Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is implemented much the same way as the old GA - through a tag placed on every page of your website (or app).

This tag is a javascript snippet - either a gtag or a tag within Google tag manager (or another tag management system).

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a free online tool developed by Google to store small snipepts of code deployed on your website or app. There is a paid version too which has some more enterprise features, but the free version is moren than enough for 99.9% of businesses.

GA4 is the new version of Google analytics that was released in 2019. It will fully takeover from the old version of google analytics in July 2023. See here for more.

1. Go to Admin in Google analytics (assuming you have a google account)
2. Choose GA4 setup assistant
3. You will need to choose a new Google Analytics property
4. You will be given a Gtag code. Either install this manually on your site (not recommended) Or deploy GA4 through GTM (recommended)
5. Follow the steps in the setup wizard to link accounts, setup goals, determine access etc
6. Review everything in detail to make sure you are tracking everything as you were in old GA
7. Create a measurement framework doc to determine all the events and parameters you want to capture in GA4 - note you can capture a wealth of parameter values in GA4 taht you couldnt in old GA
8. Aim to implement prior to July 2022, in order to capture at least 1 years worth of data. Old GA data does not transfer over to new GA4!

When you sign into to Google analytics you have the option to select different accounts/properties in the top left dropdown. You can also do this by clicking on admin and then clicking accounts.

Once there scroll through your properties and you will see which ones are GA4. They have a differnt unique id being a 9 digit number as opposed to an id beginning with "UA-..."

No there is not. However, Google through skillshop does offer basic training here.

This is not enough to become skilled in GA4 though and you will need to trin yourself or work with en expert like Tribalism to help get your team up to speed.

GA3 and GA4 are both analytics tools - primarily for measuring user behaviour on your website - eg which pages did my visitors go to? GA4 extends the model by being agnostic for websites and apps - moving beyond "pageviews" to incorporate "screen views".

The idea is the data should be easily comparable across websites and apps. GA4 uses an event based model - not a pageview model as used by GA3.

(In our opinion) GA3 has a much, much better designed user interface - easily accesible by all levles of users. GA4 is less intuitive and requires a certain level of expertise to navigate. It includes some extra functionality above GA3 eg the Explore model, but has less functionality in other area seg custom reports and custom dashboards.

In July 2023, GA3 will be dprecated and replaced by GA4.

If you intend to continue using Google Analytics as your web analytics tool beyond 2023 then yes you need GA4. GA3 will be deprecated on July 1 2023.

There are alternatives to Google Analytics, but the majority of these systems are not free. Examples include: Adobe Analytics, Matomo, Plausible, Simple Analytics, Snowplow Analytics and Piwik.

You will need to set up a GA4 property and deploy it to your site manually or through GTM - as a minimum. But you really need a measurement plan and devote resources to making sure everything you currently track in GA3 is tracked in GA4.

We recommend turning on your GA4 property prior to July 2022 - so you will have at least 1 years worth of data at the cut-over date.

When you are ready we recommend devoting 1-2 weeks at least creating a measurement framework and transitioining all your Data Studio and related reports to the new GA4 property. It would be a good idea to run these reports in parallel with the old GA reports to deal with any discrepancies.