Google Analytics 4 for Beginners: 2026 Guide

Contents

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has been Google's official website analytics platform since Universal Analytics was retired in July 2023. For beginners, GA4 can feel overwhelming: the interface is completely different, the terminology is new (events, parameters, user properties), and tracking is no longer session-based. Once you have the fundamentals, though, GA4 gives you far richer insight, including cross-device tracking, machine-learning predictions and smooth integration with Google Ads.

This guide explains Google Analytics 4 for beginners from the ground up: how to set it up on your website (WordPress and non-WordPress), the 8 key reports to check daily, how to set up custom event tracking, how GA4 differs from UA, and 5 common mistakes to avoid. By the end, you will have GA4 running and know how to read the data to make business decisions.

Key points in this article

GA4 is Google's required analytics tool now that Universal Analytics was retired in July 2023
GA4's data model is event-based, where UA was session-based, which makes it more granular
The easiest way to set it up on WordPress is the Site Kit by Google plugin (5 minutes)
The 8 key reports: Realtime, Acquisition, Engagement, Monetization, Retention, Demographics, Tech and Events
Settings you must enable: the Jakarta time zone, internal traffic exclusion, and links to Search Console and Google Ads

What Google Analytics 4 is and why you need it

GA4 is a free analytics tool from Google for tracking how visitors behave on your website and app. Universal Analytics (UA) used a session + pageview model; GA4 uses an event-based model, in which every user interaction is recorded as an event (pageview, scroll, click, purchase and so on), giving you more granular tracking.

Why you have to move on from Universal Analytics

Universal Analytics stopped processing new data on 1 July 2023 (free tier) and 1 July 2024 (UA 360). Since 1 July 2024, UA properties and their data can no longer be accessed either, so all tracking now has to use GA4.

Advantages of GA4 over UA

Cross-device tracking: a user who visits on their phone and carries on on a laptop is identified as 1 user (UA could not do this)
Privacy-first: the design anticipates GDPR/CCPA and supports cookieless tracking
Free integration with BigQuery: export all your raw data to a data warehouse (once a UA 360-only feature, now free)
Machine-learning predictions: purchase probability, churn probability and revenue forecasting
App and web unified: if you have a mobile app, its data is combined with your website data

Step 1: Set up Google Analytics 4 on your website

Create a GA4 account and property

Sign in at analytics.google.com with a business Google account (not a personal one)
Click Admin (the gear icon at the bottom left) > Create Account, then enter the account name, country (Indonesia) and currency (IDR)
Choose Create Property, then enter a property name (for example, ‘Webzoo Website’), the Jakarta time zone and IDR currency
Select the industry category that matches your business and your business size, then choose your main business objective
Add a Data Stream > Web, enter your website URL and a stream name, then click Create Stream
Your Measurement ID will appear (format: G-XXXXXXXXXX). This is what you install on your website

Install GA4 on WordPress

There are three ways, from easiest to hardest:

The ‘Site Kit by Google’ plugin (free, recommended): detects your property automatically and connects in one click without editing code
A code snippet plugin such as WPCode: paste the GA4 tracking code into the header without editing your theme files
Manual code in functions.php: paste the GA4 tracking code into the WordPress header (for advanced users)

Install GA4 on a non-WordPress site

For Shopify, Wix or Squarespace, look for a ‘Custom Code’ or ‘Tracking’ section in the settings and paste in the GA4 tracking snippet. For custom HTML, Next.js or React, paste the gtag.js snippet into the <head> tag of every page, or use Google Tag Manager (more flexible for dynamic events).

Check that GA4 is working

After installing, open your website in a browser, then go back to GA4 > Reports > Realtime. Within 30 seconds you should see ‘1 active user in last 30 minutes’. If nothing appears, check: (1) your website's cache plugin (clear the cache), (2) any ad blocker in your browser (disable it), (3) whether the Measurement ID is wrong (copy it again from the property settings).

