Getting Started: How to Set Up GA4 for Your Website

GA4 represents the latest evolution of Google Analytics, offering enhanced capabilities for comprehending market dynamics and customer interactions across diverse digital channels.

In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the process to set up GA4 for a website, enabling you to make the most of its capabilities and optimize your digital strategy.

Table Of Content

1. What is Google Analytics 4 (GA4)?
2. Benefits of Google Analytics 4
3. Set up GA4 for a website
4. Adding Properties to Google Analytics
5. Add a data stream
6. Setting Up Data Collection for Websites

What is Google Analytics 4 (GA4)?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the next generation of Google Analytics, a web and app analytics platform that provides insights into customer behavior. GA4 is a significant departure from Universal Analytics (UA), the previous version of Google Analytics. It is designed to be more privacy-focused and cross-platform, and it offers a number of new features and capabilities, including:

• Cross-platform measurement: GA4 can track user behavior across websites and apps, giving you a more complete view of the customer journey.
• Event-based data model: GA4 uses an event-based data model, which gives you more flexibility in how you track and measure user interactions.
• Predictive analytics: GA4 offers a number of predictive analytics capabilities, such as customer lifetime value prediction and churn prediction.
• Privacy-focused design: GA4 is designed with privacy in mind, and it offers a number of features to help you comply with privacy regulations, such as cookieless measurement and behavioral and conversion modeling.

Benefits of Google Analytics 4

The new version of Google Analytics is better as compared to its older version. Some of the key benefits of Google Analytics 4 are mentioned below

1. Predictive Analytics: GA4 incorporates machine learning to offer predictive metrics. This enables you to anticipate user behavior and trends, helping you make informed decisions and optimize your marketing strategies.
2. Audience Building: GA4 simplifies the process of creating custom audiences based on user characteristics and behavior. You can target these audiences more effectively in your marketing campaigns.
3. Streamlined Reporting: GA4 offers a more intuitive and user-friendly interface for creating reports and dashboards. You can easily access the data that matters most to your business and share it with your team.
4. Real-Time Data: Get real-time insights into user activity on your website or app. This feature is especially valuable for monitoring the performance of live events or marketing campaigns.
5. Integration with Google BigQuery: GA4 seamlessly integrates with Google BigQuery, allowing you to perform advanced data analysis and extract valuable insights from your data.
6. E-commerce Tracking: For online businesses, GA4 provides robust e-commerce tracking capabilities, helping you monitor sales, revenue, and product performance more effectively.

Set up GA4 for a website

The initial step in this process is to establish an Analytics account, unless you already possess one. Unless you wish to create a separate account for this website and/or app, you can proceed to creating a property. For instance, you might consider creating a new account if this website and/or app is associated with a different business.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Visit Google Analytics Website – To begin, open a web browser and go to the website address https://analytics.google.com.
2. New to Google Analytics – If you’ve never used Google Analytics before, you’ll find a section on the website that welcomes you. In that section, look for and click on the option that says “Start measuring.” This is where you initiate the setup process for tracking website data.
3. Existing Analytics user – If you’ve previously used Google Analytics and have an account but want to create a new one for a different website or app, follow these steps:
   • Locate and click on the “Admin” section. You should see it on the Google Analytics website.
   • Within the “Admin” section, find the “Account” column. Click on it.
   • From there, select the option that says “Create Account.” This allows you to set up a separate Analytics account for your new website or app.
4. Provide a name for your account – After selecting “Create Account,” you’ll be prompted to give a name to your new Analytics account. This name should help you easily identify which website or app it’s associated with. Additionally, you can set preferences for data sharing. This means you can decide what kind of information you want to share with Google. You have control over this.
5. Click “Next” to proceed and add the first property to your account – Finally, click the “Next” button to move forward. This will take you to the next step, where you can add the first property to your newly created Analytics account. A “property” in this context typically represents a specific website or app that you want to track and analyze. So, by clicking “Next,” you’re progressing to the next stage of setting up your tracking for that website or app.

Create an Account in GA4

Adding Properties to Google Analytics

To add properties while set up GA4 for a website, you need the “Editor” role. If you’re the one who created the account, you automatically have this role.

Here’s how to create a property:

If you’re continuing from the “Create an Analytics account” step mentioned earlier, skip to step 2. Otherwise, follow these steps:

Creating a Property in GA4

Step 1 : Go to the “Admin” section, and in the “Account” column, ensure that you’ve selected the correct account you want to add a property to. Then, in the “Property” column, click “Create Property.”

Step 2: Give your property a name, like “My Business, Inc website.” Also, choose the reporting time zone and currency. It’s essential to note that if someone visits your website on a Tuesday in their time zone, but it’s still Monday in your time zone, Analytics will record it as a Monday visit.

• • If you select a time zone that follows Daylight Saving Time, Analytics will automatically adjust for time changes. However, if you prefer not to account for Daylight Saving Time changes, use Greenwich Mean Time.
  • Changing the time zone will only affect data going forward. If you change the time zone for an existing property, you might see a temporary flat spot or spike in your data due to the time shift. Report data may also reference the old time zone briefly until Analytics servers process the change.
  • We recommend changing the time zone for a property no more than once per day to allow Analytics to handle the change effectively.

Describe Your Business in GA4

Step 3: Click “Next” and select your industry category and business size.

Choose your Business Objectives

Step 4 : Click “Next” again and specify how you intend to use Google Analytics.

• • Note: Google Analytics customizes its default reports based on the information you provide about your intended use. For example, if you choose to “Generate more leads,” you’ll see a set of reports designed to help you track lead generation.

Step 5: Finally, click “Create,” and if you’re setting up a new account, you’ll need to accept the Analytics Terms of Service and the Data Processing Amendment.

Now, you can proceed to add a data stream to start collecting data.

Add a data stream

Certainly, here are the instructions for adding a data stream to set up GA4 for a website / app with full explanations:

Adding a Data Stream

Step 1: Check Your Progress

If you’ve just completed the “Create a property” step mentioned earlier, you can skip to step 2. However, if you haven’t done that yet, follow these instructions:

Step 2: Navigate to the Admin Section

Go to the “Admin” section in your Google Analytics account. This is where you manage your account settings.

Step 3: Confirm Your Choices

Now, ensure that you’ve selected the correct account you want to work with. You can find this information in the “Account” column. Double-check that it’s the right one.

Next, look at the “Property” column to make sure you’ve selected the property (website or app) you want to set up data tracking for. Confirm that it’s the correct property.

Step 4: Access Data Streams

In the “Property” column, you’ll find an option called “Data Streams.” Click on it to access the data tracking settings.

Step 5: Add a New Data Stream

Within the “Data Streams” section, you’ll see an option to “Add stream.” Click on this to begin setting up a new data stream for your chosen property.

Step 6: Choose Your Platform

Now, you’ll need to specify which platform you want to track data from. You have three options:

• iOS app: Select this if you want to track data from an iOS (Apple) mobile application.
• Android app: Choose this option if you want to track data from an Android mobile application.
• Web: Opt for this if you want to track data from a website.

Select the option that best matches your needs and the plat

Setting Up Data Collection for Websites

To start viewing data in your new Google Analytics 4 property, you’ll need to take one of the following steps: