Setting Up A GA4 Property

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the current iteration of Google's web analytics platform, designed to provide a comprehensive and insightful understanding of user behavior across websites and apps. Building on the foundation of Universal Analytics, GA4 introduces a range of advanced features and capabilities that cater to the evolving needs of digital marketing analysts.

Unlike its predecessor, GA4 uses an event-based data model that focuses on capturing detailed information about user actions and behaviors. This approach provides a more holistic view of the customer journey and enables businesses to make data-driven decisions with greater precision. There are huge advantages to using GA4, some of these advantages are:

Cross-platform tracking: This allows marketing analysts to gain a deeper understanding of the complete customer journey and identify the various touchpoints across all platforms that drive conversions.
Enhanced Data collection: GA4's event-based data model allows for more granular data collection compared to Universal Analytics. By capturing specific user interactions, such as page views, clicks, and form submissions, GA4 provides a richer dataset that can be analyzed for valuable insights. Additionally, GA4 offers automatic tracking for common events, reducing the need for manual configuration and ensuring that important data is not overlooked.
Privacy-centric: With increasing concerns about data privacy and regulatory compliance, GA4 places a strong emphasis on user privacy and consent. GA4 includes features such as data retention controls, user opt-out options, and IP anonymization, helping businesses comply with global privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA.
Advanced analysis and reporting: GA4 goes beyond just counting user events, it includes built-in machine learning capabilities, which can automatically surface trends and anomalies, predict user behavior, and identify opportunities for optimization. . GA4's customizable reporting interface allows users to create tailored reports that highlight key metrics and performance indicators relevant to their specific goals.
Integration with other Google Marketing Platform Apps: GA4 seamlessly integrates with other Google products and services, such as Google Ads, Google Tag Manager, and BigQuery. This integration enables marketing analysts leverage their analytics data across various marketing and advertising platforms, creating a cohesive and efficient workflow.

Creating A GA4 Property
What you need:
- A Google account
- A Google Tag Manager Account
- Your website address and admin access to the CMS (ex: WordPress, Drupal, etc.)

- Navigate to analytics.google.com/analytics/web
a. If you don't have an existing Google Analytics account, you'll land on the account creation page.
b. Otherwise, on the GA4 home page, go to "Admin" and click on "Create", then select "Property".

- Go through the GA4 property creation process flow 1-5:
1. Property creation:
I. Property name:
II. Reporting country and time zone:
III. Currency: Optional; mainly for ecommerce websites and setting key event (conversion) value.

2. Business details:
I. Industry category
II. Business category

3. Business objectives: Select the applicable business objectives for the website, then click "Create"

4. Data collection: To set up how the website collects data; select the appropriate option for your use case (typically select "Web" for tracking events on a website).

- After selecting the data collection platform, time to set up the data stream. Input the website address under "Website URL" then give the data stream a name.

Personally, I would turn off enhanced measurements here and set up custom tracking in GTM for the website actions that needs tracking by pushing custom events to the data layer. However, if this is not an option, then leave enhanced measurement on. When done, click "Create & continue". After creating the stream, copy the Google tag code snippet displayed under "Install manually".