Last Updated: December 13, 2023

Following are the various ways through which you can change the Admin settings of your GA4 property:

#1 Accessing Admin settings that apply to all your GA4 account and property users.

I never use this setting.

#2 Accessing Admin settings that apply only to you.

Through ‘My preferences‘, you can change the following settings: 

#2.1 The language used by the GA4 UI.

#2.2 Default data range.

If you don’t like the 28-days default data range for your GA4 reports, you can select 7 days, 14 days or 30 days as the default data range. 

My Step-By-Step Blueprint For Querying GA4 data in BigQuery without understanding a single line of SQL.

Query GA4 BigQuery Data via ChatGPT (73 Pages)

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#3 Setup Assistant

Setup Assistant is a checklist built into your GA4 property to remind you of the important GA4 tasks that you need to complete.

Once you complete a task, you are expected to mark that task as complete. However, that is not clear because of poor UI design.

Additional Resource: GA4 Migration Checklist – Upgrade to Google Analytics 4.

#4 Changing the Account details.

You can change the following account details: Account name, country of business, data sharing settings. 

You can also accept the ‘Data Processing Terms‘ from account details in order to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations. 

#5 Adding or removing users from a GA4 account.

Additional Resource: [GA4] Access and data-restriction management.

#6 Checking out the change history of your GA4 Account.

The ‘Change history‘ setting lists the changes user(s) have made to your account during the past two years. 

These changes can be like creating or modifying a particular GA4 property, deleting a particular custom dimension, modifying conversion settings, etc.

You can view all changes for a particular date range by clicking on the date button, selecting a date range and then clicking on the ‘Apply‘ button twice.

To view changes made only to a particular property, click on the ‘Location‘ drop-down menu, click on the ‘Choose location‘ link next to the property name whose change history you want to retrieve and then click on the ‘Apply‘ button:

Click on the ‘More filters’ link to filter the results by type of change.

Additional Resource: [GA4] View the history of account/property changes.

#7 Accessing GA4 accounts and properties that have been marked for deletion.

The ‘Trash‘ contains GA4 accounts and/or properties that have been marked for deletion by a user. 

You can see the user who marked them for deletion and the date that will be permanently deleted.

You have 35 days to restore accounts and/or properties from the ‘Trash’ before they are permanently deleted.

To restore an account/property, click on the checkbox next to it and then click on the ‘Restore’ button:

Additional Resource: [GA4] Delete / restore accounts and properties.

#8 Changing the reporting timezone or currency of your GA4 property.

To move your GA4 property to another GA4 account, click on the ‘Move Property’ button:

To delete your GA4 property, click on the ‘Move To Trash Can’ button:

Click on the copy button to copy your property ID:

#9 Adding or removing users from a GA4 property.

#10 Checking out the change history of your GA4 Property.

#11 Editing or deleting scheduled emails.

Note: You can schedule a report to be emailed to you or others by navigating to a GA4 report, clicking on the ‘Share this report’ button and then clicking on ‘Schedule Email’:

#12 Checking out Analytics Intelligence Search History.

#13 Click on ‘Data Streams’ to see the list of all the data streams connected to your GA4 property.

A data stream is a data source. 

When the data source is a website, it is called the web data stream.

When the data source is a mobile app, it is called the app data stream.

There are two types of app data streams:

1. IOS app data stream
2. Android app data stream

Additional Resource: How to segment GA4 data by data stream.

#14 Click on the iOS tab to see the list of IOS data streams connected to your property.

#15 Click on the ‘Android’ tab to see the list of all Android streams connected to your GA4 property.

#16 To see the list of web data streams, click on the ‘Web’ tab.

#17 Adding a data stream.

Don’t make this mistake when adding mobile app data streams to your GA4 property.

Many GA4 users add mobile app data streams from the user interface of the GA4 property. But this is not the correct way.

When you create a mobile app stream from a GA4 property, you do not get the option to link to an existing Firebase project.

Instead, the following things happen automatically:

1) A new Google Cloud project is automatically created.

2) A new Firebase project is automatically created.

3) The new Firebase project is automatically connected to your GA4 property.

And your mobile apps are most likely not added to this new Firebase project.

What you should do instead is to find and link your existing Firebase project (to which you added your mobile apps) to your GA4 property.

The moment your Firebase project is connected to your existing GA4 property, Google will automatically create corresponding mobile app data streams in your GA4 property.

#18 Editing a data stream.

#19 Deleting a data stream.

