1. Introduction – start now!

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the next version of the popular web tracking software. It is important to start now as the current version, Universal Analytics (or version 3) will stop recording data on 1^st July 2023. After that, you will be able to access your data for six months before it is permanently switched off in December 2023.  Your current tracking data cannot be migrated to GA4 so you will be starting from scratch. It is vital you start recording data now. If you wait until June 2023, you will only have data from that date. Starting now will ensure you have at least a year’s data when the current version stops.

 

 

It is also helpful if you know how GA4 works. It is so different, that it will make you think about new goals and doing things in an entirely new way. GA4 records a lot more data and focuses on the user journey. It aims to integrate tracking across all our devices and make predictions about what users will do.

This resource will explain what GA4 is, why it’s going to be useful for you and how you can set it up. It will also give a suggested timeline of the deadlines you need to be aiming for. This resource goes into depth about how to set up your GA4 account so you may want to bookmark this page to refer back to.

---

2. What is GA4 and how is it different from the current version?

We use Google Analytics to measure what happens on our websites. It tells us where our visitors are coming from, what they do on our site and how often they return. There are plenty of alternatives to Google Analytics to track your website data, however it’s the first choice for many small to medium-sized heritage organisations because:

• It’s free! Similar tracking software comes with a hefty price tag
• We all use it and have done for many years
• It integrates seamlessly with Google and its advertising
• It offers a huge amount of functionality, and we can customise it

How GA4 works and why it’s different

To understand how GA4 works and why it is different to the current version a little history lesson helps. Back in the old days of the internet we used log files to track website visitors on the server where the web pages were stored. We could only track people by their IP address which could be shared with hundreds of other people in the same office block. The browser itself also had functionality which meant that we could not fully track users. The big enemy was the back button! Also, the browser stored pages so it did not have to go back to the server. All these meant tracking using server log files was not good.

Along came Urchin with their new website tracker. They had a brilliant idea. Why not put the tracking software on every page and ask the visitor’s browser to send back the information.  This is when the ‘page hit’ or ‘page view’ was invented. Each time a user viewed a page, a ‘page hit’ was sent to the tracking software. That solved the back button and stored pages issue but what about that pesky IP address. How did you connect those page hits together to create one unique user session?

The technology already existed. The ‘cookie’. Urchin had a second great idea – if you put a small piece of tracking code, the cookie, on a user’s browsers when then visited your website, and then link that with the page hits – a new tracking tool was invented.

Google thought this was great, and thus acquired Urchin Software in 2005. The first version of Google Analytics, ‘Urchin from Google’ was born. Not long after version two, ‘Google Analytics Classic’ was released. Six years later the third release came, Universal Analytics. When Classic was invented most of us used a desktop or laptop to browse the internet. By 2012 we were using lots of different devices and Google realised that we had to track people across devices. Thus ‘Universal’ was born – coverage across all devices. This was achieved by offering the website owner new technology such as event tracking (so you could send data from email clicks for example), cross-domain and ecommerce tracking (to integrate third-party booking software) and custom dimensions (to create user tracking across devices).

 

 

I remember working with clients on the switch from Classic to Universal. It wasn’t easy! The most common question was, why do I have to do it? Yes, I could tell them about all the great benefits of switching, but they were happy with what they had and did not want the hassle of changing. What made it harder was there no ‘switch-off’ of Classic. It kept going for years and was slowly merged into Universal.

Google Universal stops recording data on 1st July 2023

This time it is different. There is a switch-off date and there is no automated merging of accounts.  This is because:

• The urgency – Google wants to move everyone as quickly as possible
• It’s a completely new product – GA4 is not an upgrade

That is the ‘push’ to move off Universal, however this is no great ‘pull’ at the moment. Yes, GA4 offers a lot, however most people have not experienced that yet – there are just not enough resources, tutorials and great case studies out there yet to convince us. At a first glance, GA4 seems to offer considerably less than what we’re used to. This is because it records so much data that it cannot offer a selection of ready-made reports anymore. It’s down to you to create the reports you need. Another factor is that GA4 is not finished yet, new features are being added all the time. I gave a webinar and talked about the demise of the bounce rate – two weeks later and it was back as a feature on GA4!

So why is Google Analytics changing so much? Let’s have a look at some of the reasons behind it.

A cookie-less future

Privacy concerns are growing.  We are all wary of our personal data being stolen and we have laws to prevent that such as GDPR and the e-privacy directive. Web browsers are now actively blocking a range of cookies to prevent our data being used.  All sites now have to offer cookie opt-outs– so it is very easy for your visitors to completely opt out of any type of tracking. This creates a big problem for tracking software. If a cookie can no longer be used, is this the end of Google Analytics?

