Productivity - Setup Guide

How to set up Google Analytics

Otto's honest, no-fluff walkthrough. Every step here is what we'd actually do if we were sitting at your keyboard. Real gotchas first, real steps second, and a link to the personalized version at the bottom.

Read these before you start

• The upgrade from Universal Analytics to GA4 was mandatory (UA stopped processing data July 1 2023, with sunset in July 2024). Historical UA data is largely inaccessible now, and GA4 does not backfill. Every business that had years of UA history lost that continuity unless they exported to BigQuery before the cutoff [source: Google Analytics announcement, support.google.com/analytics/answer/11583528].
• GA4 uses data thresholds that hide row-level data when a report might expose individual users, so small-traffic sites see (other) rows and confusing gaps.
• Explorations (the report builder) sample data above 10 million events per query even on free tier, so big date ranges return approximated numbers with no warning banner.
• Attribution defaults changed from last-click to data-driven in mid-2023, so old reports and new reports do not match without adjusting the model.
• Filtering internal traffic requires setting a filter on the property AND identifying your own IP as a developer traffic type, then activating the filter in each data stream. Two-step, hidden.

The 7-step setup

1. 1

   Create your Google Analytics account

   Sign up at the link below. Free tier available - no card required. Use your business email so you can invite teammates later.

   Open Google Analytics signup
2. 2

   Complete the initial onboarding

   Skip the marketing questionnaires when you can. Fill only the fields that actually configure the product - name, timezone, your first workspace or project. If Google Analytics pushes you into a setup wizard, take it - it usually accelerates the first productive session.

3. 3

   Connect your existing tools

   Wire Google Analytics into the rest of your stack. The integrations that most people set up first: Google Ads, Google Tag Manager, Search Console, Google BigQuery (free export, was 360-only in UA), Looker Studio, Shopify, WordPress, Wix, Webflow, Segment, HubSpot, Meta Ads (via custom parameters), Klaviyo.. Do these before importing data - clean integration first, data second.

4. 4

   Import your existing data (only what you'll actually use)

   Do NOT bulk-import everything. Import the last 30 days of the ONE workflow you're moving over first. Prove it works. Then import more. Big-bang migrations are how Google Analytics deployments die in month 3.

5. 5

   Set up your first real workflow

   Pick the single most-frequent task you'll do in Google Analytics - the daily-driver workflow. Configure it end-to-end. Use it live for a week. Do not touch any other feature yet. Adoption failure comes from teams trying to use everything on day one instead of the one thing that actually pays.

6. 6

   Add your team (if applicable) and set access

   Once your solo workflow works, invite one teammate at a time. Watch them use it. The friction points you missed are the ones they hit. Fix those before scaling to more users. Never invite 20 people at once - you'll get 20 confused people and 0 useful feedback.

7. 7

   Compound with the right pairings

   Default recommendation for any site that already runs Google Ads or Search Console. Skip in favor of Plausible or Fathom Analytics when the owner prioritizes privacy, simplicity, or cookieless tracking. Pair with Microsoft Clarity for the session-replay layer GA4 lacks. For product analytics inside a SaaS app, recommend Mixpanel or Amplitude on top of GA4 for marketing.