#20 Enabling/disabling the enhanced measurement events.

Enhanced Measurement Events are one of the categories of events in GA4. These events are automatically triggered and logged (i.e. recorded) on certain pre-defined user activities. 

But the events (excluding the ‘page_view’ event) are logged only when you have enabled enhanced measurement in your GA4 property.

#21 Changing the settings of the enhanced measurement events.

Note: Disable automatic form tracking (via enhanced measurement), as it is completely way off and will skew your event data for good.

#22 Modifying incoming events and parameters.

Additional resources on GA4 events:

1. GA4 (Google Analytics 4) Event Tracking Setup Tutorial
2. Understanding Event Parameters in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
3. Recommended Events in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
4. Enhanced Measurement Events in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
5. Automatically Collected Events in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
6. How to Set Up GA4 Custom Events via Google Tag Manager
7. Events Report in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
8. How to Rename Events in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
9. How to Use Google Analytics 4 Event Builder
10. GA4 Form Interactions Tracking – Enhanced Measurement
11. How to fix duplicate events in GA4.

#23 Creating new events from existing events (custom events).

#24 Creating an API secret to enable additional events to be sent through the Measurement Protocol.

The Universal Analytics measurement protocol request is easy to abuse as any person can use it to send unauthorized data to your GA property.

To stop this protocol abuse in GA4, Google came up with the concept of API Secret Key.

When you use measurement protocol to send event data to a GA4 property, you need to use the API Secret Key. This key is data stream specific. So it can not be used across data streams or properties.

This key is used as a security feature so that spammers can not abuse the protocol request.

Otherwise, any person can use measurement protocol to send event data to your GA4 property. They just need to know your measurement ID.

Google recommends that you keep the API secret keys private to your organisation.

You are able to revoke API secret key if you believe it has been compromised.

#25 Configuring your domain for cross-domain measurement.

#26 Excluding internal traffic from being tracked.

The traffic generated by you or your employees, suppliers and other service providers (like your developer) to your website is called ‘Internal Traffic‘.

These people are not your target audience, so we don’t need to track them.

Internal traffic can easily skew your website usage metrics and, therefore, must be filtered out from your GA4 reports.

Additional Resource: Exclude internal traffic in GA4 (Google Analytics 4) via IP filter.

#27 Adding or removing domains whose traffic should NOT be considered to be referrals (unwanted referrals).

#28 Adjusting session timeout.

By default, a GA4 session expires after 30 minutes of users’ inactivity.

You can change this setting by changing the session timeout settings in your GA4 property.

For most websites, a GA4 session that is 7 hours and 55 minutes long is ideal.

If a user returns to your website multiple times within a few hours on the same day, then all such user activities should be a part of the same session; hence, only one session should be recorded by GA4.

You can accomplish this by using the maximum session timeout allowed by GA4, which is 7 hours 55 minutes. Basically, the entire working day.

The session timeout of 30 minutes or less is not recommended unless your website automatically signs out a user after being inactive for 30 minutes or less.

#29 Adjusting timer for engaged sessions.

GA4 defines an ‘engaged session’ as the one that:

1. Lasted 10 seconds or longer or
2. Had one or more conversion events fired or
3. Had two or more pageviews or screenviews.

I like to use the maximum value allowed by GA4 for ‘Adjust timer for engaged sessions’, which is 60 seconds.

So, a session would not be recorded as engaged until it is at least 60 seconds long.

The default 10-second threshold for an engaged session does not make sense.

After watching countless session recordings, the sessions that last for a few seconds are generally low-quality sessions.

It takes around 8 to 10 seconds for an average website to fully load on a desktop device. On mobile, it could be even longer.

You can’t really do anything meaningful on a website in under 60 seconds. May be check the latest weather report on an app or check your bank balance.

#30 Enabling/disabling Google Signals Data Collection.

Google Signals is an advertising reporting feature through which GA4 can collect cross-device data from those website users who have signed in to one of their Google accounts (Gmail, YouTube, etc) and have turned on ad personalization.

#31 Enabling/disabling Google Signals Data Collection in a particular country.

#32 Enabling/disabling Google Signals in reporting identity.

When turned on, the demographic and interest data will be available in your reports, but it will increase the likelihood of data thresholding. 

When turned off, the demographics and interest data will be omitted from your reports, but at the same time, GA4 will still continue to collect Google signals data in audiences and conversions and share the data with linked Google Ads accounts for remarketing and bid optimization. This setting allows you to turn off Google Signals data in reporting identity without disabling Google Signals in GA4.