Step 2: The 8 GA4 reports you need to understand

GA4 offers hundreds of dimensions and metrics, but most business insight sits in these 8 reports:

1. Realtime report

See who is active right now, which pages they are viewing, where the traffic comes from and their geographic location. Use it to confirm that tracking works and to monitor a campaign launch in real time.

2. Acquisition reports

See where your users come from. The sub-reports are User Acquisition (the channel through which a user first discovered your website) and Traffic Acquisition (the channel of the last session before conversion). The main channels are Organic Search, Organic Social, Direct, Paid Search, Referral and Email.

3. Engagement reports

See your most popular pages, the events that fire most often, and the quality of engagement. The key metrics are Average engagement time (how long users are actively engaged, excluding idle time) and Engaged sessions (sessions that last longer than 10 seconds, include a key event, or have at least 2 page views).

4. Monetization reports

For ecommerce: revenue per channel, top products and the purchase journey. You need to set up the GA4 ecommerce events (view_item, add_to_cart, begin_checkout, purchase) for these reports to work.

5. Retention report

What percentage of new users come back within 1, 7 or 30 days? Use cohort analysis to see how retention changes from month to month. The key insight: if retention is falling, there is a problem with onboarding or product fit.

6. Demographics report

Your users' age, gender, location, language and interests. You need to turn on Google Signals in Admin for demographic data to appear (it stays privacy compliant because the data is aggregated, never individual).

7. Tech report

Device (mobile/desktop/tablet), operating system, browser and screen resolution. This matters for UX optimisation: if 70% of your traffic is mobile but the mobile conversion rate is low, you need a mobile redesign.

8. Events report

Every event that fires on your website. GA4 automatically tracks enhanced measurement events such as page_view, scroll, click, file_download and video_start. You can add custom events to track actions specific to your business (signup, contact_form_submit, demo_request).

Step 3: Set up custom event tracking

Automatic tracking covers most basic needs, but to track business-specific conversions (signups, lead forms, purchases) you need custom events.

3 ways to set up a custom event

Google Tag Manager (recommended): the most flexible option, and you can set it up without editing your website's code. Create a new tag, set a trigger on a specific event (form submit, button click), and fire a GA4 event.
gtag.js directly: add gtag('event', 'event_name', {params}) to your website code. It is faster, but you need a developer.
The ‘Create Event’ option in the GA4 interface: go to Admin > Events > Create event. You can create a new event from a combination of existing events, with no code.

Mark a custom event as a key event

Once an event is being tracked, mark it as a key event (previously called a conversion): Admin > Events > switch on ‘Mark as key event’. The event now appears in the key event reports and can be imported into Google Ads as a conversion for campaign optimisation.

Step 4: Connect GA4 to your other tools

Google Search Console

You should link GSC to GA4 to see the search queries that drive your organic traffic. Settings: Admin > Product links > Search Console Links > Link.

Google Ads

This link is essential if you run Google Ads. Settings: Admin > Product links > Google Ads links. Once linked, import your GA4 key events into Google Ads as conversions for Smart Bidding optimisation.

BigQuery (advanced)

Export raw event data to BigQuery for advanced analysis (SQL queries, custom dashboards, ML modelling). The free BigQuery sandbox gives you 1 TB of queries a month, which is usually enough for an SMB.

5 common GA4 beginner mistakes to avoid

Not setting the Jakarta time zone: every report defaults to UTC, so ‘today’ in GA4 does not match your working hours. Fix: Admin > Property settings > Time zone
Not excluding internal traffic: visits from your own team are counted as users. Fix: Admin > Data Streams > Configure tag settings > Define internal traffic (add your office IP range)
Not linking Search Console and Google Ads: you lose search query data and combined campaign performance
Not marking key events: the key event reports stay empty even though the events are tracked
Not setting data retention: the default is only 2 months. Change it to 14 months in Admin > Data Settings > Data Retention > Event data retention ‘14 months’

References

Once GA4 is running, round out your website monitoring with Google Search Console for SEO performance data. For a content strategy that brings in traffic you can track in GA4, learn the on-page SEO techniques that work. If GA4 shows that organic search is weak, audit your website with our DIY SEO audit guide. Webzoo also offers an SEO service run by a professional team. Get in touch for a consultation.