This is where GA4 comes in. It is built for the cookie-less future.

How GA4 will track users

GA4 has four ways of tracking users:

• User ID
• Google Signals
• Cookies
• Machine learning (AI)

 

 

1. User ID

First, in order of priority, is the User ID.  This is the best choice as it enables tracking across different devices. For example, if your visitor uses a phone, tablet and laptop to visit your website then this method will recognise the same person across all the devices. Currently, your tracking will probably identify this as three separate users.

The User ID is sent to GA4 from a login on your site or a third-party site such as an online booking provider. It is something you need to actively setup, it will not work by default. If you have a login on your site, then it is important you discuss this with your web developer or someone who knows their way around coding and Google Tag Manager.

Ok, you may say ‘usually my visitor doesn’t login until they buy something and then it’s too late to track them’. However, GA4 will go back and put everything that user has done previously under the User ID. So, it will be like they logged in as soon as they visited your website for the first time – powerful stuff.

2. Google signals

If you cannot implement a User ID, the second means of identification GA4 looks for is ‘Google signals’. This is when your user is logged into a Google product/service such as Youtube, Gmail etc on the same browser and have ad preferences turned on. GA4 can apply its own User ID to your user.  You need to actively turn Google signals on when you set up your GA4 account (more about this later). Do note, this has privacy implications. Please read: Google support notes on privacy implications

3. Device cookies

Thirdly, if there’s no User ID, no Google signals then GA4 will revert back to the old-fashioned cookie method. If you are relying on this for your tracking, then you will most probably see a fall in visits over time as more people opt-out of tracking.

Lastly there is machine learning. If GA4 has no way of identifying a visitor and their website session, then it can use some clever AI. It will analyse your past GA4 data, look at the patterns and take a guess at identifying an individual user. We will cover this in more detail later as many small and medium-sized heritage organisations may not qualify for this method of tracking.

This is the first major change in GA4 – trying to avoid cookies. The second is how the tracking works.

4. A new way of tracking

Remember the ‘page hit’ method of tracking website visitors we looked at earlier? This has been the standard method for the past fifteen years or so. GA4 revolutionises tracking and does it in a fundamentally different way. To understand this, it is worth looking at  how someone may visit a website.

Your visitor clicks a link in an email which goes direct to a resource on your website (like this one). They spend 30 minutes reading, perhaps watching a few videos and listening to some audio. In that entire time, they have not left the page.

The current version of Google Analytics (without any fancy Google Tag Manager setup) would tell you that this was a one-hit wonder, a bounce! A ‘bad’ visit which you need to avoid. This is because the current version only gets the one page-hit, no other data.

GA4 works differently. It sends data about everything your visitor is doing. It will record exactly how long they are on the page, it will know how far down the page they have scrolled, if they have played videos (and how much they watched) and lots more. GA4 does this by switching to record everything as an ‘event’.  A page hit is an event, so is a scroll, or 10 seconds on a page, or even just hovering over a book now button.  This is great technology, but for you it creates a bit of problem. It means that GA4 is so different from the current version that you cannot simply ‘migrate’ or ‘upgrade’. You are essentially starting again. Your old data is not available in GA4. We will look at this a little later in the proposed timescale for switching over.

GA4 is so different from the current version that you cannot simply ‘migrate’ or ‘upgrade’. You are essentially starting again.

 

GA4 tracks everything as events: watching a video, downloading a pdf, click a button, buying something and clicking an external link.

---

3. Setting up GA4

If you haven’t done so already you really need to setup GA4 now. Don’t worry about your current analytics as GA4 runs alongside.  To check if you have GA4 setup, go to  https://builtwith.com enter your website and click ‘lookup’. Look for Google Analytics 4 in the Google Analytics section.

 

If you do not have GA4 setup, go to your current Google Analytics, click ‘admin’ and look for the ‘GA4 setup assistant’ in the property column.

 

Click this link. Do not worry about clicking this and the next button, it won’t do anything yet. Next click the ‘get started’ button under ‘I want to a create a new Google Analytics 4 property’.

 

 

Have a look at the ‘Optional Setup’ area. If it’s greyed out and you can’t check that box – it means your current analytics is set up using Google Tag Manager and you may need some help. If you can check that box it means you’re using the standard tag setup. The good news is that if you can check that box and then click ‘create property’ you’re all done. But don’t click ‘create property’ yet, before you check that box you need to ask yourself a question or two:

• Do I know how to use Google Tag Manager?
• Can we pay a developer to make the move for us?
• Is it something I’d like to learn how to do?

