Setting up Google Analytics 4: the step-by-step guide

"I've got this Google Analytics account, but I don't understand a word of it." I hear this sentence often, from tradespeople in Schaffhausen, from small practices in Winterthur, from people who simply want to know whether anyone is visiting their website at all. The good news: setting up GA4 is no wizardry. You don't need a degree in technology, just half an hour of time and a guide that won't leave you stranded. That's exactly what you get here.

I'll go through it with you step by step, from the empty account to the moment you see real visitor numbers for the first time. Without jargon, without detours.

What is GA4 anyway, and why should you use it?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4 for short) is Google's free statistics tool. It shows you how many people visit your website, where they come from, which pages they look at and whether they end up clicking "call" or "contact". In short: you can see whether your website is doing its job.

GA4 replaced the old version, "Universal Analytics". So if you still have an old guide in mind, that one no longer applies. Today everything is event-based, which sounds complicated but in practice means: GA4 measures more out of the box than you'd think.

Step 1: Create a Google account and the Analytics account

First you need an ordinary Google account, the same one you may already use for Gmail. With it, go to analytics.google.com and click "Start measuring".

Now you create three things that build on one another:

• Account: the top level. It's best to enter your company name here, such as "Muster Treuhand GmbH".
• Property: this is your actual measurement point for a website. Give it a clear name like "Website muster-treuhand.ch".
• Time zone and currency: set "Switzerland" and "CHF" here. That sounds minor, but it makes sure your reports count at the right time of day.

For the questions about industry and company size, simply choose whatever fits best. These details change nothing about the measurement.

Step 2: Set up the data stream

Now comes the heart of it. A data stream is the connection between your website and GA4, the channel through which the data flows. After creating the property, Google asks what you want to measure. Choose "Web".

Enter the address of your website (for example www.muster-treuhand.ch) and give the stream a name. Click "Create stream". Done, you've just set up your data stream.

On the next page, Google shows you a so-called Measurement ID that begins with "G-", such as "G-XXXXXXXXXX". This ID is important. It's essentially the house number to which your website sends its visitor data. Leave this page open or note down the ID.

Step 3: Add the measurement code to the website

So that GA4 has something to count, a small piece of code has to go into your website. Google shows you the right snippet under "Install tag". How you add it depends on your website:

• WordPress: here many people use a plugin like "Site Kit by Google". You connect your account, choose the property, and the plugin does the rest.
• Website builders (Wix, Jimdo, Squarespace): these systems often have their own field for the Measurement ID or the Analytics code, usually under "Settings" or "Marketing".
• Hand-coded website: here the code is inserted directly into the head area of every page; done cleanly once, it runs everywhere.

An important point for Switzerland: as soon as you measure visitors, you generally need a cookie notice through which people can consent. GA4 should only load after this consent. That's not a detail for later, it belongs there from the start, otherwise you collect data you actually aren't allowed to collect.

Step 4: Check that everything works

Now the best moment: does it work? Open your website in a new browser window and click through a few pages. Then go into GA4 to "Reports" and from there to "Realtime".

If everything is running correctly, you'll see yourself there as an active user, usually within a few seconds. That's the proof that your data stream is set up cleanly and that data is arriving. If you see nothing, the Measurement ID is usually entered incorrectly or the code isn't active yet.

Step 5: The first sensible settings

GA4 is now running. Three small adjustments get more out of it:

• Extend data retention: by default GA4 only stores two months of detailed data. Under "Admin" you can set this to 14 months, free and sensible.
• Exclude your own visits: so that your daily check-up visits don't distort the statistics, your own traffic can be filtered out.
• Mark key events: define what counts as a success for you, a click on the phone number, a submitted contact form. That way you see not just visitors, but real enquiries.

With that you've got the essentials. You don't have to understand every report; just a glance at visitor numbers and their origin tells you surprisingly much about your website.

Is the effort worth it for a small SME?

Honest answer: yes, almost always. Even if you only look in once a month, you then know whether your website brings visitors, whether your Google listing is working and whether your efforts are paying off. Without these numbers you're groping in the dark and deciding on gut feeling.

Setting up GA4 is time well invested, and with this guide you'll manage it yourself. If you get stuck somewhere, feel unsure about the cookie notice or simply want someone to set this up cleanly and legally compliant for you: feel free to get in touch via the contact form. And if you want to dive deeper into the topic of websites and visibility, you'll find even more practical know-how for Swiss SMEs in more posts.