#33 Uploading data from external sources to your GA4 property.

Related Article: GA4 (Google Analytics 4) Data Import Tutorial.

#34 Changing user and event data retention settings.

Through the ‘User and event data retention’ feature, you can set the amount of time for which Google Analytics retains user-specific data for an inactive website user before automatically deleting it.

The user-specific data is the data that is associated with cookies, user identifiers, or advertising identifiers.

I prefer to set the ‘Event data retention’ setting to 14 months and reset user data on new activity.

Use the data retention settings according to your privacy policy.

#35 Enabling/disabling ‘Reset user data on new activity’.

The data retention is reset on the new user’s activity. 

#36 Adding, removing or editing data filters.

In GA4, you can include or exclude certain event data from your GA4 property via a setting called ‘Data Filters‘.

GA4 supports two types of data filters:

1) Developer traffic – Use this filter to include or filter out event data that you identified as developer traffic from your GA4 reports. Here, the word ‘developer’ refers to someone who sets up and fixes tracking on your website/mobile app.

2) Internal traffic – Use this filter to include or filter out event data that you identified as internal traffic from your GA4 reports. Internal traffic is the traffic generated by you or your employees, suppliers and other service providers to your website.

Additional Resources

1. GA4 filters – Understanding data filters in Google Analytics 4.
2. How to create and test filters in Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
3. Exclude internal traffic in GA4 (Google Analytics 4) via IP filter.

#37 Deleting data from a GA4 property through data deletion requests.

To delete text collected by event parameters, use a data deletion request. This will erase and replace the specific text data with “(data deleted)”. However, the event will continue to be counted in the overall metrics in your reports.

#38 Marking/un-marking an event as a conversion.

Note: Only mark those events as conversions which are critical to your business. The ‘page_view’ event is not one of them.

Related Articles:

1. Google Analytics 4 Conversion Tracking Guide – GA4 Goals
2. How to import GA4 Conversions into Google Ads.
3. GA4 Conversion Rate – How to find it and use it
4. Difference between Google Ads and Google Analytics Conversion Tracking.

#39 Creating new events.

Additional Resources:

1. GA4 (Google Analytics 4) Event Tracking Setup Tutorial
2. Understanding Event Parameters in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
3. Recommended Events in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
4. Enhanced Measurement Events in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
5. Automatically Collected Events in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
6. How to Set Up GA4 Custom Events via Google Tag Manager
7. Events Report in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
8. How to Rename Events in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
9. How to Use Google Analytics 4 Event Builder
10. GA4 Form Interactions Tracking – Enhanced Measurement
11. How to fix duplicate events in GA4.

#40 Modifying existing events.

#41 Searching for a particular event.

#42 Downloading event data as a CSV file.

#43 Creating a new conversion event.

#44 Changing conversion counting method.

You can ask GA4 to count an event as a conversion every time it occurs (once per event), or you can ask to count an event as a conversion only once within a particular session (once per session).

GA4 recommends the ‘once per event’ counting method, but you should be using the ‘once per session’ method to avoid inflating the conversion count for non-transactional conversions.

The ‘Once per event’ counting method is useful only for tracking actions that provide significant value to the business bottom line each time they occur, such as multiple purchases.

If the conversion is typically a one-time action per session, where repeats in the same session are less relevant (like a newsletter signup, download or form submission), using the ‘once per event’ counting method can inflate conversion count esp., if your GA4 property is already suffering from duplicate events issues.

That’s why so many GA4 properties report inflated conversion counts.

Most of them use the ‘once per event’ counting method and, to make it worse, suffer from duplicate events issues.

Understand the context in which duplicate events occur to determine whether they are due to user behaviour, technical issues, or both.

The ‘Once per session’ counting method provides a more accurate reflection of user behaviour and conversion performance.

Also, use the longest possible session timeout setting, which works well for your business (like 7 hours, 55 min) to avoid duplicate conversion count, esp. when dealing with conversions that should typically occur once per session.

By extending the session duration, you reduce the likelihood of the same conversion being counted multiple times across multiple sessions.

Longer sessions can provide a better view of the user journey, capturing extended interactions and behaviours that might otherwise be split into separate sessions.

#45 Assigning a monetary value to a conversion.

Note: Only assign a monetary value to a conversion that is not directly tied to a transaction (like ‘newsletter signups’).

#46 Creating new audiences.

In the context of GA4, an audience is a group of users from your website or app who share the same characteristics. 

