This GA4 migration guide will teach you how to upgrade to GA4 from GA3 (Universal Analytics) via checklist. Learn to setup GA4 step by step.
Why should you migrate from GA3 to GA4 right now?
Google announced that it would discontinue Universal Analytics (GA3) on July 1st, 2023
You can see the following warning message from Google when you log in to your GA3 account:
That means your Google Analytics tracking will automatically stop working after July 1, 2023.
And to make matters worse, Google will also delete all of your historical universal analytics data in 2023 or early 2024.
That’s why you need to set up your GA4 property right now. And not wait a day longer.
Note: If you already have GA4 property, then you don’t need to do much. Just scroll down to the bottom of this article, connect your GA4 property with your GA3 property and then turn off the ‘Automatically set up a basic Google Analytics 4 property‘ setting.
What is Google Analytics (GA4)?
GA4 is the latest version of Google Analytics. Since it is the 4th version, it is called GA4.
Following are the other three versions:
The first version of Google Analytics (GA1) is the Classic Google Analytics (ga.js JavaScript library).
Note: GA4 also uses the gtag.js library but uses a new measurement model called ‘Event+Parameter’ model.
The GA4 allows you to integrate mobile app and website usage data into a single GA Property.
Even if you don’t have a mobile app, Google recommends creating and using the GA4 property.
Run the GA4 property in parallel with your GA3 property as, eventually, Google will discontinue support for GA3 and other older GA versions.
Note: GA4 will become a 100% replacement for your GA3 property on 1st July 2023. GA4 is ready for commercial consumption. But keep your GA3 property intact till the time it discontinues.
Follow the checklist below to migrate to GA4 from GA3:
Upgrade to GA4 (if you currently use GA3).
Set up GA4 from scratch (if you have never used GA before).
Connect your GA4 property to GA3 (if it is not already connected).
Add mobile app data streams to your GA4 property.
Activate Google Signals for your GA4 property.
Connect your GA4 property with Google Ads.
Connect your GA4 property with Google Search Console.
Connect your GA4 property with BigQuery.
Migrate users and audience definitions to GA4.
Transfer GA3 (Universal Analytics) data into GA4.
Save your Universal Analytics data from being deleted.
Setup GA4 test property.
Set Up Goal Conversion Tracking in GA4.
Upload data from external data sources via GA4 Data Import.
Set up Ecommerce Tracking in GA4.
Turn off the ‘Automatically set up a basic Google Analytics 4 property’ setting.
#1 Upgrade to GA4 (if you currently use GA3).
Follow the steps below to upgrade from GA3 (Universal Analytics) to GA4:
Step-1: Navigate to the admin section of your reporting view in your GA3 property:
Step-2: Click on the ‘GA4 Setup Assistant‘ link under the ‘Property‘ column:
Step-3: Click on the ‘Get Started‘ button under the section ‘I want to create a new Google Analytics 4 property‘:
Step-4: Click on the ‘Create Property’ button:
Google Analytics will now automatically create new GA4 property:
Your existing GA property will remain intact.
So now you have access to at least two GA properties.
One is your existing GA3 property, and the other one is your new GA4 property.
However,
This new GA4 property will NOT automatically start collecting data. You would need to configure your GTM so that the data start flowing in your new GA4 property.
Step-5: Click on the ‘Go to your GA4 property‘ button:
You should now see a new tab opened up in your browser window with the following similar screen:
Step-6: Click on the ‘Data Streams’ link:
Step-7: Click on your web data stream:
Step-8: Click on ‘Use existing on-page tag‘ under the section ‘Tagging Instructions‘:
Step-11: Navigate to your GTM account and then click on the ‘New Tag’ link:
Step-12: Name your new tag something like GA4 tracking – All pages and set the tag type to ‘Google Analytics: GA4 Configuration‘:
Step-13: Enter the measurement ID you recorded earlier in the ‘Measurement ID‘ text box:
Step-14: Set your trigger to fire on all pages:
Step-15: Click on the ‘Save’ button to save your tag.
Step-16: Click on the ‘Preview‘ button at the top right-hand side:
The Tag Manager preview mode window will open in a new browser tab. If it doesn’t, it means your browser is blocking the window.
Step-17: Enter your website URL and then click on the ‘Connect’ button:
Once you click the ‘Connect’ button, one new tab will open up in your browser window, showing your website.
Step-18: Switch back to the browser tab, which shows your Tag Manager preview mode window, then click on the ‘Continue‘ button:
Step-19: If you see the tag GA4 tracking – All pages under the Tags Fired section, then it means your tag is firing correctly:
Step-20: Navigate back to your GTM account and then click on the ‘Submit’ button:
Step-21: Give your version a name and then click on the ‘Publish’ button:
Step-22: Navigate back to your website and visit a couple of pages.
