Universal Analytics has passed the torch to Google Analytics 4, taking digital analytics to new heights. But did you truly harness the power of Google Analytics 4 by fine-tuning all its settings?
While Google Analytics 4 might seem like a labyrinth to some, we have compiled the most essential settings for Google Analytics 4 in this article.
In this blog post, we will uncover eight important GA4 settings that have the potential to revolutionize the quality of your data and enrich the significance of your reports.
By implementing these settings, you’ll gain valuable insights and make more informed decisions, driving the success of your business.
You can also minimize the impact of data freshness in GA4.
Here’s a sneak peek of what awaits:
In this article, we will be relying on our carefully crafted Shopify GA4 Guidebook as our main point of reference.
We have paid meticulous attention to detail while creating it. If you prefer to directly follow the topic through the guidebook, take a look at our guide now!
So, let’s dive in!
We have compiled a referral exclusion list for Shopify Google Analytics. To add the referrals, simply enter them one by one:
“shop.app,” “paypal.com,” “klarna,” “clearpay,” “stripe.com,” “shopify.com,” “pay.google.com,” “afterpay,” “apay-us.amazon.com,” “payments-eu.amazon.com,” “checkout.sezzle.com,” “checkout.shopifycs.com,” “quickpay.net,” “payments.amazon.de,” “mobilepay.dk,” “payments.amazon.co.uk,” and “sfy-payments.molops.net.”
Ensure that the settings are appropriately adjusted. For the “Match Type” field, select “Referral Domain Contains” if the referral contains a specific domain.
For instance, “shop.app” is a commonly seen referral that might already be appearing in your traffic reports, causing the “referralexclusions” error. Include relevant payment providers like Shop, PayPal, and Stripe.
Remember that it’s not necessary to input the full domain; a partial match is sufficient.
Be careful when specifying generic terms like “google.com,” as it may lead to unintended consequences. Instead, focus on specific payment URLs like “pay.google.com” for Google’s payments.
Save the changes to apply the updated referral exclusions. Google Analytics will no longer consider these referrals as sources in its reporting.
Additionally, it is advisable to configure your domains promptly. This step is essential to ensure that Google Analytics 4 accurately recognizes and attributes traffic from your specific domains.
This step plays a crucial role in maintaining data integrity and providing a comprehensive view of your website’s performance. Follow these instructions to configure your domains:
Enter your primary domain and include the “myshopify.com” domain to establish the association between your store and this domain.
This allows Google Analytics to correctly identify traffic originating from your store’s domain.
Let’s now shift our attention to enabling Google Signals. Enabling Google Signals allows you to use logged-in user data and improves demographic information in your analytics reports. It also enables tracking of users across multiple devices.
For example, if a user logs into your website from their mobile device and later completes a purchase from their desktop, Google Signals provides insights into this behaviour.To enable Google Signals, follow these simple steps:
Within the Data Collection settings, find the option for “Google Signals Data Collection” and click on “Get Started.”
Integrating GA4 with Search Console and Google Ads can greatly enhance your ability to analyze and optimize your online marketing performance.
It provides valuable insights into user behavior on your website following ad clicks and offers visibility into your website’s search result rankings.
Go back to the “Admin” console and select “Search Console Linking” (1) under the “Product Linking” menu. Then click “Link” (2).
To help you better understand UTM parameters and how to use them, we have a detailed tutorial available on our website. This tutorial covers everything you need to know about UTMs, including tips and best practices.
We also have a YouTube video dedicated to this topic, providing additional insights and guidance.
In simple terms, UTM parameters allow you to add specific information to your external links. For example, when you run ads on Facebook, including UTM parameters ensures that Google Analytics accurately tracks and categorizes the traffic from Facebook.
By correctly setting up UTM parameters like the ad name, campaign name, and ad ID, Google Analytics can generate detailed campaign reports. These reports give you valuable insights into the performance of your Facebook and Instagram ads.
For Facebook ads, there is a dynamic UTM parameter that you can easily copy and use across all your ads. This dynamic parameter ensures that Google Analytics accurately tracks your campaigns, even for different variations within Facebook ads. Here’s an example of the recommended format for the dynamic parameters:
utm_source={{placement}}&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign={{campaign.name}}&utm_id {{campaign.id}}&utm_term={{ad.id}}&utm_content={{adset.name}}
It’s worth noting that while this dynamic parameter is available for Facebook and Instagram ads, other external traffic sources such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, and other websites require manual inclusion of UTM parameters.
By incorporating UTM parameters in your external links, you can achieve the following benefits:
Let’s address an important concern related to GA4’s built-in form interaction tracking, specifically for Shopify Merchants. The automatic form tracking feature in GA4, although promising, can pose challenges, particularly with search boxes and text input fields.
One of the common issues is GA4’s tendency to misinterpret user actions, resulting in unnecessary form submit events and inaccurate data. To resolve this problem, we highly recommend disabling the built-in form interaction tracking.
By disabling form interactions, you can eliminate the incorrect tracking of form-related events. This process ensures that your event reports maintain accuracy and reliability, providing you with trustworthy insights to inform your decision-making.
Follow these steps:
Save the changes to ensure accurate and reliable event reports.
Let’s now focus on optimizing session settings in GA4. By default, sessions are set to a duration of 30 minutes. However, in e-commerce, customers often require more time for their purchase decisions.
To obtain a more comprehensive analysis, it is recommended to extend the session time frame. We suggest setting the session timeout to 7 hours and 55 minutes.
This adjustment allows for a more accurate understanding of user behaviour and engagement, especially considering situations where users click on ads, leave the site, and return within four hours to make a purchase.
To adjust the session timeout and engage session timer, follow these steps:
Set the session timeout to 7 hours and 55 minutes (maximum value). Additionally, locate the engage session timer and set it to 60 seconds.
Save the changes to apply the optimized session settings.
The final step involves emphasizing the significance of excluding internal traffic from your Google Analytics reports. Internal traffic, which includes visits from you and your team members, can distort the data and compromise the accuracy of your reports.
To ensure that the activities of internal users are not included in the analysis, it is crucial to provide Google Analytics with the IP addresses associated with them.
By implementing this rule to filter out internal traffic, you ensure that visits from your team members are not counted in your Google Analytics reports. This filtering process eliminates any potential interference in your data, resulting in more accurate insights for analysis.
Follow these steps to filter out internal traffic:
Define the IP address or range of IP addresses associated with your internal users.
If your team operates within an office with a specific IP range, enter that range accordingly. If your team works remotely and uses different IP addresses, enter each IP address separately.
In conclusion, optimizing your Google Analytics settings is essential for accurate data collection and insightful reporting. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can ensure that your attribution and analytics reflect genuine user behavior.
By taking the time to implement these settings correctly, you will gain a deeper understanding of your website’s performance, improve your marketing campaigns, and make data-driven decisions to drive your business forward.
Furthermore, if you would like to follow the most important GA4 settings we mentioned above on YouTube, we recommend taking a look at our completely free Shopify GA4 Crash Course!