GA4 questions, answered simply

Yes. If you still have a Universal Analytics property, you need to move to GA4, so first check whether you have one. The earlier you move, the more history you will have in Google Analytics 4.

Google first released GA4 in October 2020, citing changes in user behaviour and privacy standards. To keep collecting data in Google Analytics after 1 July 2023, you need GA4.

It takes 7 to 10 days, including dataLayer implementation, GA4 set-up and data validation.

Yes. Google Analytics 4 replaces Universal Analytics as the standard for measurement in Google Analytics. In 2022 Google announced that GA4 would be the only option from 1 July 2023.

You can mark up to 30 events as conversions (50 for Google Analytics 360). You no longer set goals with limited criteria. GA4 also marks four collected mobile app events as conversions automatically.

GA4 uses an event-based model instead of UA’s session-based one. It collects website and app data together to give a better view of the customer journey.

It brings new engagement metrics that measure engagement more accurately than pageviews and bounce rate, and includes privacy controls such as cookieless measurement and behavioural and conversion modelling.

For standard (non-360) GA4 properties, you can set user-level and event data retention to 2 months or 14 months.

Google Analytics runs data centres around the world, including in the United States, for speed and reliability. Before data is sent to servers in the US, it is collected on local servers, where IP addresses are anonymised (when this feature is turned on).

Yes. TagGurus can set up your cookie consent banner too, to help you comply with GDPR. Depending on the plan you choose, we currently offer a free cookie consent banner for the first year to small and medium businesses.