Google Analytics V4 Migration Guide

GA4 is Privacy Conscious

Meet the next generation of Google Analytics
Get started with the new Google Analytics
Google Analytics 4 (formerly known as "App + Web") is a new kind of property, with several advantages over Universal Analytics:

• Privacy-focused and durable for the future
• Intelligent, using machine learning to unearth insights about the customer journey across platforms and devices
• Enhanced, seamless integrations with Google's advertising platforms to optimize campaign performance and drive greater marketing ROI

Add to Existing Site w/ Analytics

How to Add Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to an existing site that already has Analytics:
Use the GA4 Setup Assistant (instructions below) to create a new GA4 property that collects data in parallel with your existing Universal Analytics property. There are no changes to your Universal Analytics property and it continues to collect data as always. You can always access both properties via the property selector or Admin screen.

If you use a website builder or your site is hosted on a Content Management System (CMS) (for example, Hubspot, Magento, Squarespace, etc.) that doesn't already use gtag.js, follow these instructions for your particular CMS. and do not simply paste your "G-" ID into the field that your CMS provides.

The GA4 Setup Assistant wizard does not backfill your new GA4 property with historical data. Your GA4 property only collects data going forward. To see historical data, use the reports in your Universal Analytics property.

Google Search Console

Search Console Insights now supports Google Analytics 4

Hello site owners and content creators,

We launched Search Console Insights last year to provide helpful insights on how your site content performs, and how users discover it on the web. It got good feedback from both content creators and SEOs, who found it helpful for understanding how to improve their content.

We're excited to let you know that Search Console Insights now supports Google Analytics 4 properties. Note that if you created a new Google Analytics property in the last year and a half, then it is probably a Google Analytics 4 property.

Tips:

• Associate (link) your Google Analytics property, as otherwise you will only see 20% of possible content insights.
• When we can find a good recommendation for an association, we will show it in Search Console Insights.
• You can also visit the Associations settings page in order to manage your associations and control which Google Analytics property data you see in Search Console Insights.

Migration Procedure for Wordpress / Joomla / Drupal Style Site

1. Replace your existing analytics.js (universal) Analytics tracking code with the new Gtag (gtag.js) based script
2. Adjust your script optimization (combine, consolidate, async, defer), and caching settings to reflect the new gtag.js
3. Wait some time for Google Analytics to collect data under the new GTAG script (1 week?)
4. Log into Google Analytics and complete the V4 migration wizard