Maintaining and Auditing GA4 Implementation Over Time

Maintaining and auditing a Google Analytics 4 (GA4) implementation over time requires regular review and adjustment of key settings to ensure data accuracy, compliance, and actionable insights.

Key practices for maintaining GA4 include:

• Adjust Data Retention Settings: Extend data retention from the default 2 months to 14 months (or longer for GA360 accounts) to enable more comprehensive historical analysis.

• Filter Internal Traffic: Exclude internal IP addresses to prevent internal user activity from skewing reports. This is done via Data Filters in the Admin panel.

• Exclude Unwanted Referrals: Set payment gateways or other unwanted sources as referral exclusions to ensure proper traffic attribution.

• Manage Event Tracking: Since GA4 relies heavily on event-based data, ensure that events are properly named (avoiding reserved names for custom events) and tracked consistently.

• Cross-Domain Tracking: Verify that all relevant domains are included in the cross-domain tracking configuration to avoid session breaks and attribution errors. Check that the _gl parameter appears in URLs when users navigate between domains.

• Access and Permissions Management: Regularly review user access and roles at both account and property levels to maintain security and proper data governance.

• Audit Regularly: Conduct GA4 audits especially before launching new sites, after major website changes, during migrations, or when KPIs change. Audits help identify tracking gaps, misconfigurations, and opportunities for optimization.

• Review Account Change History: Monitor changes made to the GA4 account and property settings to track modifications that could impact data collection or reporting.

• Use Data Filters and Deletion Requests Carefully: Apply filters to exclude unwanted data and handle data deletion requests cautiously to comply with privacy regulations without losing critical data.

By systematically applying these maintenance and auditing steps, you can ensure your GA4 implementation remains accurate, reliable, and aligned with evolving business needs over time.