How to Migrate from UA to Google Analytics 4

Navigating the transition from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 can feel like a big leap, but it's a necessary step toward a more modern, user-focused approach to analytics. This article will guide you through the process, breaking down the key differences, the setup steps, and how to effectively manage your data for a smooth migration. We'll cover everything from creating your new GA4 property to recreating your most important conversion goals.

Why the Switch? Understanding the Core Differences Between UA and GA4

Before diving into the "how-to," it helps to understand why this change happened. GA4 isn't just an update, it's a complete redesign built for the future of the web. The foundational difference lies in the measurement model.

Universal Analytics (UA) was built around sessions and pageviews. Think of a session as a container for all the actions a user takes on your site within a specific timeframe. This model was perfect for a desktop-first world where users visited websites in linear "sessions."

Google Analytics 4, on the other hand, is built around events. Everything is an event: a page view is an event, a button click is an event, a form submission is an event, and a purchase is an event. This event-based model is far more flexible and provides a more accurate picture of the user journey, especially as users hop between your website and mobile app.

Key Differences at a Glance:

• Measurement Model: UA uses a session-based model. GA4 uses a flexible event-based model where every interaction is captured as an event.
• User Focus: GA4 is designed to give you a complete view of a single user's journey across multiple devices and platforms (web + app), whereas UA was primarily website-focused.
• Privacy Controls: GA4 was built with privacy in mind. It offers more granular data controls and is designed to work without relying on cookies, making it more resilient to future internet privacy changes.
• Reporting Interface: The reporting in GA4 is new and different. Many standard reports from UA are gone, replaced by a more customizable reporting suite centered around the versatile "Explore" reports.
• Engagement Metrics: "Bounce Rate" is gone in GA4. It has been replaced with more insightful metrics like "Engaged Sessions," "Engagement Rate," and "Engagement Time," which tell you more about how users are actually interacting with your site.

Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Your GA4 Property

Google made the initial setup process relatively painless with the "GA4 Setup Assistant." This tool doesn't move your old data over (this is a critical point!), but it does create a new GA4 property and copies some of your basic settings from your UA property.

Using the GA4 Setup Assistant

Follow these steps to create your new GA4 property. If your website is new, you'll simply create a GA4 property from scratch, but for existing UA users, this is the best path.

1. Log into Google Analytics: Access the account where your Universal Analytics property lives.
2. Navigate to Admin: Click the gear icon "Admin" in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
3. Select Your UA Property: Make sure you have the correct account and UA property selected in the columns.
4. Launch the Setup Assistant: In the "Property" column, the very first option should be "GA4 Setup Assistant." Click it.
5. Create a New GA4 Property: Inside the assistant, you'll see a section titled "I want to create a new Google Analytics 4 property." Click the blue Get Started button.
6. Confirm and Create: A pop-up will appear explaining what the wizard will do. It confirms that it will create a new GA4 property and copy basic settings. Importantly, it reminds you that your UA property will continue collecting data. Click Create and continue.

And that’s it. The assistant has created a new, separate GA4 property for you. Crucially, no historical data from your UA property will be inside your new GA4 property. GA4 starts collecting data from the moment its tracking tag is correctly installed on your site.

Setting Up Your Data Stream and Tagging

After creating your property, you need to tell it where to collect data from. In GA4, this is called a "data stream." You can have streams for your website, your iOS app, and your Android app, all feeding data into the same GA4 property.

Creating a Web Data Stream

1. In your new GA4 property, go to Admin > Data Streams.
2. Click on the Add Stream button and select Web.
3. Enter your website URL (e.g., www.yourwebsite.com) and give the stream a name (e.g., "Main Website").
4. Ensure "Enhanced measurement" is turned on. This feature automatically collects common events like page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, and file downloads without any extra setup.
5. Click Create stream.

Once you create the stream, you'll be taken to a page with your "Measurement ID" (it looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX) and instructions for installing the tag.

Installing the GA4 Tag on Your Website

There are a few ways to get the GA4 tracking code onto your site, but two methods are the most common.

Option 1: Using Google Tag Manager (Recommended)

If you already use Google Tag Manager (GTM), this is the easiest and most flexible method. You don’t need to edit your website’s code.

1. In GTM, create a new tag and select the tag type Google Analytics: GA4 Configuration.
2. In the "Measurement ID" field, paste your GA4 Measurement ID (G-...).
3. Set the trigger to fire on All Pages. This ensures the GA4 tag loads on every page of your website.
4. Save and publish your GTM container.

Option 2: Adding the Tag Directly to Your Website's Code

If you don't use GTM, you can add the tag directly. On the Data Stream details page in GA4, look for the "View tag instructions" section and find your global site tag (gtag.js). It's a small snippet of JavaScript.

<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXXXXX"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [],
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments),}
  gtag('js', new Date()),

  gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXXXXX'),
</script>

You need to copy this entire snippet and paste it into the <head> section of every page on your website. If you use a CMS like WordPress, you can often add this through your theme settings or a header/footer plugin.

After installation, you can check GA4’s Realtime report to see if data is being collected.

Recreating Your Key UA Goals as GA4 Conversions

One of the biggest mental shifts from UA to GA4 is how you track important actions. In UA, these were called "Goals." In GA4, they're called "Conversions."

The good news is that the process is often simpler. In GA4, any event can be marked as a conversion. This means your first task is to make sure you are tracking the events that matter to your business.

How to Set Up Conversions in GA4

1. Identify Your Key Business Actions: What were your Goals in UA? Examples might include lead form submissions, email sign-ups, or demo requests.
2. Set Up Event Tracking: Ensure these actions are being tracked as events in GA4. Some events, like purchase, are tracked automatically by GA4 (e.g., through an ecommerce integration). For custom actions, like a form submission, you may need to set up a custom event using either gtag.js or Google Tag Manager. A common event name for a lead form might be generate_lead.
3. Mark the Event as a Conversion: This is the easy part.

That's it! Within 24 hours, GA4 will start reporting conversions specifically for that event in its own Conversions report.

Practical Tips for a Smooth Transition

Getting your GA4 tag set up and tracking conversions is the main technical hurdle. Here are a few final tips for making the switch as smooth as possible.

• Export Your Historical UA Data: GA4 does not import your old UA data. Before you lose access, make sure to export your most important historical reports from Universal Analytics. You can export to Google Sheets, CSV files, or use the Google Analytics Spreadsheet Add-on to pull data programmatically.
• Focus on Key Reports: Don't try to replicate your entire UA dashboard on day one. Start by building out a handful of essential reports in GA4's "Explore" section. For example, create a new funnel exploration report to map out your most important user journeys.
• Communicate with Your Team: Make sure anyone on your team who used UA knows about the change, understands the key differences, and has access to resources or training for GA4. Clear documentation on what new GA4 events and conversions correspond to your old UA Goals will save everyone a lot of confusion.

Final Thoughts

The move from Universal Analytics to GA4 is less of a simple migration and more of a strategic shift to a more powerful, flexible, and future-proof analytics framework. By embracing the event-based model, you'll gain a deeper, more accurate understanding of how users interact with your business across all your digital platforms.

Once you have GA4 collecting data, the next challenge is turning that data into clear, actionable insights - without getting lost in complex reports. We built Graphed to solve exactly this problem. Instead of wrestling with filters and report builders, you can connect your new GA4 account and just ask questions in plain English, like "What are my top landing pages by engaged sessions?" or "Build me a dashboard showing conversions by traffic source for the last 30 days." It’s an incredibly simple way to get answers from your marketing data instantly.