Universal Analytics was discontinued in July 2023. This guide gives you step-by-step instructions for setting up GA4.

Setting up GA4 now means you will have data ready for several months by the time UA stops working.

Getting the Measurement ID

Admin → Data Streams → Web → copy the Measurement ID for Google Tag Manager setup.

Data retention settings

GA4 data expires after 14 months. Admin → Data Settings → Data Retention → 14 months.

Event tracking

GA4 configuration tag in GTM

Create a new GA4 configuration tag with the Measurement ID and an Initialization - All Pages trigger.

Filtering IP addresses

Define internal traffic rules to exclude office IP addresses.

Form tracking

  1. Built-in trigger - GTM automatic form detection
  2. Thank-you page - track the URL that signals a successful submission
  3. Visible element method - monitor success messages

Additional events

Conversion events

Mark events as conversions in GA4 Exploration reports.

Jānis Kursītis

Jānis Kursītis

CEO, JKonsult

"GA4 scared even experienced specialists in its first weeks. But once you start working with events and conversions, everything actually falls into place more logically than in Universal Analytics."