Frequently asked questions

Is Google Analytics 4 free?

Yes. Standard GA4 is 100% free, permanently, with unlimited traffic tracking on your domain. The paid version, GA4 360, is only needed by enterprises with very large data volumes (10M+ events/month). For every Indonesian business from SMBs to mid-sized corporates, the free tier of GA4 is more than enough. The part that is not free is BigQuery export above the free tier quota (around $5/month for the export volume of a mid-sized business).

Can I migrate my Universal Analytics data to GA4?

No. UA and GA4 use different data models (session-based vs event-based), and Google closed access to UA properties on 1 July 2024. If you exported your UA data to CSV or BigQuery before that date, keep those files for manual year-on-year comparisons with your GA4 data. If you did not, start GA4 on a fresh timeline.

How long is GA4 data available in reports?

By default, GA4 keeps event data and user identifiers for 2 months. You can change this to a maximum of 14 months in Admin, then Data Settings > Data Retention. Aggregated data (summary reports) is kept indefinitely, but Explorations and custom reports that query raw event data are limited by the retention window. For permanent historical data, export to BigQuery (data in BigQuery is kept for as long as the project is active).

Can GA4 track conversions from Instagram and TikTok ads?

Yes, but you need to add UTM parameters to your ad URLs. The format is ?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=summer_sale. GA4 will then attribute traffic from that URL to the right source/medium. For native integration with Meta Ads (Facebook + Instagram), use the Meta Conversions API with GA4 event sync. For TikTok Ads, use the TikTok Events API with the GA4 Measurement Protocol. The setup is advanced, but it is worth it for accurate ROAS tracking.

What is the difference between an event and a key event (formerly a conversion) in GA4?

An event is any user interaction that is tracked (pageview, scroll, click, video_start and so on), and there can be dozens of events per session. A key event (previously called a conversion) is a subset of events that you mark as important to the business (purchase, signup, contact_form_submit, demo_request). Every key event is an event, but not every event is a key event. The strategy: track plenty of events for rich insight, mark 3-5 important events as key events so your reporting stays focused, then import them into Google Ads as conversions for optimisation.

How do I set up GA4 on WordPress without coding?

The easiest route is the Site Kit by Google plugin (official from Google, free, 3+ million installs). Steps: (1) Go to Plugins > Add New, search for "Site Kit by Google", then Install > Activate, (2) Click "Start Setup", then sign in with the same Google account you use for GA4, (3) Site Kit automatically detects your existing GA4 property (or creates a new one if you do not have one yet), (4) Verify ownership > Done. Tracking is live within 5 minutes. As a bonus, you get GA4, Search Console and AdSense dashboards right inside WP admin.

Does GA4 comply with GDPR and Indonesian privacy rules?

GA4 is designed to be privacy-first, but compliance is not automatic. What you need to do: (1) Add a cookie consent banner (plugins: Complianz, CookieYes, Cookie Notice) that blocks GA4 until the user accepts, (2) Note that IP anonymisation is automatic in GA4 and needs no setting, unlike UA, (3) Update your privacy policy to mention GA4 tracking. In Indonesia, the Personal Data Protection Law (UU PDP, Law No. 27 of 2022) has been fully in force since October 2024 and governs how personal data is processed, so a consent banner and a clear privacy policy are still advisable, just as they are for European audiences under GDPR. Tip: turn on Consent Mode v2 in GA4 for partial tracking while a user has not yet consented (counted as cookieless pings).

Topics:Digital MarketingWebsite AnalysisGA4Google Analytics 4Conversion TrackingWeb Analytics

Google Analytics 4 for Beginners: The Complete 2026 Guide