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Data tracking · GA4 setup

GA4, set up the way Google forgot to.

Out of the box GA4 counts almost everything and explains almost nothing. We configure a property that matches your business: readable events, real conversions, sensible retention and nothing counted twice.

1 property No stray duplicates from old plugins or themes
14 months Data retention set to the maximum, not the default
Named events Readable by a human, not auto-generated
Linked Ads, Search Console and BigQuery from day one
What we do

Four things, in this order.

01 Audit before configuration. We find every GA4 and Universal Analytics tag still firing from themes, plugins and old agencies, and remove all but one. Half the sites we open are double-counting.
02 Events that follow the plan. The measurement plan decides which events exist and what they are called. No click_button_3. Enhanced measurement is switched on only where it answers a question.
03 Conversions marked and tested. Key events set for the actions that matter, each one triggered by hand and checked in real time. Deduplicated so a refresh does not become a lead.
04 Property hygiene. Internal traffic excluded, payment gateways removed from referrals, retention at fourteen months, Google Signals decided deliberately. Small settings that quietly ruin data when left on default.

The audit

What we usually find in the first hour.

The GA4 property is usually the most neglected thing on a site. These are the first three things we look for.

Duplicates

  • —Two GA4 tags, one from the theme and one from a plugin
  • —Universal Analytics still firing to nowhere
  • —Pageview counted again on every scroll

Defaults left on

  • —Retention at two months
  • —Enhanced measurement firing on everything
  • —Internal and agency traffic never excluded

Nothing connected

  • —Payment gateway counted as a referral
  • —Search Console never linked
  • —Ads importing the wrong event
How it works

Three weeks, then a routine.

Week one Audit of every tag firing, then the measurement plan: which events exist, what they are called, which are conversions.
Week two Property configured and events built in Tag Manager on a staging copy. Old tags removed.
Week three Each event and conversion tested by hand, links to Ads, Search Console and BigQuery made, then live.
Every month Reports checked in the routine; anomalies flagged in the monthly note.

Part of data tracking, which is inside every maintenance retainer. As standalone work it is quoted after the audit.

Keep reading

Let’s look at your site together.

Thirty minutes with Ali. He will ask about the business first, then go through the site with you on the call.

Book a call with Ali
Ali Demirci
Ali Demirci
Founder
What we would fix first
The handful of things actually holding it back.
What we would leave alone
Usually more than you expect.
Whether we are a fit
And we will tell you if we are not.

Common questions

Can you fix our existing GA4 rather than start again?+

Usually yes. If the property is polluted beyond repair we start a clean one and keep the old for history, but that is the exception.

Do you set up the BigQuery export?+

Yes, on day one. It is free at your scale and it means the raw data is yours forever, whatever happens to GA4 or to us.

We still have Universal Analytics data. Is it lost?+

Google has stopped serving it. If you exported before the deadline we can load it alongside GA4 in Looker Studio; if not, it is gone and we start from now.

Will you show us how to read it?+

One recorded walkthrough of the four or five reports you will actually use, and a Looker Studio page so you rarely need to open GA4 at all.