Step-23: Navigate back to your GA4 property, scroll up and then click on the cross button next to ‘Web stream details‘:
Step-24: Click on the ‘Reports’ icon from the left-hand side navigation:
Step-25: Click on the ‘Realtime‘ report:
You should now be able to see new data flowing in your real-time report:
Note: When you create a new property from within an existing GA3 property, the GA4 property is now the default option:
NOTE: Even after you have created your new GA4 property, you will continue to see the ‘GA4 Setup Assistant’ option in your GA3 property:
However, when you again click on the ‘GA4 Setup Assistant’ link, you should see the option to ‘See your GA4 property‘, which confirms that you have successfully set up the GA4 property and also connected it with your old GA3 property:
Step-2: Sign in with your Google username and password.
Step-3: Click on the ‘Start Measuring’ button:
Step-4: Enter your account name (it is generally your company name):
Step-5: Select all the Account data sharing settings (or the one you want) and then click on the ‘Next‘ button:
Step-6: Enter the name of your Google Analytics Property (it is generally your website name):
Step-7: Set your reporting timezone and currency, and then click on the ‘Next‘ button:
Step-8: Select your industry category and business size:
Step-9: Specify how you intend to use Google Analytics with your business. Check all the boxes that apply to you, and then click on the ‘create‘ button:
Step-10:Select your country from the drop-down menu, go through ‘Google Analytics Terms of Service’, go through ‘Data Processing Terms‘ (as required by GDPR) and then click on the checkbox ‘I also accept the Data Processing Terms as required by GDPR‘:
Step-11: Scroll down, go through ‘Google Measurement Controller-Controller Data Protection Terms‘, click on the checkbox ‘I accept the Measurement Controller-Controller Data Protection Terms for the data that I share with Google.‘ and then click on the ‘I Accept‘ button:
Step-12: Choose the type of email communication you want to receive from Google and then click on the ‘Save’ button. I like to select all the available options:
You should now see a screen like the one below:
Congratulations!
You have now created a new GA4 property from scratch.
Now lets a take tour of your new GA4 property.
Step-13: Click on the three dots menu at the top right-hand side of your screen and then click on the ‘Start Tour‘ button:
Step-14: Take a tour of your new GA4 property by clicking on the ‘Next’ button:
Step-15: Use the side panel to navigate to different reports. Click on the ‘Reports‘ icon:
You will now see the Reports Snapshot, which gives you an overview of important information about your users and their engagement with your website/app.
Step-16: Click on the ‘Next‘ button:
You will now see the various life cycle reports, which provide important information about the users’ behaviour on your website/app.
Through the user reports, you can understand the demographics and the technology used by your website/app users.
Step-17: Click on the ‘Next‘ button:
Step-18: Click on the Exploration icon to view the various exploration report templates provided by GA4:
You should now see a screen like the one below, which shows the various exploration report templates provided by GA4.
Step-19: Click on the ‘Next‘ button:
Step-20: Click on the ‘Advertising’ icon to see the various GA4 attribution reports through which you can understand your customers’ purchase journey:
You should now see a screen like the one below, which shows the various attribution reports provided by GA4.
Step-21: Click on the ‘Next‘ button:
Step-22: Click on the ‘Admin‘ button to review and edit your account and property settings:
You should now see a screen like the one below.
Step-23: Click on the ‘Next‘ button:
Step-24: Use the search box at the very top of your GA4 reporting view to search for a specific GA4 report, ask a question about your data or search for help:
Step-25: Click on the ‘GOT IT’ button to end your guided tour of GA4:
Step-25: Click on ‘Data Streams’ under the ‘Property‘ column:
Step-26: Choose a platform for your data stream. The platform could be Web, Android App or IOS App. Let’s select ‘Web‘:
Step-27: Enter your website URL and webstream name, and then click on the ‘Create Stream’ button:
Step-28: Copy the measurement ID by clicking on the ‘Copy’ button:
Step-29: Follow steps 11 to 25 mentioned earlier in the section ‘How to upgrade to GA4 (Google Analytics 4)?‘
#3 Connect your GA4 property to GA3 (if it is not already connected).
If you already have a GA Apps+Web property (aka GA4 property) set up (as I do), then you already have access to the GA4 property. This is because GA4 is just a new name for the Apps+Web property.
Now all you have to do is to connect your App+Web property to your GA3 property (the one which uses the analytics.js or gtag.js tracking) by following the steps below:
Step-1: Navigate to the GA3 property you want to connect to your existing GA4 property.
Step-2: Navigate to the Admin section of your main reporting view:
Step-3: Click on the ‘GA4 Setup Assistant‘ link under the ‘Property‘ column:
Step-4: Scroll down and then click on the drop-down menu ‘Select an existing Google Analytics 4 property‘:
Step-5: Select your existing ‘App+Web property‘ and then click on the ‘Connect Properties’ button:
You should now see the following screen:
Congratulations!
Your GA3 property is now connected to your App+Web property (aka GA4 property).
Step-6: Click on the ‘See your GA4 property‘ button.
Once you click on this button, you will be redirected to your existing App+Web property:
Remember, GA4 is just a new name for your App+web property.
