# 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.
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9191807?utm_source=advocacy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ga4
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.
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9744165?utm_source=advocacy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ga4#zippy=%2Cin-this-article
## Check List
* Configure GA 4 as “Privacy Friendly as Possible"
* Migrate your exclude referrals
* Change Data Retentions From 2 Months to 14 Months so data is available when you make a YoY (year on year) comparison * \
* 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 :
## Worth Noting
Features are not currently available in GA4
1. Calculated Metrics
2. Annotations
3. Campaign Timeout
4. UTM Override
5. Exclude hostname filters
On a separate note, the data retention period doesn’t apply to data stored in [BigQuery](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9358801?hl=en) – 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](https://www.testandoptimize.com/posts/use-tag-assistant-tool-to-verify-google-analytics-setup/) or Google Tag Manager
* [cookie customization](https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gtagjs/cookies-user-id)
* [ads personalization](https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gtagjs/display-features)
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”.
