analytics 4, you can track and measure these events more accurately and easily.
• Audience reports: You can create custom audiences based on specific user behaviors, such as pages visited or actions taken on your website.
• Funnel analysis: Funnel analysis helps you identify areas where users drop off in the conversion process, so you can optimize your website or app accordingly.
• User-centric data: Google Analytics 4 tracks user behavior across devices, providing a more complete view of the customer journey.

Data Privacy Considerations

Google Analytics 4 includes several privacy features to help you comply with data protection regulations, including:

• IP anonymization: Google Analytics 4 automatically anonymizes user IP addresses, so you cannot identify individual users.
• Consent mode: This feature enables you to collect user consent before collecting their data.
• Data deletion: You can delete user data upon request, and Google Analytics 4 includes a data retention control, so you can specify how long to keep user data.

Obviously, there will be a learning curve of where to find the data you are currently reviewing and monitoring in Universal Analytics. We will discuss that at a later date. First, we need to ensure you are set up properly on GA4 and tracking data before Universal Analytics is turned off.

Hopefully, this information is enough to help you set up Google Analytics 4 on your website. Questions or need additional help? Use this form to contact me.