As a small business marketer, making data-driven decisions is key to growth, and there’s no better tool for that than Google Analytics 4 (GA4). But out of the box, GA4 doesn’t always come with the optimal settings for businesses like yours.
In this tutorial, we’ll walk through five important GA4 settings you need to adjust to make sure you’re getting the most from your analytics data. These tweaks will improve the accuracy and depth of your reports, helping you make smarter decisions to grow your business.
Ready to dive in?
Setting 1: Adjusting Data Retention for Better Reporting
By default, GA4 only retains user data from cookies for two months. This doesn’t affect standard reports but can be a problem if you want to create more complex reports and compare long-term trends and insights in Explore. Especially for smaller, low-traffic websites. Fortunately, you can change this setting to keep your data for 14 months.
Here’s how:
Click to the Admin Menu at the bottom left-hand side of the screen
Select Data Retention from the menu.
Change the default setting for user data from 2 months to 14 months.
Click save
This simple adjustment allows you to create year-over-year reports in Explore so you can dig deeper into your website’s performance over time.
Setting 2: Reporting Identity for Accurate Data
GA4’s reporting identity setting uses AI and signals to estimate visitor behaviour. Which is great if you have a high-traffic website.
To activate machine learning you need to have Consent Mode V2 implemented on your site
Plus:
1,000 daily users to your website who have consented to analytics storage per day for at least 7 of the past 28 days
And 1,000 events per day for at least 7 days who have denied Analytics Storage.
Most small business websites can only dream of that, and that means the default ‘Blended’ reporting identity isn’t the right choice.
For lower-traffic websites, Device Based is often the best choice, it will ensure you see as much data as possible without thresholding applied.
Here’s how to switch:
Go to the Admin Menu and select Reporting Identity.
If you can’t see Device Based on the list click Show all
Change from Blended to Device Based to see more data in your reporting.
Click Save.
Unlike Data retention, Reporting Identity only changes the way you view the data, not the way it’s collected so there’s no risk in switching from one to the other.
Setting 3: Enhanced Measurement for Event Tracking
One of GA4’s standout features is Enhanced Measurement, which tracks user actions beyond just page views. This feature can automatically capture important events like scrolling, video views, and link clicks. All of which are key indicators of user engagement.
Enhanced measurement should be enabled by default but it’s worth checking.
Here’s how:
Navigate to Data Streams in the Admin Menu.
Select your Data stream (there may only be one)
Ensure that Enhanced Measurement is toggled on.
Click the wheel to check which events are switched on. Some may be toggled off, before you switch them off check with whoever set up your analytics and Tag Manager accounts to see if there is a reason for this.
When activated Enhanced Measurement gives you a better picture of how users interact with your site, helping you understand which content is driving quality website visitors and engagement.
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Setting 4: Configuring Cross-Domain Tracking
If your business uses multiple subdomains or third-party tools like booking systems, course software or landing page tools and has added your GA4 measurement ID to these, it’s essential to set up Cross-Domain Tracking. This ensures that user sessions aren’t split between domains, which can distort your reporting.
Before you set up Cross-Domain tracking check your Analytics to see which domains you are using.
Here’s how:
From your reports dashboard click on Traffic Acquisition. You’ll find this under Leads in the Business Objectives report collection or Acquisition in the Life Cycle report collection.
Click the blue + button next to Session Primary Channel Group
Start typing Hostname into the search bar and select it when it appears in the menu
This will give you a list of domains you are tracking with your GA4 measurement ID.
The next step is to add them to your Cross-Domain Tracking.
How to Configure Cross-Domain Tracking:
Go to Admin Menu > Data Streams> Configure Tag Settings.
Select Configure your domains
Click Add Condition
Select Contains from the Match Type menu
Add your different domains (e.g., your main website, booking software, etc.) to ensure GA4 treats them as part of the same site.
Before wrapping this up, don’t forget to test your links between domains to ensure nothing is broken!
Setting 5: Managing Unwanted Referrals (And Prevent Reporting Errors)
Unwanted referrals from third-party payment processors (like PayPal) can interfere with your reporting by breaking up user sessions. GA4 allows you to manage these Unwanted Referrals and treat them as part of the same session.
When you do this it tells GA4 that these sites are part of your website even if the GA4 measurement ID isn’t installed on them.
You’ll need to add both your domains and tools like Paypal here.
Before you set this up check which sites are driving referrals.
Here’s how:
From your Traffic Acquisition report click on Session Primary Channel Group
Select Session source/medium from the drop-down menu
To narrow down the report to referrals type referral into the search bar under the chart
Scroll through the referral sources to see if any of them should be part of your customer’s journey on your site.
Once you’ve identified the referral sites you can manage them.
Steps to Manage Unwanted Referrals:
Go to Admin Menu > Data Streams> Configure Tag Settings.
Click Show More
Select List Unwanted Referrals.
Add your payment processors and other third-party services (like PayPal or Stripe) and any additional referral sites you found to ensure these don’t appear as separate referrals in your reports.
Final Thoughts
These five GA4 tweaks will help you optimise your data collection and analysis. That means you to get the most out of your website’s performance insights.
Whether you’re looking to track user engagement more effectively or ensure accurate long-term reporting, these adjustments are an important part of making smarter marketing decisions.
Don’t leave your data to chance—get these settings sorted today and start making better marketing decisions for your business
