Google Analytics 4 Guide — Setup & Key Reports | SEO Kickoff

Universal Analytics is gone. GA4 is the current standard, and it works very differently — for better and worse. This guide gets you up and running with the metrics that actually matter.

GA4 vs Universal Analytics: What Changed

Feature	Universal Analytics	GA4
Data model	Session-based	Event-based
Bounce rate	% of single-page sessions	Replaced by engagement rate
Goals	Predefined types	Any event can be a "key event"
Reports	Standard + custom	Exploration-based
Cross-device	Limited	Built-in via User ID
Retention	26 months max	14 months default (2 years max)

The biggest shift: everything is an event. Page views, scrolls, clicks, file downloads, video plays — they're all events with parameters. This makes GA4 more flexible but requires more setup to get useful data.

Step 1: Create and Configure Your GA4 Property

Property Setup

Go to Google Analytics → Admin → Create Property
Select your industry and reporting time zone
Create a Web data stream with your domain
Copy the Measurement ID (format: G-XXXXXXXXXX)

Install the Tag

Option A: Google Tag Manager (recommended)

Add the Google Tag with your Measurement ID via GTM. This lets you manage all tracking without touching code.

Option B: Direct script tag

<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXXXXX"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());
  gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXXXXX');
</script>

Option C: Next.js

Use the official @next/third-parties package:

import { GoogleAnalytics } from "@next/third-parties/google";

export default function RootLayout({ children }) {
  return (
    <html>
      <body>{children}</body>
      <GoogleAnalytics gaId="G-XXXXXXXXXX" />
    </html>
  );
}

Verify Installation

Open your site, then in GA4 go to Reports → Realtime. If you see your own session, the tag is firing.

Step 2: Configure Key Events (Conversions)

In GA4, "key events" are what conversions were in UA. You mark any event as a key event and it appears in conversion reports.

Automatically Collected Events

GA4 collects these without any configuration:

page_view
scroll (90% depth)
click (outbound links)
file_download
video_start, video_progress, video_complete
session_start, first_visit

Mark Events as Key Events

Admin → Data Streams → [Your stream] → Key events → Add key event

Common key events to track:

generate_lead — form submissions
purchase — e-commerce transactions
sign_up — account registrations
contact — contact page submissions

Custom Events

For events not collected automatically, use gtag or GTM:

// Track newsletter sign-up
gtag('event', 'newsletter_signup', {
  method: 'footer_form',
  page_location: window.location.href
});

Step 3: Connect Google Search Console

Linking GSC to GA4 gives you organic keyword data inside Analytics:

Admin → Property Settings → Search Console Links
Select your GSC property and web stream
Data appears in Reports → Acquisition → Search Console

This shows which queries drive traffic and what happens after users land — an enormously valuable combination.

Step 4: The Reports That Actually Matter

Acquisition: Where Traffic Comes From

Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition

Shows sessions by channel (Organic Search, Direct, Referral, etc.). The default channel grouping is usually accurate, but you can customise it in Admin.

Key metric to watch: Engaged sessions (sessions with 10+ seconds, a key event, or 2+ page views). This is GA4's replacement for bounce rate — it tells you whether traffic is actually engaging with your content.

Engagement: What Users Do

Reports → Engagement → Pages and screens

Shows which pages get the most views, plus:

Average engagement time per page
Scrolled users (% who reached 90% depth)
Key events triggered per page

Use this to identify your highest-performing content and find pages with high traffic but low engagement (candidates for improvement).

User retention

Reports → Retention

Shows how many users return after their first visit. For content sites, a 2-week retention rate above 10% is solid. Below 5% suggests your content isn't compelling enough to bring people back.

Step 5: Explorations (Custom Reports)

The standard reports cover basics. For deeper analysis, use Explore.

Funnel Exploration

Visualise a multi-step process (e.g., landing page → article → newsletter sign-up) and see where users drop off.

Path Exploration

See what pages users visit before and after any given page. Useful for understanding how content leads to conversions.

Segment Overlap

Compare two segments (e.g., "organic search users" vs "converted users") to understand which traffic source converts best.

Step 6: Set Up Alerts

Admin → Comparisons lets you set up anomaly detection. For critical events:

Create an Insight: Admin → Insights → Create
Set condition: "Key events" decreases by more than 30%
GA4 will email you when the threshold is crossed

This catches tracking breaks, traffic drops, and conversion rate changes before they become major problems.

Common GA4 Mistakes to Avoid

Not filtering internal traffic — Admin → Data Streams → Define internal traffic → exclude your own IP
Leaving data retention at 2 months — Admin → Data Settings → Data Retention → set to 14 months
Ignoring direct traffic — a large "Direct" segment often contains untagged email or social traffic; add UTM parameters to all campaign links
Reporting on sessions instead of users — for content sites, unique users is a more honest measure of reach

GA4 Quick-Setup Checklist

Property created with correct time zone and currency
Web data stream installed and verified
Internal traffic filtered
Data retention set to 14 months
Key events (conversions) configured
Google Search Console linked
Google Ads linked (if running ads)
Custom dashboard created with your core KPIs

Google Analytics 4 Guide: Set Up, Understand, and Act on Your Data