Google Tag Manager works in tandem with Google Analytics and becomes even more integrated and powerful with GA4.  If web analytics is important to your role, then using Google Tag Manager is a must.  I would highly recommend that you set up GA4 using Tag Manager rather than opting for that checkbox.

However, for a lot of us, we don’t have the time and possibly the inclination to use Google Tag Manager. That’s fine, if you don’t have the time to set it up and learn how to use it, then you probably won’t have the time to use what Tag Manager offers. If you do have a friendly web developer or have an agency, ask them to do the setup for you, otherwise, go ahead, check that box and click ‘create property’.

Where can I find GA4?

GA4 is listed with your other analytics properties under All accounts > Properties & Apps.

 

Next steps in your GA4 setup – setting up your tracking

Now you have a new GA4 property you need to check your tracking settings.

If you click on the ‘setup assistant’ under admin > property you will get a summary of your settings.

 

 

Check that GA4 is running ok, it will say ‘data flowing’ under data collection.

 

Enhanced measurement

Events such as page scrolls, outbound clicks, downloads, video views and file downloads can also be tracked by default. However, you will need to turn these on. In admin > property, go to ‘data streams’.

 

You will probably only have one stream running which is for your website:

As an aside: GA4 can record a number of websites and apps in the same property.

Click your website datastream to open the webstream details. Under Events you will be see ‘enhanced measurement’, click the cog icon to open the settings.

Enable the events you would like to track.

 

Site search tracking

I would recommend setting up your site search tracking now too. This is when people use the search on your site (rather than searches coming from search engines like Google). If you have a search function, do a search and have a look at the address bar. For example, on the CultureHive site, a search for ‘google analytics’ goes to this page:

https://www.culturehive.co.uk/culturehive-search/?_sf_s=google+analytics

Look for the question mark in the address bar and what comes after it. Here we have:  ?_sf_s=google+analytics

Remove the question mark, equals sign and search term. We have _sf_s left over.  You may have something simpler like ‘s’.

Click ‘show advanced settings’ under Site search in the Enhanced Measurement admin view. By default, it has common terms like ‘q’ and ‘s’:

 

If you have a different term, put that in after a comma e.g.

 

 

And finally click ‘save’ for all your enhanced measurements.

 

Data collection

Click ‘Data Settings’ in the Property column.

And then click on ‘Data Collection’

 

 

Google Signals

Turn on Google signals if you want to use them. You will need to acknowledge that you have a privacy policy in place to cover these. If you do not have a policy have a look at the guidance and suggested template on the Information Commissioner’s Office website  or try Termly’s privacy policy generator which is useful if you collect data on EU, US and Canadian visitors too.

 

Granular location and device data collection

Leave this on, this collects data about the user’s location and what type of device they are using.

 

Advanced settings for Ads

If you use Google Ads check your ads personalisation is on. By default, all areas are already enabled. This allows you to use audiences from GA4 in your ad targeting.

 

User Data Collection Acknowledgment

Acknowledge this after you’ve checked your privacy policy and have cookie consent running on your website.

 

Data retention

This is the amount of time GA4 keeps a cookie active so it can recognise repeat visits. There are only two periods to choose from: 2 or 14 months. I would recommend selecting 14 months.

 

Reporting identity

We covered how people are tracked a little earlier, mentioning the new machine learning option. Before you get too excited by this possibility, I have some bad news. For most small and medium-sized organisations we probably don’t pass the required criteria of at least 1,000 daily users for the last 7 of the previous 28 days .

If you do have approx. 1,500 visits a day then check the other criteria:

1. ‘Consent mode’ needs to be in place. This ties in cookie consent with GA4. If you click that ‘no cookies’ option, then no tracking data will be sent to GA4.
2. You need at least 1,000 daily events with ‘tracking denied’ for at least 7 days.

 

 

If you do qualify go into ‘Reporting identity’ in the admin property column and select ‘Blended’, otherwise leave it on the default ‘Observed’.

 

Cross-domain tracking

This is a little advanced but well worth doing in the setup. If you have another domain with your online booking such as booking.yourdomain.co.uk or yourdomain.ticketingsite.co.uk then it is good to set up cross-domain tracking. Instructions to set up cross-domain tracking or ask your web developer for help.

