Analytics is a free product that allows you to measure and report on website traffic in a variety of ways. It is a fundamental tool in the digital marketers toolbox because it allows you quantify your website traffic, understand the sources from which traffic originates, and many more data points, including demographics, geography, content engagement and more.
Current users of Universal Analytics will no longer process new data in standard properties beginning July 1, 2023. Prepare now by setting up and switching over to a Google Analytics 4 property. In doing so, this will begin pulling in data to the new platform so you can run parallele with Universal Analytics.
Google Analytics 4 is a new kind of property with different reports than what you’re used to seeing in Universal Analytics properties. If your website currently uses a Universal Analytics property and you want to use a Google Analytics 4 property, see Make the switch to Google Analytics 4. You can also visit the Developer Migration Center for migration information geared towards a developer audience.
Google Analytics 4 changes include:
Collects both website and app data to better understand the customer journey
Uses events instead of session-based data
Includes privacy controls such as cookieless measurement, and behavioral and conversion modeling
Predictive capabilities offer guidance without complex models
Direct integrations to media platforms help drive actions on your website or app
Login to your Google Analytics Account.
Click Admin. Gear icon, bottom left navigation.
Confirm that your desired account is selected.
Confirm the desired property is selected.
Click GA4 Setup Assistant, the first option in the Property column.
Once inside the Setup Wizard, click the large blue button, Get Started. Then click the blue button to Create property.
The process here is different. For New Accounts, first set up Google Tag Manager.
To begin recording basic data collection such as page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, and video engagement; you will need to set up the “Google Analytics: GA4 Configuration tag” to every page that you want to measure.
Unlike Universal Analytics, this one tag will set Google Analytics cookies for your property and send automatic measurement events to GA.
Create your Trigger – The trigger tells the tag when to fire.
Click Triggers > New.
Name your Trigger: Page View – All
Choose Page View trigger type.
Select trigger to fire on All Page Views. Save.
Create your tag – the tag will send data to Google Analytics for reporting.
Click Tags > New
Click Tag Configuration.
Name your Tag: GA4 – Page View – All
Select Google Analytics: GA4 Configuration.
Enter measurement ID (see below)
Click Triggering
Select All Pages: Page View.
Open GA4 Property; it will look like XXXXXXXXX
Admin.
Under the Property Column, click: Data Streams.
Select your Web-based Data Stream.
Measurement ID can be seen in the top right corner, it will look like G-A2ABC2ABCD.
Final View
You should have goals for users who land on your site, but what those are will vary by the needs of your business. If you have an ecommerce site then your goal is probably getting a sale. If you’re a local publisher, then your goal might be to have users read multiple articles on the site. Or, maybe you want people to sign up for your email newsletter. These are all things that you can track specifically inside of Analytics.
To set up a Goal, go to the Admin menu, select Goals and then create New Goal.
Through the Goal setup process, you can name your goal, identify the confirmation page on your site for that goal (like the Thank You page a consumer would hit after making a purchase, for example), and you’ll be improving the insights you’re able to pull from Analytics.
There are also options to create Events rather than goals, which are helpful if you want to understand whether a user has watched an embedded video, for example. Focus on your most important goals or events first. It’s also important to test them out to make sure they’re tracking correctly. If it’s working correctly, then you’ll see the goal completion tracked correctly.
Once you’ve completed set up of the account, let some data accrue and then start to dig into some of the basic reports to understand more about your audience.
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Google Analytics 4 - Setting UP - Visit Palm Springs
