[GA4] Get more useful data out of Analytics

After you have set up data collection for your websites and apps, complete additional configurations to get more accurate and useful data. The more items you complete on the checklist, the more complete your GA4 data will be. Many configurations determine what data is collected in your property, so it will only be available from when you complete them. That's why it's valuable to do them as soon as possible. Most configurations can be done through the Analytics interface. The few that may require help from a developer are marked "Requires working with code."

In this article:

• Collect more data
• Filter unwanted data
• Power advertising

Collect more data

Configurations everyone should complete

Action	Outcome
Set up key events	Measure and analyze user actions that are most important to your business.
Activate Google Signals	Enable cross-device remarketing and cross-device key events export to Google Ads.
Link to Search Console	Analyze organic search results for your website in Analytics.

Configurations to consider

Action	Consider if	Outcome
Set up ecommerce events	You sell products or services on your website or app.	Collect and measure ecommerce data. Requires working with code.
Link to your other data sources	You have other data sources.	Analyze data from other sources in Analytics.
Import additional data	You have other data sources that aren't available as integrations.	Analyze data from other sources in Analytics.
Send offline data to GA4 using Measurement Protocol	You have point of sale (POS) kiosks or other offline key events.	Tie online to offline behavior. Requires working with code.
Set up cross-domain measurement	Your business has more than one domain.	Attribute activity to a single user as they cross domains.
Measure activity across platforms with User-ID	Visitors sign in to your website or app.	Associate your own identifiers with individual users to connect their behavior across different sessions and on various devices and platforms. Requires working with code.
Collect campaign data with custom URLs	You run ad or email campaigns other than Google Ads. (Google Ads campaigns work best with auto-tagging.)	Use UTM parameters to identify the campaigns that refer traffic from non-Google sources.

Filter unwanted data

Configurations everyone should complete

Action	Outcome
Filter out internal traffic	Exclude internal traffic from measurement.
Filter out developer traffic	Exclude test traffic generated by developers.
Filter out bots	Exclude known bots and spider traffic. GA4 automatically filters out bots and spiders. Unlike in Universal Analytics, you don't have to do anything to turn on this option.

Configurations to consider

Action	Consider if	Outcome
Filter unwanted referrals	Your website gets traffic from another website that you don't want to count as a referral, for example an external payment processor.	Ensure your data includes only referrals in which you're interested.

Power advertising

Configurations everyone should complete

Action	Outcome
Link to Google Ads	See Google Ads data in Analytics, use Analytics key events to bid on Ads, and use Analytics audiences for remarketing in Ads.
Allow personalized advertising	Share your audiences and key events with Google Ads. Personalized advertising is enabled by default when you link Analytics and Google Ads.
Import GA4 key events to Google Ads	See Analytics key event data in Google Ads and give Google Ads Smart Bidding access to data that helps optimize bids.
Build audiences	Use audiences for reporting, advertising, and optimization (e.g., A/B tests).
Enable Analytics audiences in Google Ads	Use Analytics audiences for remarketing in Google Ads.

Configurations to consider

Action	Consider if	Outcome
Create custom channel groups	Default channel groups don't meet your needs.	Use custom rule-based categories for your website traffic as dimensions in reports, explorations, and audiences.