 

Audiences

At this point you may want to set up some audiences. Audiences help you segment your users and are particularly useful if you use Google Ads.  You can set the conditions that need to be met for a person to enter an audience. For example, you may want to have a segment of users who have visited event pages in the last month but not yet booked. Or perhaps people who visited a page about a special event that you’d like to be able to target when you run the event again next year. Audiences are not retrospective, so users are added as they meet the conditions, you cannot go back and put those people who used to qualify into a new audience.

Audiences have moved to the Configure section in GA4. Further information on Audiences in GA4.

 

Events

 

To understand events in GA4 we need to know about the four different types:

1. Automatically tracked events – these are things like page hits, session starts

2. Enhanced measurement events – hopefully you’ve set these up already (if not please refer to the section above)

3. Recommended events – these are events that are not set up but GA4 recognises them if you use a specific name. This category includes purchases, logins and signups. List of recommended events. 

For example, if someone signs up to a newsletter you can use the ‘sign_up’ event which has a fixed list of parameters.

How would you do this? Go to Configure > Events. Click ‘Create Event’ and then click ‘Create’. In the custom event name field start typing a recommended event name, for example ‘sign_up’.

 

 

Then add the matching conditions. In this case we want to record this event when someone signs up and reaches the newsletter confirmation page.  The first condition is the ‘page_view’ event, the second the title of that page is the newsletter confirmation.

 

 

Why use recommended events rather than just making up your own?

I could just say you are limited on the number of events you can have, so use as many ‘free’ ones as you can! However, understanding the reasoning behind this gives a better picture of GA4, so here we go.

Each event can have up to 25 parameters. A parameter is a piece of data about that event, so a button-click event could have data on the button clicked, the link, the page it was on etc. However, just because you’ve created a new event and parameter it does not mean that data can be picked up in the GA4 reporting interface. That would be too easy.

Instead, you then to convert your parameter into a custom dimension. Have a look at this by going to Configure > Custom definitions. Click ‘create custom dimensions’. We can add a custom name, but we have to choose an existing event parameter as shown in the screenshot.

 

 

To ensure the parameters we send with events get into GA4 reports we need to convert them to custom dimensions. This is where the big limit is. You can only have 50 event-based dimensions and you will quickly use those up if you don’t think carefully about your event parameters – and this is what we’ll look at next.

4. Custom events – you have checked that the event you want is not an enhanced or recommended event so now it’s time to create a custom event. This type of event can be created in two ways:

• Inside GA4 in the Configure section
• Using Google Tag Manager

If you use GA4 for custom events, you are limited to creating an event based on an event already in existence. This is okay for a lot of events, for example you may want an event when people visit a specific page (such as a sign-up for visiting the newsletter confirmation page). This event is based on a page view of that page. But what if you want an event based on clicking a specific button? This is when you need to use Google Tag Manager as it lets you create an event from scratch (so another reason to put GTM on your learning pile).

If you’re using Google Tag Manager: you may already have Events setup on your current site, particularly if you’re using Google Tag Manager. When you move to GA4 check which events you do not need to bring with you, such as file downloads, outbound clicks and scrolling. You may well want to bring scroll tracking across using Google Tag Manager and not use GA4’s enhanced scroll event as it only triggers when 90% of the depth is reached, you may want finer control over this, say at 25%, 50% and 75% of page depth.

 

Conversions

Goals have gone in GA4. They are now called Conversions and much easier to configure. Conversions are based on events (which is why I spent so long on Events in the preceding section). So, create your event first and then go to Configure > Events and mark your event as a conversion using the toggle switch on the right.

It’s so easy to create conversions that you may be tempted to get carried away, please don’t, as you’re limited to only 30.

 

---

4. Downsides to GA4

There are several limits and downsides to GA4 and its worth knowing about them upfront to help you make the switch.

 

 

At first, you’ll probably be a little exasperated with GA4. A lot of the reports you are familiar with have gone and the interface is different. As you start working on it, you’ll realise that it is still a work in progress and new functionality is added all the time.

The issues addressed below may well disappear in future versions. If you are interested, you can check out new features on Google support.

Landing page reports and bounce rates were originally not in GA4 but recently have been introduced to the Explore section.

Changes to Bounce rates

Bounce rates are now calculated completely differently so if you relied on them for reporting it is worth making sure you know how the metric has changed. Important changes are listed on this Google support page.

In Universal Analytics the bounce rate was calculated from the number of single page sessions whereas in GA4 it is the percentage of sessions that were not ‘engaged sessions’.  Engaged sessions are where the user stays more than ten seconds or has at least one conversion event or two or more page views.

