← Analytics for Marketers

Module 1: Setup Right

Bad setup means bad data, and bad data means bad decisions with total confidence. This module gets your Google Analytics 4 foundation right: the property, the events that matter, key events, and the cleanup that keeps your numbers honest.

Automatic events GA4 tracks for free

Key events every business should track

Months to keep your data — set it now

Your GA4 foundation

Setup order matters. First, create a Google Analytics 4 property at analytics.google.com (Admin > Create > Property). Second, add a Web data stream with your exact domain — this generates your measurement ID, which starts with G-. Third, install the tag: if your site runs on a builder like Squarespace, Wix, or WordPress, paste the measurement ID into the built-in Google Analytics field. If it is a custom site, add the Google tag snippet just after the opening head tag on every page. Fourth, open Reports > Realtime in GA4 and visit your own site in another tab — if you see yourself show up within thirty seconds, the tag is live.

GA4's enhanced measurement tracks six things automatically with zero configuration: page views, scrolls (when someone passes 90 percent of a page), outbound clicks (clicks that leave your site), site search (if your site has a search box), video engagement (plays, progress, completes on embedded videos), and file downloads. Turn it on in the data stream settings — it is on by default, but verify it, because this free data is the backbone of your weekly review.

While you are in there, link Google Search Console to GA4 (Admin > Product links > Search Console links). This pipes your search queries into GA4's reports later and costs nothing. Verify the tag is firing in Realtime before you do anything else — everything downstream depends on this one step.

Build brief

Is your GA4 tag installed and firing? Open Realtime and visit your site. What do you see — and which of the six enhanced measurement events can you trigger on your own site right now?

Events and key events that matter

In GA4, everything is an event. A page view is an event. A click is an event. A purchase is an event. Out of the box you get the automatic ones — but the events that actually run your business, you have to create. For most businesses the four that matter are: generate_lead (someone submits your contact or quote form), click on your phone number or email link, file_download on your lead magnet PDF, and a 90 percent scroll on your pricing or services page.

Create custom events in Admin > Data display > Events > Create event, matching on conditions like event_name equals page_view plus page_location contains /thank-you. Then — and this is the step everyone skips — mark each one as a key event (Admin > Data display > Key events, toggle them on). Key events are GA4's word for conversions: they unlock the conversion columns in every report, so you can see leads per channel instead of just sessions per channel. Without key events, your weekly review is traffic theater.

Test every event in DebugView (Admin > Data display > DebugView) with the GA Debugger extension or preview mode on — trigger the form, click the phone link, and watch the events fire in real time.

Build brief

List the four key events for your business: the form submit, the phone/email click, the lead magnet download, and the pricing-page scroll. What is the thank-you or confirmation URL for each — the thing you'll match on when creating the event?

Clean data and audiences

Your numbers are only as honest as your filters. First, exclude your own traffic: Admin > Data settings > Data filters, create an internal traffic rule with your office and home IP addresses (search what is my ip from each location), then set the filter to active. Every site owner who skips this spends months wondering why their engagement looks great — it is them, refreshing their own homepage.

Second, add unwanted referrals. Payment processors and your own checkout subdomains show up as referral traffic and steal credit from the real source: Admin > Data streams > Configure tag settings > List unwanted referrals, and add paypal.com, stripe.com, and any subdomain you own. Third, set data retention to 14 months (Admin > Data settings > Data retention) — the default 2 months deletes your history before your first quarterly review.

Finally, build two audiences you will use later: Admin > Data display > Audiences. Create one for engaged users (session duration over a threshold you choose) and one for people who started but didn't finish your lead form. These power remarketing later and cost nothing to collect now — audiences only start collecting from the day you create them, so create them before you need them.

You just installed GA4 and want the weekly review to show leads per channel. What is the one step that unlocks that?

In GA4, you mark the events that mean money moved — like a form submit — as ___ so they show up as conversions in every report. .

Your turn: Write your event plan: the four key events for your business, the URL or click each one matches on, and the two audiences you'll create this week.

Your next 24 hours

Open GA4 Admin and do three things: verify your tag fires in Realtime, create your generate_lead event and mark it as a key event, and set data retention to 14 months.

Steal this template

GA4 SETUP CHECKLIST

☐ Property created, web data stream added

☐ Tag installed (builder field or gtag snippet)

☐ Verified firing in Realtime report

☐ Enhanced measurement confirmed ON

☐ Search Console linked (Admin > Product links)

☐ generate_lead event created + marked as key event

☐ Phone/email click events created + key

☐ Internal traffic filter active (my IPs)

☐ Unwanted referrals listed (paypal, stripe, subdomains)

☐ Data retention set to 14 months

☐ Two audiences created (engaged users, form abandoners)

Cheat sheet

Install order: property, data stream, tag, verify in Realtime — in that order.
Enhanced measurement gives you six free events: page views, 90% scrolls, outbound clicks, site search, video, downloads.
Create generate_lead, phone/email clicks, lead magnet downloads, pricing scrolls — then mark them as key events.
Key events unlock conversion columns in every report. No key events, no leads per channel.
Exclude your own IPs, list unwanted referrals, set retention to 14 months.
Create audiences before you need them — they only collect from creation day.