GA4

What is GA4?

Google Analytics 4 is the new default Google analytics property which is replacing the previous App + Web (Beta) property and will be replacing Universal Analytics (UA) on 1 July 2023. The main advantage of GA4 is the ability to efficiently track either apps, websites or both in one property, as opposed to UA which only supports websites. It uses Firebase for app tracking and Global Site Tag or Google Tag Manager for website tracking.

What needs to be changed?

For existing apps, as long as you already had firebase analytics, nothing. The 'Firebase App + Web' analytics property upgraded automatically to GA4 at the end of 2020 so all of those app properties should have been upgraded as well.

For existing webreaders or websites they will likely be using the the previous iteration of GA - Universal Analytics. You will need to add these to your new GA4 property by following step 3 onwards of 'Via Google Analytics (Web only)' below.

How to set up a new GA4 property

There are 2 ways of setting up a GA4 property, however as all of our apps use Firebase we opt for option 2 (via firebase) in most situations.

Via Google Analytics (Web only)

1. Go to Admin
2. If there isn't a GA4 property already click 'Create Property' 
3. Under the 'Property' column, go to 'Data Streams'
4. Add whichever stream you'd like
   App - (NB this would not be the way to add apps to a GA4 property unless the app isn’t using Firebase, which is very unlikely) 
   Enter the Bundle ID/package name, app name and optionally app store ID, then download the config file. You can skip all other steps.
   Send the iOS and Android config files to your Pugpig onboarder who will add them to the app.
   Web - Enter the Website URL and name

Via Firebase 

1. Go to 'Project Overview'
2. Click 'Add app'
3. Enter the bundle ID/package name and optionally the app name and app store ID, then download the config file. You can skip all other steps.
   Send the iOS and Android config files to your Pugpig onboarder who will add them to the app.
4. Go to Analytics Dashboard in the left-hand menu. You should see a banner to link Firebase to your GA account, but if not, click analytics settings in the top right corner to do so.
5. This should then create a GA4 property in your GA account where you can also add a web data stream if you’d like.

Access

Under Admin > Property > User Management add analytics@kaldorgroup.com with Administrator access.

FAQ

• How do I know if my account is a GA4 account?
  • All App + Web properties should have been automatically converted to GA4 properties. If the property ID is 9 numbers then it should be GA4, as opposed to a Universal analytics ID which would be ‘UA-XXXXXXXXX-X’. Another way to check is to go into admin and select the property. You should then see the ‘Data Streams’ option under the property.
• Is BigQuery included?
  • It is included at no cost.
• Is there a GA3?
  • Technically yes, though it isn’t called that. The first version of GA was Urchin, the second was Classic Google Analytics, the third was/is Universal Analytics (UA), and now the fourth is GA4.
• Can I still create a UA property?
  • For now yes you can. When you click add property the default is GA4. However if you scroll down and click  ‘Show advanced options’ you’ll see a toggle to create a UA property. There’s then a tick box for whether to create a UA and GA4 property, or only UA.
• Do we need access?.
  • We generally request that we're added to your analytics properties as an admin so that we can configure your custom dimensions and help troubleshoot where necessary. We use the address analytics@kaldorgroup.com for this access, rather than specific team members.

If you have any other questions about GA4 or Google analytics in general please get in touch with support@pugpig.com

Helpful links

Introducing the new Google Analytics - Google’s product announcement 

Meet the next generation of Google Analytics - Analytics Help - Google support intro to GA4

[GA4] Set up Analytics for a website and/or app - Analytics Help - Google support guidance on setting up GA4

Set up Analytics for a website (Universal Analytics) - Analytics Help - Google support guidance for setting up old Universal analytics properties

Add a Google Analytics 4 property (to a site that already has Analytics) - Analytics Help