Basic setup of the Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Follow along as we walk through the steps for setting up and configuring your new Google Analytics 4 tag. Estimate about 15-20mins to do this.

Steps for setting up a new GA4 tag

  1. Login into GA dashboard and find your account
  2. Set up new tag 
    1. Unselect “auto create new tag for me”
    2. Link the tag notification 
  3. Install via Tag manager (Google Site Kit plugin?)
    1. Data stream, measurement ID
  4. Back in Data Stream 
    1. Config measurements
    2. Internal traffic 
  5. Key settings -> go to setup assistant checklist 
    1. Google signals 
    2. Acknowledgements 
    3. Connect to Ads and GSC
  6. Events and conversions
    1. Basic conversion to thank-you page
      1. Success message vs thank you page
      2. using ‘generate_lead” event – read Google article on naming conventions
    2. Importing UA goals feature
    3. Old UA goal that we love – Time on site / pages per session

Advanced tactics 

We did not cover advanced setup today, but some examples of these configs are outlined below.

  1. Audience creation –
    1. Create an audience for a specific region, to help filter out spam traffic
    2. Configure specific remarketing audiences – eg visitors to a specific page on your website
  2. Special forms – ninja forms, wbforms, Jobber, etc
  3. Shopify customers? Make sure you follow their tips for upgrading your account
  4. 3rd party tool tracking 
    1. Call tracking software; Call Rail, Call Tracking Metrics
    2. Live chat tracking – LiveChat inc, Zoho, etc
    3. JaneApp – or other booking apps.

Resources

Google Article about naming conventions

[UA→GA4] Migration guide for beginners (with video)

Google’s GA4 Setup Checklist (pretty much everything we set up today)

Need help?

Get in touch with us for help with Google Analytics Configuration. Best place to start is to schedule a call here.