Where they come from
Google, social media, email or a typed address, and which of them brings visitors who stay.
Google Analytics 4 in plain words
Google Analytics 4, or GA4, is Google's free tool for seeing what visitors do on your website: where they come from, which pages they read and which ones lead to a call or a sale. Learn a handful of ideas and the reports start to make sense.
- Freefrom Google
- 10 secondsmakes a session engaged
- 14 monthslongest detailed data kept
Watch GA4 count a visit
In GA4 everything a visitor does is an event. Visit this small bakery website and see, click by click, what Google Analytics records and why. Pick where the visitor comes from, then click around.
The visitor arrives from
Choose where this visitor comes from to start the visit.
Realtime
- Users
- 0
- Sessions
- 0
- Events
- 0
- Key events
- 0
Source / mediumNot started
ChannelNot started
Engaged sessionNot yet
- Events appear here as they happen. Tap one to see the details GA4 stores with it.
AutomaticEnhanced measurementCustomKey event
What GA4 tells you
Three questions every business owner has, answered with real numbers instead of guesses.
What they do
Which pages they read, how far they scroll, what they click and where they leave.
What brings results
Which pages and channels lead to a call, a message or a sale.
The ideas worth knowing
Learn these eight ideas and most of GA4 makes sense. Hover or tap any item to see the details.
- page_view, scroll, click
- Automatic or your own
- Each one carries details
- Scrolls and outbound clicks
- File downloads and site search
- YouTube videos
- Called conversions until 2024
- Calls, messages, purchases
- Shown in every report
- Source and medium
- Channels like Organic Search
- UTM tags for your own links
- Engaged: 10 s, 2 pages or a key event
- Engagement rate replaces bounce rate
- Average engagement time
- Funnels and paths
- Free form tables
- Kept only as long as your data
- Cookie banner for EU visitors
- Consent mode passes the choice on
- Expect fewer numbers than visitors
- Free to connect
- Queries and landing pages
- See what visitors did next
Set it up in five steps
About an hour, once. After that, check it once a month.
- Step 1
Create a property
Sign in at analytics.google.com and create one property for your website.
- Step 2
Add a web stream
Add your address and copy the measurement ID that starts with G-. Leave enhanced measurement switched on.
- Step 3
Add the tag
Through Google Tag Manager, the Site Kit by Google plugin on WordPress, or the code in the head of every page.
- Step 4
Ask for consent
Visitors in the EU need a cookie banner. Connect it to consent mode so GA4 respects each choice.
- Step 5
Mark key events
Calls, WhatsApp messages and purchases. Then check them in the Realtime report and in DebugView.
Four things people read wrong
- Users are not peopleOne person on a phone and a laptop can count as two users.
- GA4 shows fewer visits than really happenedDeclined cookies and blockers keep some visits out.
- Direct is not only typed visitsVisits GA4 cannot trace back to a source also land there.
- Today is not finishedReports can take a day or two to fill in completely.
Questions about Google Analytics 4
Is Google Analytics 4 free?
Yes. GA4 is free for almost every business. A paid version, Analytics 360, exists for very large websites.
Do I need a cookie banner for GA4?
For visitors in the EU, in most cases yes: analytics cookies need consent before they are set. A cookie banner connected to consent mode makes GA4 follow each visitor's choice.
What is the difference between GA4 and Search Console?
Search Console shows what happens on Google before people visit you. GA4 shows what they do on your website after they arrive. Link the two and see both in one place. See Google Search Console.
What happened to the old Google Analytics?
Universal Analytics stopped collecting data in 2023. GA4 is the only version now, and old data does not move across to it.
How long does GA4 keep data?
Standard reports keep their numbers. The detailed data used in explorations is kept for 2 months by default, and you can raise that to 14 months in the settings, which is worth doing on day one.
Want us to set it up for you?
We set up GA4 with consent and the key events that matter to you, and explain the numbers in plain words.