How to set up a new Google Analytics 4 property - if you already have a Google Analytics account [2023]

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Already have a Google Analytics account and want to set up a new Google Analytics 4 property? This tutorial is for you! In this tutorial I show you how to set up a new Google Analytics 4 property for your website, with step by step instructions and screenshots.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free tool offered by Google to help you track and analyse your website traffic. It offers a whole host of statistics which show how your website is performing.

With Google Analytics, you can find out information about your readers and discover how your readers find and interact with your blog.

You can use it to track how many visitors and pageviews you are getting, how many views each individual blog post is getting, and which are your best (and worst) performing blog posts.

You can view this information over any time period you wish (today, last 30 days, last year etc.) and compare these figures to any other time period you choose (e.g. this month vs last month, this year vs last year).

But before you can use this wonderful data, you first need to set up a Google Analytics property for your website and put a small piece of tracking code onto your blog. This is what Google will use to collect all the information it needs in order to show you all the statistics about your blog that will enable you to track your progress and grow your blog!

GA4 vs GA3

Before 1st July 2023, there were two versions of Google Analytics: Google Analytics 4 (abbreviated to GA4) and Universal Analytics (abbreviated to UA or GA3).

Universal Analytics (AKA GA3) was deprecated on 1st July 2023. (If you already have a UA property, this will still display historic data from before 1st July 2023, but it will no longer collect new data.)

From 1st July 2023 onwards, only GA4 properties are able to collect new data. For this reason, this tutorial will only cover GA4.

How to set up Google Analytics 4 (if you already have a Google Analytics account)

If you already have a Google Analytics account, this tutorial is for you. (This may be because you have an old Universal Analytics property or because you already have a Google Analytics 4 property for a different website.)

If you are completely new to Google Analytics and you do not currently have a Google Analytics account, please see this post How to set up Google Analytics 4 from scratch.

Step 1: Log in to your Google Analytics Account

First, go to analytics.google.com and log in.

Then, click on the gear icon in the bottom left hand corner to access the ADMIN panel.

Step 2: Create a Google Analytics 4 Property

In the Property column, click CREATE PROPERTY.

Give your property a name, check the time zone and currency are correct, and then click NEXT.

NOTE: Typically you will have one Google Analytics Property per website. So I recommend you give your Google Analytics Property the same name as your website.

Step 3: Describe Your Business

Next you will be asked a couple of details about your business. Simply select a business category from the drop down menu, then select a business size, and then click NEXT.

NOTE: Don’t worry about this section. It is not at all important!

Step 4: Select Your Business Objectives

Next you will be asked to select your business objectives. Select ‘Get Baseline Reports’ and click CREATE.

Step 5: Set Up Data Collection

You will now be prompted to set up data collection for your website. Where it says CHOOSE A PLATFORM, simply select the ‘web’ option.

You will then be prompted to set up your Data Stream. Simply type in the URL of your website where it says WEBSITE URL and the name of your website where it says STREAM NAME and then click CREATE STREAM.

You will then be prompted to install your Google Tag. This is the tracking code that you must place on your site. This tracking code is what Google will use to collect data from your blog.

If you have either the MonsterInsights or SiteKit plugin, you can click on these options and you will get detailed instructions on how to install your Google Tag using via the plugin.

If you prefer to install your tracking code manually, select the INSTALL MANUALLY option and copy the tracking code.

For more information on how to install your tracking code, see How to install your Google Analytics 4 tracking code (and check it works!)

Step 6: Continue to Home

Once you have installed your tracking code, you can X out of the Install Your Google Tag screen and you’ll land on a page that says ‘Data Collection Is Pending’ – this is because it can take up to 48 hours before you property starts collecting data.

Scroll to the bottom of this page and click on CONTINUE TO HOME.

At this point, you may be prompted to select your email communication preferences.

Finally, you will land on the main Google Analytics home page. It will probably say ‘No data received from your website yet.’ But once data collection has started, this page will show data from your website.

How to toggle between your Google Analytics properties

If you previously had a Universal Analytics property or a Google Analytics 4 property for a different website, you should now have two properties. To toggle between them, simply head to the top left hand corner of your Google Analytics account and click on the drop down menu immediately to the right of the word ANALYTICS.

How to toggle between Google Analytics Properties

If you previously had a Universal Analytics property, this property will have the prefix UA. Your GA4 property will have no prefix. To select your GA4 property, simply click on the name of your GA4 property. To select your Universal Analytics property, click on the name of your UA property and then select the correct view (usually called ALL WEBSITE DATA, unless you have set up any custom views).

Congratulations

Congratulations on setting up a Google Analytics 4 property for your website! Now it’s time to discover how to actually use Google Analytics 4 in my Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics 4.

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