{"id":6200,"date":"2022-10-03T23:11:50","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T23:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/"},"modified":"2022-10-03T23:11:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T23:11:50","slug":"11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/","title":{"rendered":"11 steps to setting up a successful GA4 property"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As many of us are already aware of, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is not an analytics update. It\u2019s an <em>entirely new<\/em> Analytics product altogether. And along with implementing a new Analytics product comes the inevitable learning curve of not only figuring out how to set it up, but also familiarizing yourself with the new UI, finding and pulling reports, and analyzing the most important data.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Though Universal Analytics (UA) isn\u2019t being sunsetted until July 2023, advertisers should still get ahead of the curve and set up GA4 as soon as possible. The sooner you bite the bullet and switch to GA4, the better you\u2019ll be set up for the future and the sooner you can begin actioning on relevant customer insights.<\/p>\n<p>By following along with advice from Russel Ketchum, Google\u2019s Director of Analytics, and Steve Ganem, Group Product Manager at Google Analytics, implementing GA4 correctly, while time-consuming, can be broken down into a few steps. <\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/#Account_Structure\" >Account Structure<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/#Setup_Assistant\" >Setup Assistant<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/#Analytics_Tag\" >Analytics Tag\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/#Link_to_Google_Ads\" >Link to Google Ads<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/#Custom_Events\" >Custom Events<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/#Goals_Conversions\" >Goals &amp; Conversions\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/#Bidding\" >Bidding<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/#Audiences\" >Audiences\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/#Ecommerce\" >Ecommerce<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/#Users\" >Users<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/#Reports_analysis\" >Reports &amp; analysis<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/03\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property\/#Final_thoughts\" >Final thoughts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Account_Structure\"><\/span>Account Structure<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Businesses should start by structuring their GA4 properties and accounts to meet their business needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGetting familiar with the key concepts of<a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/analytics\/answer\/9679158?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> account, property and data streams<\/a> will help inform the structure that\u2019s right for the business. It is essential that customers take their time with this piece to make sure their whole organization gets the most out of the product\u201d Ganem says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Setup_Assistant\"><\/span>Setup Assistant<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Next, businesses should engage with the Setup Assistant, through which they can save time setting up a GA4 property to measure a site or app that already uses Universal Analytics with the setup assistant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarketers looking for a guided set up experience in Google Analytics 4 should use the<a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/analytics\/answer\/10312255\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> setup assistant<\/a>. This includes tools to automate some required steps and help you track progress. For example, these tools let you select the goals you want to import to GA4, copy the Google Ads links currently used, and add the users who have access to your current property.\u201d \u2013 Ganem<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"429\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/10\/11-800x429.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-388459\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"425\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/10\/12-800x425.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-388460\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Analytics_Tag\"><\/span>Analytics Tag\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Businesses and advertisers should add the Google tag to their sites to start collecting data. We encourage businesses to explore how they can use the Google tag to begin viewing data in their GA4 properties. It\u2019s important to note that if businesses were using the global site tag, they are now using the Google tag and nothing further needs to be done.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStructured data collection is the foundation of a measurement strategy which enables businesses to understand the effectiveness of their campaigns and marketing efforts. With<a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-global-site-tag-386869\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Google tag<\/a>, we\u2019ve made it even easier to implement this critical piece of the puzzle.\u201d \u2013 Ganem<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Link_to_Google_Ads\"><\/span>Link to Google Ads<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Importing Google Ads <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/analytics\/answer\/9379420?hl=en#zippy=%2Cin-this-article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">links<\/a> from their existing Universal Analytics into the new GA4 property is critical to begin seeing Google Ads data in your GA4 reports. Once that\u2019s complete, businesses should take action in their Google Ads account to start using GA4 data in their campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInsights are only as good as the actions a business or advertiser can take from them. That\u2019s why Google Analytics 4 allows insights to be quickly applied to campaigns with the Google Ads integration\u201d \u2013 Ganem<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Custom_Events\"><\/span>Custom Events<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Custom events allow businesses to complete their measurement by mapping Universal Analytics custom events to GA4.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGoogle Analytics 4 was built on an entirely new and more robust event-based data model. In Universal Analytics, Page Views and Sessions were so important because that\u2019s really all there was. In Google Analytics 4 these are just two of the dozens of events that can be automatically collected \u2013 and that doesn\u2019t even consider the near countless number of events that customers can instrument for themselves. Meaning that how a user interacts with a site can be measured natively \u2013 measuring things like purchases, scrolls, button clicks, external links, form submissions, video plays, etc. Additionally, these are not measured as an afterthought of a page view or as an inference made about what \u201cmust be happening\u201d in a long session. This event model, coupled with a more intelligent handling of users throughout the product, are some of the key ways we\u2019re equipping our customers to succeed in the world ahead.\u201d \u2013 Ketchum\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<\/div><figcaption>Track custom events in GA4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Goals_Conversions\"><\/span>Goals &amp; Conversions\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>To get a better understanding of how websites and apps are performing, businesses should Import Universal Analytics goals into GA4.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost website and apps are designed with the objective of getting users to perform some important action. For some, that can be creating a new account, for others it might be making a purchase or just submitting an interest form. Whatever action you want customers to take on your website or app should be represented as a Conversion event in GA4. Doing so unlocks key marketing features, such as the ability to understand which campaigns are delivering the best results for your business.