Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is here. If you haven’t already switched, what are you waiting for?!?

Google gives us a handy little option for upgrading to GA4 in the admin section of Google Analytics.

Now upgrade does not mean that your data will transfer over to the new GA4. This option will guide you thru creating a new property under the latest version of Google Analytics. If you click that button, the next screen will show the following.

 

Select the first option “I need to create a new Google Analytics 4 property.” You will be prompted with the below screen. 

The big blue button is calling your name. Go ahead and Create Property. This will open up a new window called the set-up assistant. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the first section, you will want to click into Tag installation to get things flowing. That brings us to the data streams section. This should list your website.

Click into your site to be brought to the webstream details view. Go ahead and leave enhanced measurement on. Mosey your way down to Tagging Instructions and follow one of these options

OPTION 1: MY SITE DOESN’T USE GOOGLE TAG MANAGER

First off, you should be using tag manager. More on that later. If you don’t want to use tag manager, go ahead and plop the gtag.js code into your website’s header, just above the </head> tag.

OPTION 2: I DO USE GOOGLE TAG MANAGER

Great start, skippy! Follow the instructions here to get the new GA4 set up in Tag Manager.

You should now see the following indication from the “Upgrade to GA4” area that we started from.

 

This guide is is an extremely basic setup meant to get data flowing into GA4 so that you don’t miss a beat. As I learn more about the features and settings, I will update this post, or create related posts, so be sure to bookmark this.