Contents

New features in Google Analytics 4
Does Shopify support Google Analytics 4?
How to migrate from UA to GA4 on Shopify
How to migrate audiences from UA to GA4
How to migrate conversion tracking to GA4

What new features are available on Google Analytics 4?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is set to replace Universal Analytics (UA) by July 2023, or July 2024 for Google 360 users. GA4 is said to be the evolution of measurement standards, allowing users to measure a wider range of data.

Many of the previous metrics used to measure data have either been removed or replaced in GA4, and they’ve overhauled the reporting interface. For example, UA allowed users to have up to 25 reporting views whereas GA4 provides only one - ‘Audiences’ and ‘Data streams’ can be added to make up for this difference.

One of the key differences between GA4 and UA is the measurement models. GA4 utilizes measurements based on events and parameters instead of sessions and pageviews. Every activity taken by a user is classed as an ‘event’ in GA4, which should give you more detail on how visitors are interacting with your website.

GA4 will allow users to track cross-platform data between websites and apps, giving more options on how you measure performance. 

For more information on what GA4 brings to the table, take a look at our video below.

Does Shopify support Google Analytics 4?

Shopify currently supports GA4 and will continue to support UA until it sunsets.

Migrating from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 on Shopify

To start the migration process, you’ll need to do the following:

• Create a GA4 property within your Google Analytics account
• Add GA4 tags to your Shopify store

You may also need to migrate your audiences as well as your conversion funnels and goals to GA4.

Create your GA4 property

In your Google Analytics account, you can create a GA4 property (so long as you’re set as an editor).

Once this is complete, you can create a web data stream. This will provide you with a Tag ID which will be used in the next step of the process.

Implement GA4 tags on your Shopify store

For this step, you’ll need to have the Google Channel installed on Shopify. 

Follow these steps:

1. From Shopify admin, go to Online store and then Preferences.
2. You’ll see the Google Analytics section. From there, click on Manage pixel here.
3. Select Connect your Google account.
4. Select the Tag ID from the previous step for the GA4 property that you wish to connect.
5. Click on Connect your Google Analytics 4 property.

This will add the GA4 tags to your Shopify store. Once you have set up and installed the Google Analytics 4 tags, certain standard ecommerce tracking events will be tracked automatically but any custom events will need to be set up separately. 

From there, you may need to migrate your UA audiences to GA4 and also migrate your conversion tracking to GA4.

How to migrate audiences from UA to GA4

Migrating audiences across from your UA property to GA4 lets you identify the same user groups based on your GA4 data. This can then be exported to your linked Google Ads account to address the same use cases.

You can create up to 100 audiences per GA4 property, and these audiences will automatically update everywhere rather than requiring you to select the destination.

To learn more, see our full guide on how to migrate from UA to GA4.

How to migrate your conversion tracking to Google Analytics 4

If you’ve been using UA to track conversions, you’ll need to migrate this tracking to GA4. 

Here’s how to migrate:

1. Set up events and label them as conversions in your Google Analytics account.
2. Link your Google Ads account to your Google Analytics account.
3. Import the conversions from step one into Google Ads.

We've got all the information you need to link your Shopify store to Google Merchant Center and Shopping ads.