\u201d \u2013 Ganem<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<\/div><figcaption>Here\u2019s a great video showing you how to migrate events &amp; goals from UA to GA4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Bidding\"><\/span>Bidding<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>To enhance bid optimization, validate and <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/analytics\/answer\/11053134?hl=en#zippy=%2Cin-this-article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bid on<\/a> GA4 conversions in Google Ads.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe conversion events a business collects from their website or app can actually improve the performance of their ad campaigns. By linking to Google Ads and importing your conversions, it can provide important feedback to their campaigns, which automatically improves their performance when<a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/2979071\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> automated bidding<\/a> is enabled.\u201d \u2013 Ganem<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Audiences\"><\/span>Audiences\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>To get the most from GA4, advertisers and marketers need to build relevant audiences in Google Analytics 4 and activate them wherever they are most useful. Learn about <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/analytics\/answer\/9805833?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">predictive audiences<\/a> available in GA4.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGA4\u2019s Audience Builder is the most powerful audience system we have ever built in Google Analytics, because it lets businesses express almost any criteria they can think of in a simple and intuitive user interface.\u00a0 The audiences they define are pre-populated based on the last 30 days of data, and evaluated on an ongoing basis, and they can be used for a variety of purposes including generating reporting insights, online advertising, and sending more meaningful push notifications.\u201d \u2013 Ganem<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<\/div><figcaption>Create audiences based on purchasers, subscribers, and more<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Ecommerce\"><\/span>Ecommerce<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>For businesses selling products online, they should set up ecommerce in GA4 properties to ensure they are using names and parameters that will provide the most useful ecommerce reporting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy simply following our recommended ecommerce data collection best practices, businesses will get rich out-of-the-box insights on shopping cart activity, and can benefit from powerful ML-based features such as<a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/analytics\/answer\/9846734\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Purchase Probability and Predicted Revenue<\/a>.\u201d \u2013 Ganem<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Users\"><\/span>Users<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Finally, copy Universal Analytics property <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/analytics\/answer\/9305788?hl=en#zippy=%2Cin-this-article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">users<\/a> to GA4 property manually or through the <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/analytics\/answer\/11894572?hl=en#zippy=%2Cin-this-article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">automated tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor many businesses, it\u2019s important to tightly control access to sensitive financial information. That\u2019s why we added <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/analytics\/answer\/9305587\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">settings<\/a> in GA4 to allow customers to control access to cost and revenue data on a user-by-user basis.\u201d \u2013 Ganem<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"393\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-03-at-4.40.05-PM-800x393.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-388463\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Reports_analysis\"><\/span>Reports &amp; analysis<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Now that GA4 is set up, it\u2019s time to start getting familiar with the navigation, standard reporting available, and learn how to customize reporting in brand new ways based on what\u2019s important to the business.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we\u2019ve given customers a rich default reporting experience in GA4, we designed the product to be entirely customizable so that businesses of all shapes and sizes can tailor it to their specific needs.\u00a0 They can use our <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/analytics\/answer\/10445879?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report builder<\/a> to create reports that visualize virtually any combination of dimensions and metrics available in the product, and even assign filters to them so that teams in different regions or different business units can get the most insights with a minimal amount of effort.\u201d \u2013 Ganem<\/p>\n<p>Check out these articles on creating GA4 reports:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-analytics-4-demographic-tech-details-reports-388164\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Analytics 4: A breakdown of Demographic and Tech details reports<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/3-valuable-google-analytics-4-reports-for-seos-387368\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">3 valuable Google Analytics 4 reports for SEOs<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/make-ga4-landing-page-report-385133\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to make a GA4 landing page report in 10 easy steps<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-analytics-4-traffic-acquisition-report-385975\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Analytics 4: A guide to the Traffic Acquisition Report<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_thoughts\"><\/span>Final thoughts<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>For businesses looking for more ways to get a better understanding of GA4 and some of the key concepts mentioned above, the <a href=\"http:\/\/goo.gle\/skillshopga4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GA4 Academy and Skillshop<\/a> is a helpful resource.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to Search Engine Land, Ketchum says, \u201cWhen it comes to the migration, long periods of overlapping data and an extended state in a dual UA \/ GA4 state will set customers up for success. It will allow them to not only compare data moving forward but also to get comfortable with the new platform and understand its differences. This\u00a0 is why we\u2019re continuing to stress the importance of getting started as soon as possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe acknowledge that change is hard and that making the move takes effort and time, but to create a platform that will be both resilient against the evolving privacy landscape and help customers measure effectively while respecting users\u2019 privacy, more than an update was needed. GA4 is the analytics solution of the future for a reason \u2013 it was built that way. We hope these steps and tips will help to ease the process and help businesses understand the most essential pieces of getting started with GA4.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/11-steps-to-setting-up-a-successful-ga4-property-388458\" target=\"_blank\">11 steps to setting up a successful GA4 property<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As many of us are already aware of, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is not an analytics update. It\u2019s an entirely new Analytics product altogether. And along with implementing a new Analytics product comes the inevitable learning curve of not only figuring out how to set it up, but also familiarizing yourself with the new UI, finding and pulling reports, and analyzing the most important data.\u00a0 Though Universal Analytics (UA) isn\u2019t being sunsetted until July 2023, advertisers should still get ahead of the curve and set up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}