Google Analytics 4: Should You Install It Now Alongside Universal Analytics?

Clients who have run Universal Analytics for years keep asking me the same question since Google Analytics 4 launched last October: should they switch measurement tools now, or wait until the new property matures? It is a fair question. Universal Analytics still works fine, the team already knows how to read its reports, and swapping out a measurement tool while running a small business is a real risk if nothing is forcing the change. My answer is almost always the same: install GA4 now, but not to replace Universal Analytics. Run both side by side while the new property builds up its own history.

What exactly is Google Analytics 4?

Google Analytics 4 is the new property type Google launched in October 2020, after running a beta version called "App + Web" for roughly a year before that. The biggest difference from Universal Analytics is the data model. Universal Analytics organizes everything around sessions and pageviews, while GA4 treats every interaction, whether it comes from a website or a mobile app, as an event with its own parameters. A single GA4 property can take in data from a website and an app at the same time, something the older model could not do without juggling multiple views.

How does GA4 measure things differently from Universal Analytics?

The most visible change for a small-business owner is that "goals," configured in the admin panel, are gone, replaced by conversions marked directly from existing events. There is no separation between events and pageviews in the reports anymore: everything is an event, including a pageview itself. That change in structure is why GA4 reports look nothing like Universal Analytics reports, even when both properties are collecting traffic from the exact same site.

Why install GA4 now if Universal Analytics is still working fine?

Because a Google Analytics property cannot retroactively pull in data from before it was installed. Wait six months or a year to add GA4, and that comparison window is gone for good: the day you decide to rely on GA4 as your main source, you will start with a shorter history than you could have built by installing both properties on the same day. Running Universal Analytics and GA4 side by side right now does not change anything about what already works, and it quietly builds the history you will need later, with no pressure to switch over immediately.

Which events does GA4 track automatically once it is installed?

As soon as GA4's measurement code is in place, the property automatically picks up a handful of events with no extra setup: the pageview itself, scroll tracking (when a visitor reaches the bottom of a long page), clicks to an outside domain, searches run through the site's own search bar, engagement with an embedded YouTube video, and downloads of certain file types like PDFs. That list covers a decent range of basic interactions, but it misses the two actions that matter most for a service-based small business: calling and filling out a form.

Which three events do I set up first for a client?

For nearly every client, the first three events I configure beyond automatic measurement are the same. First, clicks on the phone number shown on the site, since GA4 does not catch this on its own and it is often the single most important conversion for a local business. Second, submission of a contact or quote-request form, which is also missing from current automatic measurement. Third, clicks on an online booking or appointment button, when the site has one. These three events become the first key performance indicators (KPIs) I watch in a GA4 property, because each one maps directly to an action a prospect takes right before becoming a customer.

How do you set these events up without adding code to every page?

I almost always go through Google Tag Manager instead of hard-coding tracking into individual pages. One trigger catches clicks on links starting with "tel:", another catches a successful form submission, and a third catches clicks on the booking button. Each trigger fires an event into GA4 with useful parameters, like the page the click came from. That approach avoids touching the site's code every time a new event gets added, and it works the same way regardless of what platform sits behind the site.

Do these events also need to be marked as conversions inside GA4?

Yes, and it is a step that gets missed easily because it happens in a different place than creating the event itself. Once the phone click, the form submission, and the booking click start arriving in GA4 as events, you still need to go into the Events section under Configure and flip the "Mark as conversion" toggle for each of the three. Skip that step and the events sit in the raw reports without ever showing up in the conversion reports or the summaries I look at first with a client. It is an easy detail to miss the first time you set up a GA4 property, because nothing stops the event from firing correctly without being marked. Tracking looks like it is working, but the conversion stays invisible until that toggle gets switched on.

How do you confirm both properties are actually collecting the same data?

Before I leave a client with their new GA4 property, I always run through the Realtime report, which shows active visitors and their events as they happen. I visit the site myself, click the phone number, fill out a test version of the form, then check that each of those actions shows up in GA4's Realtime report within a few seconds. I do the same check on the Universal Analytics side, in its own realtime report, to confirm both properties are picking up the same visit. That check takes about ten minutes and saves you from finding out months later that one of the two tags was never installed correctly.

How do you install GA4 without touching the existing Universal Analytics tracking?

The GA4 property gets created inside the same Google Analytics account as the existing Universal Analytics property, as a separate property with its own measurement ID. You then add that new ID, either as a new tag in Google Tag Manager or as a second snippet on the site, alongside the Universal Analytics tag that is already there. Both properties then receive the same traffic completely independently: nothing in the Universal Analytics configuration needs to change, and no existing report moves.

How do I set up this dual tracking for my clients?

When I add GA4 for a client, I start by confirming the existing Universal Analytics property stays untouched, then create the GA4 property in the same account before setting up the three baseline events on top of automatic measurement. The click on a booking or appointment button gets added alongside the call tracking I set up for clients, giving a fuller picture of what actually leads to a confirmed appointment, well before GA4 becomes the primary measurement tool.

What if you do not have a Google Analytics account yet?

If you are starting from zero, there is no reason to install only Universal Analytics in 2021: create the account and set up both properties from day one. There is no history to protect, so the cost of installing both at once is zero, and you skip the catch-up work everyone who waits eventually has to do. The concrete step to take this week is the same either way: create the GA4 property, install it next to what already exists, and set up calls and forms as the first events to track.

Drafted with AI assistance, checked and published by Marven Salgado.