Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is Google's free tool for seeing who visits your site and what they do.
Search Console shows how people find you; GA4 shows what happens after they click. Set up both for the full picture.
1. Create a GA4 property
In analytics.google.com, make an account and a GA4 property for your site. This is where all your data will live.
2. Add the tracking code
Install the GA4 tag via your site builder, a plugin, or Google Tag Manager. Nothing is tracked until the tag is live.
3. Confirm it is working
Open the Realtime report and visit your own site to check hits appear. This catches a broken install early.
4. Set up key events
Mark the actions that matter (signups, purchases, contact clicks) as key events. Traffic only counts if it converts.
5. Link Search Console
Connect GSC inside GA4 so queries and on-site behaviour sit together. One view beats flipping between tools.
Good to know: Set up GA4 the day you launch. It cannot show data from before the tag went live.
Where people slip up
- Tracking nothing meaningful. Pageviews alone do not tell you what works.
- Forgetting to test. A silently broken tag means weeks of lost data.
- Ignoring it after setup. The value is in reading the reports, not installing them.