For example, users who made a purchase in the last 7 days could be used as an audience.

Once you have created your audience, you can then segment your GA4 data by that audience. 

You can also use the audiences created in GA4 in Google Ads for the purpose of remarketing.

Additional Resources:

• GA4 Audiences – Creating custom audience in Google Analytics 4.
• Understanding Audience Triggers in Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
• How to create a remarketing audience in Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
• Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Predictive Audiences – Tutorial.

#47 Creating a new custom dimension.

Additional Resources

1. GA4 (Google Analytics 4) Dimensions Tutorial
2. GA4 (Google Analytics 4) Custom Dimensions Tutorial
3. GA4 User Properties (User Scoped Custom Dimensions) – Tutorial
4. Event Scoped Custom Dimensions in GA4 – Tutorial

#48 Editing or archiving custom dimensions.

#49 Creating a new custom metric.

Additional Resources

1. GA4 (Google Analytics 4) Metrics Tutorial with Free Google Analytics 4 Ebook
2. GA4 (Google Analytics 4) Custom Metrics Tutorial
3. What are Predictive Metrics in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
4. GA4 Ecommerce Conversion Rate – How to find and use it.
5. Google Analytics 4 Calculated Metrics with Examples.

#50 Editing or archiving custom metrics.

#51 Creating a new calculated metric.

#52 Editing, copying or archiving calculated metrics.

#53 Checking how many custom dimensions, custom metrics and calculated metrics you are allowed to create.

#54 Viewing the default channel group to see what it is made up of.

A Channel group is a rule-based grouping of marketing channels.

There are two categories of channel groups:

1. Default Channel Group.
2. Custom Channel groups.

Note: You can not edit the default channel group.

#55 Creating a new channel group (custom channel group).

Additional Resources

• Understanding Channel Groupings in Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
• Google Analytics 4 Channels, Source and Medium explained.

#56 Changing reporting attribution model.

GA4 uses the reporting attribution model to calculate conversion credit in all of your GA4 reports and also within the conversion reports of any linked Firebase projects.

By default, GA4 uses the cross-channel data-driven model as the reporting attribution model.

Google also recommends that you use the cross-channel data-driven model as the reporting attribution model.

Additional Resources:

• How to Change Attribution Models in GA4 (Google Analytics 4)?
• Guide to Attribution Models in GA4 (Google Analytics 4).
• GA4 Attribution Modelling Tutorial.

#57 Changing conversion window.

In the context of GA4, ‘conversion window’ is the time period (measured in a number of days) that determines how far back in time a touchpoint (i.e. exposure to a marketing channel) is eligible for getting conversion credit.

For example, a 30 days conversion window means a touchpoint is eligible for getting conversion credit for up to 30 days from the day it first occurred.

Additional Resource: Which Conversion Window to use in GA4 (Google Analytics 4).

#58 Changing reporting identity.

‘Reporting Identity‘ in GA4 refers to the system’s ability to track and unify a user’s interactions with a business across various devices and platforms into a coherent user journey. 

In the context of GA4, ‘system‘ denotes the comprehensive suite of technologies, algorithms, and processes GA4 employs to track, analyze, and report user interactions.

Often, a customer may engage with a business using multiple devices—like a tablet, a work computer, and a smartphone—at different times of the day. 

GA4 uses a combination of identifiers: User-ID, Google signals, Device ID, and Modeling—to merge these interactions, which may otherwise appear as separate sessions, into a single, continuous journey.

I prefer to use the ‘Device-based’ reporting identity to minimize data cardinality issues.

Additional Resources:

1. User ID in Google Analytics Explained with Examples.
2. Google Signals GA4 – See demographics (gender, age) in Google Analytics 4.
3. [GA4] Reporting identity.

#59 Monitoring debugging events from your website or mobile app in real-time.

The ‘DebugView’ report allows you to monitor debugging events from your website or mobile app in real time, along with all the custom parameters and user properties set.

Additional Resources:

1. How to use DebugView report in Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
2. GA4 Debug View not working? Here is how to fix it.

#60 Linking GA4 property with other Google products.

Additional Resources:

1. How to connect GA4 with Google Data Studio (Looker Studio).
2. How to link GA4 to Google Ads.
3. GA4 Search Console Integration Guide.
4. How to Install Google Analytics 4 on Shopify
5. GA4 Firebase Integration – Mobile App Tracking.
6. How to link Google Analytics 4 with Adsense.
7. How to export GA4 data to Google Sheets for free.