How to Set Up Google Analytics 4 on Your Website, Step by Step

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is Google's free website and app analytics tool. It tells you how many people visit, where they come from, which pages they read and what actions they take. Setting it up takes about 20 minutes. Configuring a few extra settings at the start saves frustration later.

Before you start: privacy and consent

Analytics tools collect data about visitors. Depending on where you and your visitors are, privacy laws may require you to update your privacy policy and ask for consent before setting analytics cookies. Plan this before you add the tag, and check the rules that apply to you.

Step 1: Create an account and property

1. Go to Google Analytics and sign in with a Google account the business controls, not a personal one that might leave with an employee.
2. Create an account (usually your business name).
3. Create a property for your website, choosing your reporting time zone and currency.
4. Enter basic business details.

Step 2: Create a web data stream

Choose Web, enter your website URL and a stream name. Leave Enhanced measurement switched on; it automatically tracks useful interactions such as scrolls, outbound clicks, site search and file downloads. GA4 then shows your Measurement ID, which starts with G-.

Step 3: Add the Google tag to your site

There are three common ways:

• CMS integration: many website builders and content management systems have a field where you paste the Measurement ID. This is the simplest option.
• Google Tag Manager: if you use Tag Manager, add a Google tag with your Measurement ID and publish the container.
• Directly in the code: copy the tag snippet from the data stream's installation instructions and paste it into the <head> of every page, usually via a shared header template.

Step 4: Check that it works

Open your website in another tab, then look at the Realtime report in GA4. You should see yourself as an active user within a minute or two. If not, check the Measurement ID, clear any caching plugin, and make sure an ad blocker is not hiding your own visit.

Step 5: Change the data retention setting

By default, GA4 keeps detailed event-level data for two months, which limits some explorations. In Admin, under Data collection and modification, open Data retention and change it to the longest option available for your property, usually 14 months for standard properties.

Step 6: Mark your key events

Key events, formerly called conversions, are the actions that matter to your business: a form submission, a sign-up, a purchase, a newsletter subscription. Create or identify the event for each action and mark it as a key event so it appears in your reports. Google's Analytics Help Center explains the options.

Step 7: Exclude internal traffic

Define internal traffic rules for your office IP addresses so staff visits do not inflate your numbers.

Step 8: Link Google Search Console

Linking Search Console brings organic search query data into GA4. If you have not set up Search Console, our guide to finding quick wins in Search Console explains why it is worth doing.

Step 9: Tag your campaigns

For newsletters, social posts and ads, add UTM parameters to links so GA4 can attribute traffic correctly. See our UTM parameters guide.

Reports to check first

• Traffic acquisition: where visitors come from.
• Pages and screens: your most visited pages.
• Key events: which actions people complete.

Review them monthly and write down one decision each time; data is only useful when it changes what you do.