 

Everyone is in the same boat

In Universal analytics you have your own view, where you can privately set up your own filters and goals. Views no longer exist. If there are several people in your team using GA4 for your organisation you will need to address these changes. These will be covered in the phased migration section.

 

 

Filters are significantly reduced in GA4. You can define internal traffic and unwanted referrals at Admin > Data Streams > Configure tag settings > and click ‘show all’.

Unlike Universal, GA4 does not remove the data for unwanted referrals, it just removes them as referrals, so spam traffic will still potentially get through. Saying that, GA4 seems to have much better automated filters and removes a lot more spam than Universal. It could be more filters will be introduced in future.

 

Explaining the potential drop in visits

Again, it is worth saying that GA4 is not an upgrade! It may look similar on top but under the bonnet it has a completely new engine. There may (or will) come a time when you need to explain why you have a drop in visitors and will need to have hard evidence to back you up.

 

 

How are you going to explain a drop in visits?

If you run both the current version and GA4 at the same time for the next year you can be guaranteed that the same data will be going to each. If you compare key reports, then you will be able to show that the same traffic is treated in different ways between the old and new version. We do expect a decrease in overall traffic because:

• Cross-device tracking. Currently, one person could look like three because they are using a mobile phone, tablet and desktop computer at work. GA4 aims to recognise just the one user.
• GA4 will not record visitors who have opted out of cookies if the consent mode is in operation
• GA4 will probably filter out more spam traffic

This is one of a quite a few things you will need to prepare for over the next year. A ‘phased migration’ would be a good approach to take and we discuss this next.

---

5. A phased migration

You will have a lot to do over the next eight to twelve months and it is worth breaking that down into achievable steps with deadlines. This is only my point of view, but I would suggest splitting your migration into four stages.

• Early phase (September 2022 – November 2022)
• Mid phase (November 2022 – February 2023)
• Late phase (February 2023 – June 2023)
• After migration phase (June 2023 – December 2023)

Early phase (September 2022 – November 2022)

a) Audit your current Google Analytics account

 

 

It is important to remember that you are starting from scratch with GA4 so you will need to redo all your current settings. In a document or spreadsheet list these if you have them:

• Goals
• Events
• Filters
• Content groups
• Segments
• Custom alerts
• Saved reports

Check these for all your users – members of your team may have their own lists of goals, filters, content groups, segments, alerts and reports.

b) Plan your new account structure

A small to medium-sized organisation will probably only have one property and one web stream. However, if you have apps you may have more streams and if you want to integrate them it’s worth discussing with your developer.

 

c) Set user permissions

GA4 has no views which means your whole team uses the same set of events, conversions (goals), filters and content groupings. This means it is important to keep control on how your account is being used. For example, you do not want everyone adding their own events and conversions as there is a finite limit. It is well worth setting your user permissions now and being upfront with team members about who has access to what. It would be good to have one or two administrator/editor level people only. If anyone else on your team wants to add a conversion, they need to discuss it with the elected administrator.

You may ask, why not have more than one property? Then we can have a property for each person/team who can set their own conversions. Google has hinted they will crack down on organisations doing this and insist that you can only have more than one property if that extra property has a completely different user base. If you have two distinct parts of your organisation with different audiences then that’s fine, but if those parts share users, then you should only use one.

d) Enable data collection and check settings

Follow the first part of this resource and setup GA4.

e) Plan your GA4 strategy

Now you have your audit you can look at how you may migrate across to GA4. There is a goals migration tool available which can automatically convert your current goals into events and conversions. It works for both destination and event goals, but not for duration and smart goals. I would recommend you do not use this tool. Why?

1. Remember those different event types – there is no need to map across events that are automatic or enhanced
2. You may have events that match recommended events
3. There is a limit on the number of conversions, events, and parameters
4. You will want to reconsider your objectives and goals in GA4

 

Evaluate your goals

Before planning what you will do in GA4, I’d recommend finding out what the reporting and explore interfaces can do.

AMAculturehive will have more resources shortly, in the meantime take a look at this great Loves Data video – jump 15 minutes into the video as the first section covers the setup we discussed earlier.

Here’s also a short video on the new conversion funnel which is one of the most powerful new features of GA4.

Now you understand more about how GA4 works, you may want entirely different goals/conversions.

GA4 is more granular – you can track a lot more things, so you may want to think about new goals at this point.

