12 things every GA4 admin should do
A checklist of GA4 admin settings, custom dimensions, audiences and reports to set up after you install Littledata.
After you install Littledata, a few GA4 settings make a big difference to your data quality. This checklist walks you through them, from day one to your second week.
The actions are split into three stages:
Day 1: make sure your setup is right.
Week 1: 2 to 7 days after you install. GA4 can take 24 to 48 hours to show new data in reports.
Week 2: 10 to 20 days after you install, depending on how much traffic your store gets.
Day 1
1. Extend data retention to 14 months
By default, GA4 deletes detailed visit data after 2 months. That limits what you can analyze in explorations. Change it to the maximum as soon as you can.
Open Data retention
In GA4, go to Admin > Data collection and modification > Data retention.
Change the retention period
Set Event data retention to 14 months, then click Save.
2. Turn on Google signals
When Google signals is on, GA4 collects data from signed-in Google users who agreed to ads personalization.
You need this for your GA4 remarketing audiences to flow into linked Google Ads accounts.
The downside is thresholding. GA4 may hide rows with low numbers in reports to protect user privacy. There are ways to work around this.
Open Data collection
In GA4, go to Admin > Data collection and modification > Data collection.
Turn on Google signals
Turn on Google signals data collection.
3. Switch the reporting identity to device-based
In theory, device-based is the least detailed reporting identity. In practice, it often gives more accurate attribution, with less Direct and Unassigned traffic.
Open Reporting identity
In GA4, go to Admin > Data display > Reporting identity.
Select Device-based
Select Device-based, then click Save.
4. Link your Google Ads accounts
Linking Google Ads to GA4 brings ad data into GA4, like campaign names, ad groups, keywords and cost. Without it, you can't build useful reports on google / cpc traffic.
Once linked, you can:
Compare conversion numbers in GA4 and Google Ads, and troubleshoot differences.
Get more accurate ROAS.
Share GA4 audiences with Google Ads for remarketing. This needs Google signals turned on (see step 2).
Open Google Ads links
In GA4, go to Admin > Product links > Google Ads links.
Add the link
Click Link and follow the steps to choose your Google Ads account.
Step 10 shows you how to build a Google Ads report.
Week 1
5. Get to know Littledata's custom dimensions
On top of the standard GA4 ecommerce parameters, Littledata sends extra custom data with your events. For the full list, see what Littledata tracks.
Littledata registers these as custom dimensions in your GA4 property when you connect GA4. You can see them in GA4 under Admin > Data display > Custom definitions.
Shopify Customer ID
User
shopify_customer_id_ld
Lifetime Revenue
User
lifetime_revenue_ld
Purchase Count
User
purchase_count_ld
Last Transaction Date
User
last_transaction_date_ld
Payment Gateway
User
payment_gateway_ld
Affiliation
Event
affiliation
App Name
Event
app_name
The affiliation parameter is especially useful. It adds the order's Shopify tags to each purchase, plus labels for some order types. For example:
Subscription Recurring Order
Amazon Marketplace
Draft (added for draft orders)
Shop App (added for Shop app orders)
Littledata tracks all purchases on your store, so you need a way to separate draft orders, recurring orders and others. That way, you can attribute revenue properly. For example, leaving out recurring order revenue gives subscription brands a clearer ROAS.
The Purchase Count dimension also gives you lots of audience ideas.
6. Add your GA4 measurement ID to all subdomains
If you use non-Shopify landing pages in your ad funnel, they're probably on a different subdomain. Install GA4 on all of your subdomains. In most cases, a basic GA4 setup through Google Tag Manager is enough.
This keeps GA4 attribution for the channels that really drove conversions on your main website.
Week 2
7. Create audiences
Create GA4 audiences based on Littledata's custom dimensions, like Lifetime Revenue, Purchase Count or Last Transaction Date.
Open Audiences
In GA4, go to Admin > Data display > Audiences, then click New audience.
You can start from scratch or from one of GA4's templates. Try a few options to see what suits your business.
Add a condition
Pick the dimension you want and a condition. GA4 treats these as text dimensions, so the audience builder only offers text conditions such as exactly matches, begins with or matches regex. For example:
Purchase Count exactly matches
1finds one-time buyers.Lifetime Revenue matches regex
^[0-9]{4,}finds customers who have spent 1,000 or more.
Save the audience
Give the audience a name and click Save.
8. Create a custom channel group
GA4's default channel group often puts real source / medium combinations into Unassigned. For example, fbig / pay_soc clearly means paid Meta traffic, but GA4 won't recognize it.
Go through your session source / medium report and check for custom combinations like this. Then create a custom channel group to sort them into the right channels.
9. Create a custom report: first user source / medium
Here's how to customize a standard GA4 report and add it to the left-hand menu for everyone on your property. This example builds a first user source / medium report.
You need Editor access or higher on the GA4 property.
Open the report
In GA4, go to Reports > Life cycle > Acquisition > User acquisition.
Customize the report
Click the pencil icon (Customize report) in the top-right corner. If you don't see it, you don't have Editor access.
Set the default dimension
Click Dimensions. Find First user source / medium, click the three dots next to it, and select Set as default. Click Apply.
Save as a new report
Click Save > Save as a new report. Give it a clear name, like "1st user source / medium".
Add it to a collection
Click the back arrow. In Reports, click Library at the bottom of the menu. Click Edit collection on an existing collection, like Life cycle. Find your saved report and drag it into the collection, then click Save.
Want a more advanced report? See the most useful hidden GA4 report for ecommerce.
10. Create a custom report: Google Ads
GA4's standard reports don't make Google Ads data easy to find. Here's how to build a Google Ads report and add it to your menu.
Open the Google Ads campaigns report
In GA4, go to Reports > Life cycle > Acquisition > Acquisition overview. Scroll down and click View Google Ads campaigns on the Google Ads card.
Customize the report
Click the pencil icon (Customize report). Add the dimensions and metrics you need, like:
Keyword
Query
Cost
ROAS
CPC
The charts at the top follow your default dimension and the metric you sort by. For example, set Query as the default dimension and sort the table by key events.
Save and add it to a collection
Click Apply, then Save > Save as a new report. Add it to a collection from the Library, the same way as in step 9.
11. Create a custom report: refunds by campaign
Littledata sends refunds to GA4 automatically. That means you can trace refunds back to the channels that drove the original purchases.
Adding refunds to the standard ecommerce report doesn't work well, so use an exploration instead. This trick turns any standard report into an exploration.
Open Ecommerce purchases
In GA4, go to Reports > Life cycle > Monetization > Ecommerce purchases.
Open it as an exploration
Click the Edit comparisons icon in the top-right corner, then click Explore at the bottom of the panel.
Add refund data
Add Item refund amount as a metric. Add First user source / medium and First user campaign as dimensions.
Now you can compare how each channel performs once refunds are taken into account.
12. What next?
It depends on your goals. You might want to:
Browse the help center for more guides on common GA4 challenges.
Related articles
Last updated
Was this helpful?