Upgrade from GA (Google Universal Analytics) to GA4

Google Universal Analytics will be discontinued 7/1/2023 and we’re helping our brands prepare now by upgrading their account.

What is GA4?

It’s the 4th version of Google Analytics. This version integrates mobile app and website data into a single GA property.
When this discontinuation occurs on 7/1/2023 GA4 will become the 100% replacement. That said, give yourself plenty of time to have both GA and GA4 running so you can verify all your data is presented accurately in GA4.

How do I upgrade from Universal Analytics to GA4?

1/ Navigate to the admin section of your reporting view within GA.

2/ In the Account column, make sure that your desired account is selected. (If you only have one Google Analytics account, it will already be selected.) Click on the ‘GA4 Setup Assistant’ link under the Property column.

3/ Click on the ‘Get Started’ button under the section ‘I want to create a new Google Analytics 4 property’. If your site uses the gtag.js, tag, you have the option to Enable data collection using your existing tags.

4/ Click on the ‘Create Property’ button. Then, the setup wizard:

• Creates your new GA4 property.

• Copies the property name, website URL, timezone, and currency settings from your Universal Analytics property.

• Activates enhanced measurement in your GA4 property.

• Creates a connection between your Universal Analytics and GA4 properties. This connection makes it possible for you to use Setup Assistant in your Google Analytics 4 property to migrate configurations from your Universal Analytics property to your GA4 property.

• (If your site is tagged with gtag.js and you elected to Enable data collection using your existing tags in Step 6 above) Creates a connected site tag between your Universal Analytics and GA4 properties.

Once this process is complete, you will see "You have successfully connected your properties" at the top of your Google Analytics 4 Property Setup Assistant page.

Make a note of your GA4 property's name so you can find it later. If your Universal Analytics property name is "Example property (UA-nnnnnnn)", your GA4 property name will be "Example property (xxxxxxx)", without a "UA-" prefix, and where xxxxxxx is a new property number.
5// Click ‘See your GA4 Property’ to open Setup Assistant in your new GA4 property.

If the setup wizard did use your existing tagging

If the GA4 Setup Assistant wizard provided the option to Enable data collection using your existing tags (and you left this option selected), your new GA4 property should now be collecting data.

It can take up to 30 minutes for data to begin appearing in your new GA4 property.

To verify that data is being collected, browse your website, then select Realtime from the report navigation. You should see activity in the Realtime report.

If you have an existing Firebase project, you can link this GA4 property to it. However, you have to do this from Firebase.

If the setup wizard did not use your existing tagging

If you tagged your site with analytics.js (instead of gtag.js) or if you use a website builder/CMS that tags your pages with analytics.js, then the GA4 Setup Wizard was not able to reuse your existing tagging.

If you're not using a website builder/CMS, you or your web developer can use whatever page editor you like to add the GA4 gtag.js tag directly to your pages. Leave the analytics.js tag in place so that Analytics still sends data to your Universal Analytics property.

If you're using a website builder/CMS that tags your pages with analytics.js, you can use the custom-HTML feature to add the GA4 gtag.js tag to your pages. Leave the analytics.js tag in place so that Analytics still sends data to your Universal Analytics property.

Find your GA4 on-page tag

Your new GA4 on-page tag is located on the details page for the web data stream for your GA4 property. If you don't see a Data Streams link in the Property column, you are looking at the Admin page for a Universal Analytics property instead of your new GA4 property.

1/ Click Admin (lower left).

2/ In the Property column, check that you have your new GA4 property selected, then click Data Streams, then Web. Click the data stream.

3/ Under Tagging Instructions, click Add new on-page tag > Global Site Tag (gtag.js). Your Analytics page tag is the entire section of code that appears, beginning with:
<!-- Global Site Tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->
and ending with
</script>

If you or your web developer are manually tagging your web pages

Copy and paste your entire Analytics page tag immediately after the <head> tag on each page of your website.

Don't remove the old analytics.js tag; it will continue to collect data for your Universal Analytics property. The gtag.js tag that you're adding will collect data for your new GA4 property.

Use the Realtime report to verify that you're receiving data.

If you add your tag using Google Tag Manager

For basic data collection, follow the Google Tag Manager help center instructions to add the Google Analytics: GA4 Configuration tag.