Guide to moving to GA4
Adjust Session Timeout
Configure how long it takes a session to timeout after a user stops interacting with the website, and how long a user has to engage with site content before a session is engaged. support.google.com/analytics/answer/9191807..
If you run a site with Google Analytics, you can add a Google Analytics 4 property to that site to run alongside your existing Universal Analytics property.
Your UA property is left unchanged and continues to collect data. support.google.com/analytics/answer/9744165..
Check List
- Configure GA 4 as “Privacy Friendly as Possible" https://datatovalue.nl/google-analytics-4/privacy-settings/
- Migrate your exclude referrals https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10327750
- Change Data Retentions From 2 Months to 14 Months so data is available when you make a YoY (year on year) comparison * \ https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7667196?hl=en-GB&utm_id=ad
- Link GA4 to Adwords, Google Optimise & Merchant Centre
- Mark Goal Events as Conversions. In the left-hand navigation go to
Configure > Events. Find the event you want to mark as a conversion in the ‘existing events’ table and toggle the button to mark them as a conversion. - Exclude Internal Traffic - With GA4, it is a little bit more involved. There are 12 steps to do it compare to Universal Analytics (GA 3)
- Track site-search in GA4 - having Enhanced Measurement enabled is not going to work
GA4 migration checklist from Google : https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10759417?hl=en
Worth Noting
Features are not currently available in GA4
- Calculated Metrics
- Annotations
- Campaign Timeout
- UTM Override
- Exclude hostname filters
On a separate note, the data retention period doesn’t apply to data stored in BigQuery – you can keep it forever there.
Data collection settings that can be migrated
As long as your Universal Analytics property data collection is implemented in gtag.js or Google Tag Manager
Official Source: Analytics Help Center
Dimensions and metrics differences
| Universal Analytics | GA4 |
Average sessions duration | User engagement / Sessions |
Conversion rate | Conversions / Sessions |
Goal completions per user | Conversions / Total users |
Pages / Session | Views / Sessions |
Value per Session | Event value / Sessions |
Value per User | Event value / Total users |
I want to understand what traffic channels are most effective in driving conversions
Access the “Advertising” section in the left-hand navigation and then click on “Conversion paths”.