Step-7: Click on the ‘Property Settings’ link in your App+web property:
Step-8: Rename your property by removing the word ‘App+Web‘ and then adding the word ‘GA4‘ somewhere like the one below:
Note: Even after you have created your new GA4 property or connected your existing GA3 property with your App+Web property, you will continue to see the ‘GA4 Setup Assistant’ option in your GA3 property:
However, when you again click on the ‘GA4 Setup Assistant’ link, you should see the option to ‘See your GA4 property‘, which confirms that you have successfully connected your GA4 property with your GA3 property:
#4 Add mobile app data streams to your GA4 property.
GA4 is designed to track both website and mobile app data.
However, to send mobile app data to your GA4 property, you need to link your Firebase project to your GA4 property.
#7 Connect your GA4 property with Google Search Console.
If you want to see the Google search console data in the Search Console reports of your GA4 reporting view, then you must link your GA4 property to your Google search console account.
The Google search console provides data (queries, impressions, clicks, CTR, landing pages etc.) about what users see in Google search results before they click on your website.
You can use this data to identify opportunities and prioritize development efforts to increase organic search traffic to your website.
A Google Analytics 4 property comes with only one reporting view.
So whenever you change one of the settings of your GA4 property, you permanently change the way the data is collected, processed and reported in your reporting view.
Every change you make to your GA4 property setting(s) has the potential to inflate/skew your current analytics data permanently.
So you need to create a separate GA4 property just for testing purposes. We call this property a GA4 test property.
By setting up Goal conversion tracking in GA4, you can determine how many people signed up for your newsletter, submitted a lead, purchased a product etc.
Goals measure how well your website fulfils its main objectives.
Defining Goals is a fundamental component of any digital analytics measurement plan.
Evaluating your website’s and marketing campaigns’ effectiveness is almost impossible without this information.
#14 Upload data from external data sources via GA4 Data Import.
GA4 allows you to upload data from external data sources (like the point of sale, offline data, CRM data, etc.) to your GA4 property via the data import feature.
For example, if you run a business that generates leads online, but sales happen in a physical shop (offline), you can track such conversions in GA4 by uploading the transaction data from the offline system.
The following are the key advantages of uploading data from external data sources to GA4:
You can enrich your user data in GA4 by importing additional details about your users.
You can correlate your offline data with the online data in GA4 to better understand the customers’ purchase journey.
You can create highly targeted remarketing audiences by importing additional user data.
By setting up ecommerce tracking in GA4, you can correlate online sales data with website usage data (like traffic source/medium, landing pages etc.).
Such a correlation analysis is required to understand the performance of your website landing pages and marketing campaigns.
Otherwise, you may never know which landing pages or marketing campaigns are driving sales and which are not.
Through e-commerce reports in GA4, you can get detailed information about e-commerce activity on your website, like total revenue generated, the number of orders placed, average order value, e-commerce conversion rate etc.
#16 Turn off the ‘Automatically set up a basic Google Analytics 4 property’ setting.
Make sure you turn off the ‘Automatically set up a basic Google Analytics 4 property‘ setting in your universal analytics property if you already have a GA4 property.
Because if you’ve already created a new GA4 property, keeping this setting on will automatically update your existing GA4 property (on July 1st of this year) with basic configuration details (based on your current GA3 settings) and reuse existing site tags.
You don’t want additional settings automatically configured in your existing GA4 property.
Follow the steps below to opt out:
Step-1: Navigate to the admin area of your Universal Analytics property.
Step-2: Click on the link ‘GA4 Setup Assistant‘ under the ‘Property‘ column.
Step-3: Scroll down to the bottom of the page and then turn off the Automatically set up a basic Google Analytics 4 property toggle.
Other articles related to GA4 (Google Analytics 4)
Frequently Asked Questions About How to Upgrade to GA4 (Google Analytics 4)
I already have App+Web. Do I have to do anything?
If you already have App+Web property, you don’t need to do much. You already have access to the GA4 property, as GA4 is just a new name for the ‘App+Web’ property.
In this article, you will learn how to connect your App+Web property with your GA3 property, and your upgrade is complete.
What is Google Analytics (GA4)?
GA4 is the latest version of Google Analytics. Since it is the 4th version, it is called GA4.
Should I stop using GA3?
GA4 won’t become a 100% replacement for your GA3 property anytime soon. It is still not ready for commercial consumption mainly because of a lack of robust ecommerce reporting. So keep your GA3 property intact. However, Google is likely to discontinue the GA3 property in the future.
I’ve upgraded to GA4, but I still see a message asking me to upgrade. Is there a problem?
Even after you have created your new GA4 property or connected your existing GA3 property with your App+Web property, you will continue to see the ‘upgrade to GA4’ option in your GA3 property.
However, when you again click on the ‘Upgrade to GA4’ link, you should see the option to ‘See your GA4 property’, which confirms that you have successfully set up the GA4 property and also connected it with your old GA property:
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