Understanding who visits your website, where they come from, and what they do when they arrive is the foundation of every good marketing decision. Without analytics, you are making guesses. With analytics, you are making informed choices about where to invest your time and budget.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the current version of Google's free analytics platform. If you set up analytics using the old Universal Analytics, you are now on GA4 whether you migrated or not - Universal Analytics was retired in 2023. This guide covers setting up GA4 from scratch on a WordPress site.
Step 1: Create a GA4 Property
- Go to analytics.google.com and sign in with a Google account
- Click Admin (the gear icon, bottom left)
- Under Account, click Create Account if you do not have one yet
- Under Property, click Create Property
- Name the property (your website name), select your reporting time zone (set this to your Canadian timezone - Eastern, Central, Mountain, or Pacific), and choose your currency (Canadian Dollar)
- Follow the prompts to set up a web data stream, entering your website URL
- Copy your Measurement ID (it starts with
G-)
Step 2: Add GA4 to WordPress
Option A - Google Site Kit (easiest): Install the free Google Site Kit plugin from the WordPress plugin repository. During setup, Site Kit asks you to connect your Google account and automatically detects your GA4 property. It places the tracking code on every page without any manual configuration. Site Kit also connects Google Search Console, giving you both tools in one plugin.
Option B - Manual code insertion: If you prefer not to use Site Kit, install the Insert Headers and Footers plugin. Go to Settings > Insert Headers and Footers and paste your GA4 script tag (found in GA4 under Admin > Data Streams > your stream > View tag instructions) into the header section. This loads GA4 on every page.
If you use a caching plugin, clear your cache after making either change.
Privacy-Friendly Alternatives
GA4 has real limitations from a privacy standpoint. It relies on cookies, which means you need a cookie consent banner under PIPEDA and Quebec Law 25 requirements if you operate in Canada. GA4 data is also processed on Google's servers in the United States, which some privacy-conscious businesses and government-adjacent organizations want to avoid.
Three strong alternatives exist:
Plausible Analytics is a lightweight, cookie-free analytics tool hosted in the EU. No cookie banner required, GDPR and PIPEDA compliant by design, and the dashboard is simpler and faster than GA4. Paid starting at around $9/month USD.
Fathom Analytics is a Canadian-friendly option (EU-hosted infrastructure) with a similarly clean cookie-free approach. Slightly more expensive than Plausible but well-regarded.
Matomo is an open-source analytics platform you can self-host on your own server, giving you complete data ownership. More setup involved, but the data never leaves your infrastructure.
Basic Reports Every Business Owner Should Review Weekly
GA4's interface can be overwhelming. Start with three reports:
Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition: Where are your visitors coming from? Organic search, direct, social, referral? This tells you which marketing channels are working.
Reports > Engagement > Pages and screens: Which pages get the most visits? Which have the highest engagement rate? Low engagement on an important page (like your services page) is a signal to improve it.
Reports > Acquisition > User acquisition: New vs returning users, and which channels bring new visitors. Growth in organic new users means your SEO is working.
Connecting GA4 to Google Search Console
Search Console shows you which search queries people use to find your site. Connecting it to GA4 gives you keyword data alongside behavior data.
To connect: in GA4, go to Admin > Property > Search Console Links > Add Link, then select your Search Console property. Once connected, keyword data appears in GA4 under Reports > Acquisition > Search Console > Queries.
Analytics is only useful if you actually look at it. Set a recurring 15-minute block every Monday morning to review these three reports. Over time, the patterns tell you more than any single data point ever could.
