You’re probably already aware how valuable data is in guiding marketing, content, and product decisions. Getting GA4 and GTM set up properly is crucial if you want clean, reliable data that actually helps your business grow. This checklist covers everything you need to configure, test and optimise your tracking setup—from making sure the basics are working, to refining your events, reports and privacy settings. Whether you’re launching GA4 for the first time or auditing an existing setup, this basic guide can help keep your implementation sharp and future-ready.
Start with the essentials
First, confirm your GA4 property is live and receiving data. Log into your GA4 account and check real-time data to make sure hits are being recorded. From there, ensure your GTM container is installed on all pages of your site. Without proper placement, events and configuration tags won’t fire consistently.
Once that’s sorted, connect your GA4 property to GTM using a Google tag. This tag should contain your GA4 measurement ID and be set to fire on all pages. Double-check your GA4 property settings to make sure the time zone and currency match your business location—these affect how data is processed and displayed in reports.
Check your GA4 configuration settings
With the basics in place, move on to your GA4 configuration. One of the first things to set up is Google signals. This enables cross-device tracking and unlocks features like demographic reporting and remarketing audiences in Google Ads.
Next, review your data retention settings. If you’re using custom reports or long-term performance analysis, increase the data retention period to 14 months. This ensures historical event-level data isn’t automatically deleted.
It’s also important to filter out internal traffic. Exclude traffic from your team, office, or development environments so it doesn’t skew engagement metrics. You can do this by setting up filters using IP addresses or developer mode flags.
Lastly, go over your enhanced measurement settings. These track basic interactions like scrolls, outbound clicks and site searches without any custom setup. Enable only what’s relevant so your reports remain clean and focused.
Validate your GTM container setup
Jump back into GTM and use Preview Mode or Google’s Tag Assistant to ensure your tags are firing as expected. Start by checking your GA4 configuration tag, then confirm event tags are triggering based on user actions.
Take time to review your triggers—overly broad triggers can result in inflated data or duplicated events. Tag naming conventions are often overlooked but help immensely when you’re troubleshooting or handing off projects. Use a system that clearly identifies the tag type, purpose and firing conditions.
Configure key event tracking
One of the key strengths of GA4 is its event-based model. Identify your most important user actions—things like form submissions, downloads, purchases or button clicks—and make sure they’re tracked as events.
Use GTM to create custom event tags for these interactions. Define clear event names and use parameters like button text, form ID or content category to provide context. Once events are live in GA4, mark the ones that matter most as conversions to keep them front and centre in your reports.
Track engagement and behaviour
Understanding how users interact with your site can help refine UX and drive better outcomes. If you’re not relying on GA4’s enhanced measurement for scroll tracking, use GTM to build a scroll depth trigger. For video content, consider setting up video engagement tracking—especially for embedded YouTube videos.
Custom dimensions come in handy when you need to analyse user engagement by behaviour or status, such as logged-in users versus guests. Tracking site search queries is also essential. It reveals what users are looking for and where your site content might need improvement.
GA4 doesn’t use bounce rate by default. Instead, it measures engagement rate—sessions that last more than 10 seconds, include two or more pageviews, or result in a conversion. Bounce rate is available in GA4 but must be manually added to reports if needed.
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Lead generation tracking for eCommerce
For ecommerce websites, GA4 encourages the use of recommended event names such as view_item, add_to_cart, begin_checkout and purchase. While the structure differs from Universal Analytics, it builds on the same enhanced ecommerce concepts, just in an event-based format. Accurate tagging is essential for GA4 to recognise and report on these actions correctly.
Lead generation businesses should focus on form submissions and CTA interactions. GTM allows you to track these reliably using element visibility or form submission triggers. Once set up, use funnel exploration reports in GA4 to uncover where users drop off during the lead journey.
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Connect GA4 to other platforms
GA4’s strength increases when it’s connected to other tools in your stack. Link your GA4 property with Google Ads to build remarketing audiences and import conversions. This integration allows for more informed campaign optimisation based on actual user behaviour.
You should also connect to Google Search Console to understand how organic traffic interacts with your website. For advanced analysis, connect your GA4 property to BigQuery—especially useful if you need raw data access or plan to run complex SQL queries.
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Reporting and validation
Use GA4’s DebugView and Realtime reports to validate your tracking in real time. As events are triggered on your site, they should appear instantly—helping you spot broken or missing tags.
Beyond testing, monitor key performance indicators such as conversion counts, engagement time, and event completions. Build Exploration reports to dive deeper into specific user journeys, segment behaviours, and isolate bottlenecks in your funnel.
GA4’s built-in reporting is flexible, but don’t overlook Explorations. These reports are far more customisable than standard reports and offer tools like funnel analysis, pathing, and cohort exploration.
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Stay on top of privacy and compliance
Privacy compliance is no longer optional. Use GA4’s consent mode if you’re collecting data only after user opt-in. This setup is best implemented in coordination with a supported Consent Management Platform (CMP) via GTM.
In GA4 settings, ensure data anonymisation is enabled where required. Review how long you’re storing user data and consider whether it aligns with your business’s privacy policy and industry standards.
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Wrapping up
GA4 and GTM together give you unprecedented flexibility and insight, but they also require a thoughtful setup to realise their full potential. This checklist isn’t a one-time task—it should be revisited regularly as your website grows, campaigns change, or new data needs emerge.
If you’re feeling unsure about your setup or want a second set of eyes on your tracking, SIXGUN can help. We audit, configure and maintain GA4 and GTM implementations for businesses of all sizes—so you can focus on growth while we keep your data clean, accurate and actionable. Additionally, we are experts at SEO, Google Ads and social media marketing. Get in touch now.Â