You may want new engagement goals for example, so you know who your most engaged users are.

 

How to migrate Goals from Universal to GA4

If there are goals you want to migrate from Universal to GA4, here’s a guide to doing it manually:

Look at your list of current goals – check if any of these are automated, enhanced or recommended events. For example, you may have a goal for newsletter signups or downloads.

Take the remaining goals. If they are destination goals e.g. if someone reaches a certain page, these can be set up as custom events in GA4 and marked as conversions.

Any event-based goals? I’d recommend keeping things simple by keeping the four parameters already used in Universal: category, action, label and value. In fact, if you’re using a bulk email provider such as Mailchimp then these will continue to be sent on your campaigns.

In practice you can set whatever parameters you like, so if you are using Google Tag Manager and want to explore further, have a look at this video tutorial on setting parameters.

Duration based goals – have a look at the new engagement metrics such as engagement time. Again, use custom events to set up your new set of engagement events.

f) Evaluate your audiences

If you currently use audiences, you will need to recreate these in GA4. Unfortunately, there is no handy migration tool (at the time of writing).  If you have audiences based on custom dimensions, these will also need to be recreated.

g) Training

I would suggest that only the administrator and editor roles undertake training or self-learn tutorials at this point. It is not worth training other team members until you know how everything works and you have some reports setup.

At this point there is not enough data in GA4 to do any worthwhile reporting or exploring so you’ll be focused on the Admin and Configure sections only.

 

 

h) Set up your events and conversions

Now you’ve had some training you can go ahead and set up your events/conversions and audiences. Pay attention to those enhanced and recommended events and to the limits on conversions and parameters.

i) Set up your audiences

GA4 offers suggested audiences however you will probably want to start from scratch and create a custom audience using a set of conditions.

j) Ecommerce and User ID

This is the time to talk to your agency, developer and/or third-party ticketing software supplier. Ask how they can set up e-commerce metrics in GA4 for you and agree an action plan. This could take a long time to implement so it’s worth starting as early as possible. Some ticketing suppliers are well ahead and have provided a data layer for e-commerce tracking. Talk to your developer about making use of this in GA4.

 

Mid phase (November 2022 – February 2023)

a) Training

Now you have enough data flowing in it’s time for the next training session. This time you need to focus on reports and the Explore section.

b) Evaluate your set-up

Following training, you will be able to evaluate your initial set-up. Are you getting the data you want? How are the conversions and audiences doing?

c) Update events, conversions and audiences

If you need to, make some changes to your configuration.

d) Chase set-up issues

If you are using e-commerce reporting, is it working? Are logins and user IDs working?

e) Compare Universal and GA4 accounts

Has there been a fall in users in GA4? Can you spot any other differences? Make sure you record these, so you have some hard evidence before Universal is switched off.

f) Archiving plan

You will need to extract all your existing data before Universal is shut down in December 2023. This data cannot be migrated, and you will need to manually download one report at a time using Google Sheets, excel or CSV.

This could be quite a challenge, especially if you have data going back many years and now is the time to ask how much you want to keep. You may need to plan time between June – November 2023 to extract your data (or perhaps find a willing volunteer).

 

 

Late phase (February 2023 – June 2023)

I would suggest these activities in your last phase before moving over to GA4:

• Finalise and create custom reports
• Create a new collection if you want to
• Create Explore reports and share with your team
• Create Data Studio reports
• Training for everyone
• Update Events, Conversions, Audiences and Filters

 

After migration phase (June 2023 – December 2023)

Activities after you’ve moved:

• Download and archive your historical data
• Evaluate your GA4 setup and reports
• Check if any more training is needed

---

6. Top tips

GA4 presents some challenges, however it is best approaching the change armed with an understanding of how it works and the knowledge that you are starting from scratch.

The key things to do are:

• Get GA4 setup and running as soon as possible
• Audit your current analytics account
• Get some training in the administration and configuration side first (if you are setting it up – otherwise pay someone to help you)
• Use a demo account to get a feel for what GA4 can do
• Plan how you will migrate from Universal to GA4. Decide what goals and audiences need keeping and what new ones you need to add based on how GA4 works.
• Set up your Events, Conversions and Audiences as soon as you can (but plan first, do not rush to set these up if you are not sure)
• Get training on the rest of GA4 after you have had it running for a few months (focus on reporting and explorations)
• Compare your Universal and GA4 reports whilst you have the same traffic going into each
• Put together a plan for archiving your historical data (you cannot keep this on GA4)

 

---

Image credits: Manfred Steger