GA4 (Google Analytics 4) is a free tool for analyzing user behavior on websites and apps. However, if you're using GA4 for the first time, you may find yourself confused: "I don't understand the interface" or "Where do I even start with the settings?" This article walks you through how to use GA4 step by step, from account creation to practical tips, so even beginners can follow along.
To start using GA4, first log in to Google Analytics with your Google account and create a new account. Enter an account name, review the data sharing settings, and click "Next." Then set the property name, report time zone, and currency.
After creating the property, add a data stream according to your measurement target. To measure a website, select "Web" and enter the site URL and stream name. Once created, a Measurement ID (in the format G-XXXXXXXXXX) will be issued—be sure to copy it.
To collect GA4 data, you need to install a tracking tag on your website. There are two main methods. The first is using GTM (Google Tag Manager): create a GA4 configuration tag in the GTM admin panel, enter the Measurement ID, and deploy it to all pages. The second is pasting the global site tag (gtag.js) directly into the head tag of your HTML. For long-term flexibility, GTM is the recommended approach.
Once the tag is installed, complete these initial settings. First, change the data retention period—GA4 defaults to 2 months, so go to "Data Settings" > "Data Retention" and change it to 14 months. Next, enable Google Signals under "Data Settings" > "Data Collection" to better understand cross-device user behavior. Also verify that Enhanced Measurement is turned on in the data stream settings—this automatically tracks scrolls, outbound clicks, site search, video plays, and more. Finally, set up internal traffic exclusion by filtering out your office IP address to ensure accurate data.
The home screen is the first thing you see when logging into GA4. Key metrics such as user count, new users, event count, and revenue are displayed in card format. Recent trends and insights (automated analysis results) are also shown, making it convenient for getting a quick overview of your site's performance.
Click "Reports" in the left menu to access GA4's standard reports. Reports are organized into three main categories: "Real-time," "Life cycle," and "User." The Real-time report shows active users and events from the last 30 minutes. Under Life cycle, the "Acquisition" report analyzes which channels (search, social, ads, etc.) users came from. The "Engagement" report shows page views, event counts, and engagement rate. The "Monetization" report tracks e-commerce revenue data, and the "Retention" report provides repeat visitor ratios and cohort analysis.
In acquisition reports, it's important to distinguish between "User acquisition" and "Traffic acquisition." "User acquisition" shows the source of a user's first visit, while "Traffic acquisition" shows the source for each session. For example, if a user first visited via Google search and returned via bookmark, User acquisition would show "Organic Search" while the second session in Traffic acquisition would show "Direct." Choose the right perspective based on your analysis goals.
In engagement reports, "Pages and screens" is particularly important. You can check each page's view count, user count, and average engagement time. GA4 introduced the "engagement rate" metric to replace the traditional "bounce rate." Engagement rate represents the percentage of sessions that met at least one of these criteria: stayed for 10+ seconds, triggered a conversion, or viewed 2+ pages. This metric provides a more accurate measure of whether users were genuinely interested in your content.
The "User attributes" report shows visitor demographics such as country/region, age, gender, language, and device type. This helps you verify whether your target audience is actually visiting your site and identify any gaps between expectations and reality. Technology reports provide browser, OS, and screen resolution data that can be used for display optimization.
GA4 events are classified into four types. Automatically collected events (page_view, session_start, first_visit, etc.) are recorded automatically with just the tag installed. Enhanced measurement events (scroll, click, file_download, video_start, etc.) are captured automatically when Enhanced Measurement is turned on. Recommended events (login, sign_up, purchase, add_to_cart, etc.) are Google-suggested events by industry that require manual setup, but following naming conventions unlocks GA4's full reporting capabilities. Custom events are freely created to track your organization's unique user behaviors.
There are two ways to set up events: creating new events from the GA4 admin panel under "Events" > "Create event" by specifying conditions based on existing events, or using GTM to send custom events with any trigger conditions. GTM is the better option when you need complex conditional logic or fine-grained control over event parameters.
In GA4, setting up conversions (renamed "key events" from 2024 onward) lets you measure your site's results. The setup is very simple: open the "Events" list in the admin panel and toggle on "Mark as key event" for the event you want to track as a conversion.
For example, if you want to track a thank-you page visit as a conversion, first create a custom event conditioned on a specific page URL using GTM or the GA4 admin panel, then mark that event as a key event. For e-commerce sites, the purchase event is typical; for lead generation sites, form submission events are common conversion points.
Explorations is the most powerful analysis feature in GA4. Click "Explore" in the left menu to see a blank canvas and templates. Beginners should learn three key templates.
The first is "Free form." Select your own dimensions (page title, source, etc.) and metrics (views, users, etc.) to create tables and charts. It enables cross-tabulations not available in standard reports and is the most frequently used template.
The second is "Funnel exploration." It visualizes what percentage of users pass through specific steps (e.g., product list > product detail > add to cart > purchase). It's ideal for identifying high drop-off steps and developing improvement strategies.
The third is "Path exploration." It displays in a tree format which pages users navigate between on your site. This is useful for discovering unexpected navigation patterns and identifying bottleneck pages.
Linking GA4 with Google Ads can significantly improve your advertising performance. Go to "Product links" > "Google Ads links" in the admin panel to set up the connection. The three main benefits are: importing GA4 key event (conversion) data into Google Ads for bid optimization; using audience segments created in GA4 as remarketing lists in Google Ads; and viewing Google Ads campaign data in GA4 reports to analyze ad performance alongside on-site behavior.
Here are some practical tips for mastering GA4. First, leverage custom dashboards by connecting Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) with GA4 to create shareable report dashboards for your entire team, streamlining daily monitoring.
Next, take advantage of BigQuery integration. GA4 offers free data export to BigQuery, which is useful for long-term analysis beyond the Exploration data retention limit (max 14 months) and for flexible aggregation using SQL.
Finally, make use of DebugView. GA4's DebugView feature lets you confirm in real time whether events are being sent correctly. Always use DebugView to verify when setting up new events. Install the Chrome extension "Google Analytics Debugger" to easily send data from your browser to DebugView.
We recommend learning GA4 progressively: start with account creation and tag installation, then initial settings, standard report usage, event and conversion setup, and finally deep-dive analysis with Explorations. Begin by grasping the big picture with standard reports, and as you gain confidence, try advanced analysis with Explorations and BigQuery integration. GA4 is continuously updated with new features added frequently. Start by mastering the basic operations covered in this article and put them to work improving your website.
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