How to upgrade to Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 or GA4 is the new version of Google Analytics designed to measure not only what happens on a website in more depth than with GA3, but also to measure what happens in an app. This is important for people who have web apps and now have the app's numbers on one side and the web's numbers on the other. With GA4 you have them together in a global view and separately in independent views.

Its arrival brings with it new reports, new ways of measuring, and the disappearance of certain old metrics. All of its functions are not yet activated (for example, it does not allow you to connect to Search Console yet…). But since we are at the beginning of the year, it is important that you make the change as soon as possible, so that you will have all the data for 2021 in both Google Analytics.

Google calls the old Google Analytics codes Universal Analytics codes or (GA3 codes for everyone else). The old codes start with “UA-“, the new ones are called Global Site Tags and start with “G-“… I say this so you can recognize when you are in front of one or the other.

Start Google Analytics 4

In order for Google Analytics 4 to work, you will need to change the codes you are currently using on your website. To do this, go to your Google Analytics Settings (the gear icon at the bottom left), and once inside, in the central column you will see a note that tells you to click there if you want to switch to Google Analytics 4.

Activate a new Google Analytics property 4

The first question it will ask you is if you want to create a new property or if you want to connect it to an existing GA4 property. You want a new one… it doesn’t ask you if you want to connect it to your old GA3, it asks you if you want to connect it to another GA4. So click on create new.

Review your property settings

Click on the “view your settings” button (or whatever it says depending on the language) and click on tag installation. You will see that once done, it tells you that it has not received data in the last 48 hours. This is because you still have the old codes. My advice is not to remove the old ones, include the new ones and keep both. Why do I advise you this? Because with GA4 you start from scratch and there is no historical data, you will not be able to compare your 2021 data with the 2020 data… also you may miss some metrics and from time to time you want to enter the old one. You can keep both, without any problem.

Enable advanced measurement

Activate this feature to better understand what visitors do on your website. For example, you will know if they scroll or not, if they download a PDF, if they use your search engine, what links they clicked to leave the website, etc. A whole series of actions carried out on your website that you will be interested in knowing. You will find them all described if you click on the admin of this function (the gear on the right).

Install the new codes

Now that you have the correct configuration, it is time to install the new codes. Click on “Global site tag” or whatever you have written in your language (it is just below the advanced measurement) and there you will find the code that must be included in the “Head” of your website.

Include the codes in your website or in your WordPress

If your website is hand-made, include the codes by hand in the “head.php” file. If your website is built using WordPress or any other content management system, use a plugin to do this. Ideally, you should use the same plugin you already had to put the old codes, just paste the new code below the old one. In some cases, templates (or “themes”) already have a space for the codes. Check if this is the case for you. To find out if you put the GA3 codes with a plugin or from the template, check the installed plugins and see if you have any that talk about Google Analytics. If there are none, you probably put the code somewhere in your template configuration. In case of emergency and you can’t find the old codes, don’t worry, download a new Google Analytics plugin (this one is fine). Google Analytics plugin). Finally, if you used a plugin where instead of pasting the whole code, you only had to paste the UA - in that same plugin you will find the option to put more code by hand. Find the corresponding box and paste the new whole code (not just the ID, the whole code) and that's it. You will have both codes at once.

Final step: enter the new Google Analytics

If you click on the “home” icon in the side menu, you will automatically enter the new version. If you go back to the general list of properties, you will see that you now have a new one. The old one has a code that starts with UA, the new one starts with G. It is better to change the name of the new one and put GA4 to make it easier to recognize.

Well, that's all.

If you have any problems when making the change, please indicate it in the comments area and I will try to help you. You will find several videos on Youtube They explain to you what I have explained to you in writing… I say this in case you prefer to do it in a visual way. When I have time, I will create a video myself and embed it in this article.

May everything go well

A hug

Montse.