In short
- Yes, you need GA4. Universal Analytics stopped processing data in July 2023 and its historical reports were later removed, so GA4 is the only free Google analytics option still collecting data.
- Installing it is not the job. A default property records page views and almost nothing else. The value comes from defining conversions, linking Google Ads and Search Console, and filtering internal traffic.
- Consent is part of the setup. Under UK GDPR and PECR you need a compliant banner and Consent Mode, or your data is both incomplete and non-compliant.
- Without it you are guessing. If conversions are not tracked properly you cannot tell which channel earns its budget, which is the whole point of measuring anything.
Universal Analytics stopped processing data in July 2023, and Google Analytics 4 became the only version of Google’s analytics platform still running. That was a while ago now, but plenty of UK companies still have a GA4 property that was created in a hurry, never properly configured, and rarely opened. This guide explains why GA4 for UK businesses is worth getting right, what a proper Google Analytics 4 setup involves, and how to turn the data it collects into decisions about where your marketing money goes.
Why GA4 for UK businesses is different from the old version
Universal Analytics was built around sessions and page views. GA4 is event-based: every interaction on your website or app, from a page load to a button click to a completed form, is recorded as an event with its own parameters. The practical consequence is that you can measure the things that matter to your business, such as quote requests, phone clicks, brochure downloads or checkout steps, without bolting on extra tracking code for each one.
GA4 also treats the website and mobile app as one property and is designed to work with modelled data when cookies are declined. It is a different product, not a facelift, which is why an untouched GA4 property looks empty to anyone used to the old reports.
What an unconfigured property is costing you
A GA4 property with only the default settings will tell you roughly how many people visited and which pages they viewed. It will not tell you which channel produced the enquiries that turned into paying customers, whether your Google Ads spend is generating leads or just clicks, or which landing pages convert and which quietly lose visitors.
Without that picture, marketing decisions default to guesswork. Budgets stay on the channels that feel busiest rather than the ones that perform, and agencies report on traffic because there is nothing better to report on. For a small or mid-sized business, that usually means money going to campaigns that would not survive scrutiny if the numbers were visible.
The parts of a Google Analytics 4 setup that matter
A working setup is less about installing the tag and more about configuring what happens after it. The elements that make the biggest difference for most UK SMEs are:
- Key events (conversions) configured for every action that has commercial value, not just purchases: contact form submissions, phone number clicks, booking confirmations, quote requests and newsletter sign-ups.
- Google Tag Manager as the container for your tracking, so new events can be added without editing site code every time.
- Enhanced measurement reviewed rather than left on autopilot, so scroll and outbound-click events are only recorded where they mean something.
- Google Ads and Search Console linked, so paid and organic performance sit alongside on-site behaviour.
- Internal traffic and spam filtered, so your own team’s visits and referral spam do not distort the reports.
- Data retention extended from the default so that year-on-year comparisons remain possible.
If you run an online shop, ecommerce events (view item, add to basket, begin checkout, purchase) need to be sent with product and revenue details so you can see returns by channel and campaign. Our analytics and tracking service covers this end to end, including the Tag Manager build.
Consent, cookies and UK GDPR
Analytics tracking in the UK sits under both UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, which means non-essential cookies need consent before they are set. A cookie banner that fires analytics tags regardless of what the visitor chooses is a compliance risk, and one the Information Commissioner’s Office has said it is paying attention to.
The good news is that GA4 was built with this in mind. Google Consent Mode lets your tags respond to the visitor’s choice, sending anonymous signals when consent is declined so that Google can model the gaps in your reports. Get your consent management platform, Consent Mode and GA4 working together and you have a setup that respects visitors and still gives you usable data.
How to get a GA4 property into working order
If you already have a property but suspect it is not doing much, work through it in this order:
- Audit what is already there. Check that the tag fires on every page, that there is no duplicate tag, and look at the Realtime report while you browse the site to confirm events are arriving.
- List your conversions. Write down every action a visitor can take that leads to revenue, and decide which ones deserve to be marked as key events.
- Build the events in Tag Manager. Form submissions, phone clicks and downloads usually need dedicated triggers rather than the automatic ones.
- Link Google Ads and Search Console, and import your key events into Google Ads so bidding can optimise towards leads rather than clicks.
- Sort consent. Confirm Consent Mode is implemented and test both the accept and decline paths.
- Create reports people will actually use. A short Explorations set or a Looker Studio dashboard answering three or four business questions beats the default report library.
- Review monthly. Tracking breaks when websites change. Put a recurring check in the diary.
Once conversions are being recorded reliably, the same data feeds directly into conversion rate optimisation, because you can finally see where visitors drop out.
Frequently asked questions
Is GA4 free?
Yes. The standard version of Google Analytics 4 is free to use with no limit on the number of properties, and it includes a free export to BigQuery for businesses that want to run their own analysis. Google Analytics 360, the paid enterprise tier, exists for very high-traffic organisations and is not something most UK SMEs need.
Can I still see my Universal Analytics data?
No. Google deleted Universal Analytics properties and their historical data after the platform was closed down. If you did not export the reports at the time, that history is gone, which is one more reason to make sure your GA4 property is collecting good data now.
How long does a GA4 setup take?
It depends on the site. A brochure site with a couple of forms can be configured in a few days. An ecommerce site with a checkout, several integrations and a consent platform to wire in takes longer, mainly because of the testing required. The tagging itself is rarely the slow part; agreeing what counts as a conversion often is.
Key takeaways
- GA4 is event-based, so it can measure the actions that matter to your business rather than just page views.
- A default GA4 property tells you very little; conversions, Tag Manager, ad platform links and filters are what make it useful.
- Consent Mode and a compliant cookie banner are part of the setup, not an afterthought.
- Without accurate conversion data, you cannot tell which channels deserve budget and which are wasting it.
- Tracking needs a monthly check, because website changes break it quietly.
If you would like an experienced pair of eyes on your property, our GA4 and tracking setup service starts with an audit of what you have now. Get in touch to talk it through.
Useful references
Primary sources for the guidance above, straight from the organisations that set the rules: