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How to set up GA4 properties

Feb 1st, 2026

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is now the default analytics platform, and whether you like it or not, it’s packed with useful features that make it the tool most businesses are relying on to understand how users interact with their websites.

GA4 works very differently to Universal Analytics. It’s event-based rather than session-based, tracks users across devices more effectively, and gives you far more flexibility in how you analyse behaviour. The trade-off is GA4 setup matters. A lot.

A basic GA4 install will collect some data, but without the right configuration you’ll quickly run into gaps – missing conversions, unreliable traffic numbers, or reports that don’t quite answer the questions you actually have.

This guide covers the essentials: how to create a GA4 property, the main ways to install it, how to track conversions properly, and how to start using GA4’s reporting with confidence.

Create a GA4 property

First things first: you need a GA4 property.

In Google Analytics, head to Admin (the cog icon in the bottom-left). Under the Property column, click Create property and follow the setup steps. You’ll be asked for a property name, reporting time zone, and currency – nothing too complicated here.

Once the property is created, you’ll need to add a data stream, usually a web stream. This is where you’ll find your Measurement ID. Think of this as the address GA4 uses to know where your data should be sent.

Without that Measurement ID implemented on your site, GA4 won’t collect anything.

 

Using new gtag

If your website doesn’t already have analytics tracking installed, GA4 will give you a global site tag (gtag.js) during setup.

This script needs to be added to the <head> section of every page on your site. Once it’s live, GA4 will immediately start tracking some basic interactions, including page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, and file downloads.

For simple websites, this approach can be enough. The downside is flexibility. Any custom tracking usually means developer involvement, which can slow things down.

Using existing gtag

If your site already uses a global site tag (for example, from Universal Analytics or Google Ads), you may not need to start from scratch.

In many cases, you can update the existing gtag to include your GA4 Measurement ID. This allows GA4 to start collecting data alongside your current setup.

That said, older implementations are often messy. If you’re planning to do anything beyond basic tracking, it’s usually worth moving to Google Tag Manager rather than bolting GA4 onto an already crowded setup.

Using Google Tag Manager

For most businesses, Google Tag Manager (GTM) is the best way to implement GA4.

Once your GTM container is installed on the site, you can add a GA4 Configuration tag, enter your Measurement ID, and set it to fire on all pages. That’s your baseline tracking sorted.

From there, GTM really comes into its own. You can:

  • Track form submissions
  • Track button clicks
  • Create custom events
  • Control exactly when and how tags fire

All without touching the site’s code again. It’s cleaner, more scalable, and far easier to manage over time.

Setting up conversions

One of the biggest changes in GA4 is how conversions work.

There are no “goals” anymore. Instead, any event can be a conversion.

GA4 tracks a number of events automatically, but you’ll almost always need to create your own for meaningful actions. Once an event appears in GA4, you can mark it as a conversion under Configure > Events.

A common mistake we see is tracking too many conversions. Focus on actions that actually matter to the business — leads, sales, and key engagement points — rather than every click.

Tracking leads

Lead tracking is essential for most non-ecommerce websites, but it’s also where GA4 setups often fall apart.

The cleanest approach is usually to track:

  • A thank-you page view
  • A successful form submission
  • Or a confirmed interaction (such as a phone or email click).

Using GTM, you can trigger an event when one of these actions occurs and send it to GA4. Once it’s visible in the Events report, mark it as a conversion.

This gives you reliable lead data that you can trust across channels, including paid media and organic search.

Tracking ecommerce purchases

If you run an ecommerce site, GA4 needs more than just a basic install.

Ecommerce tracking relies on recommended events such as ‘view_item’, ‘add_to_cart’, and ‘purchase’. These events need to pass specific parameters, including product names, prices, and transaction IDs.

Most ecommerce platforms support GA4 through plugins or native integrations, but it’s still important to test everything properly. A broken purchase event can throw off revenue reporting and paid media optimisation very quickly.

Once set up correctly, GA4 gives you much richer insight into product performance and user behaviour than Universal Analytics ever did.

Setting up filters

Not all traffic is useful.

GA4 allows you to filter out things like:

  • Internal traffic from your office or agency
  • Developer traffic from testing tools
  • Known bots and spiders

Filters are managed under Admin > Data Settings > Data Filters. Unlike Universal Analytics, GA4 lets you test filters before fully applying them, which reduces the risk of accidentally excluding real users.

It’s worth setting these up early, before your reports become cluttered with noise.

Link to other Google properties

GA4 works best when it’s connected to the rest of your Google ecosystem.

Key integrations include:

  • Google Search Console, for organic search performance
  • Google Ads, for conversion tracking and remarketing
  • BigQuery, for raw data exports and advanced analysis

These links are set up in Admin > Product Links and help ensure consistent data across platforms.

Setting up Explore reports

GA4’s standard reports are fine for day-to-day checks, but the real value sits in Explore.

Explore reports let you dig into:

  • User journeys
  • Drop-off points
  • Conversion paths
  • Behaviour across devices

They take a bit of getting used to, but once you’ve built a few useful explorations, they become an essential part of analysis – particularly for SEO, CRO, and performance marketing.

The bottom line…

GA4 isn’t something you can simply ‘set and forget’. The quality of your insights depends entirely on how well the property is configured, what you choose to track, and how confidently you can interpret the data it produces. A rushed or overly basic setup can leave you with numbers that look impressive but don’t actually answer the questions your business is asking.

Taking the time to get the foundations right – from implementation and conversions to filters and reporting – puts you in a far better position to make informed decisions across SEO, paid media, and wider digital strategy.

At Click Consult, we work closely with clients to ensure GA4 is set up to support real business goals, not just surface-level reporting. If you’d like support auditing or improving your GA4 setup, speak to our team today.

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