teckers

How to Add GA4 & UA Google Analytics to Shopify

how to add google analytics

Google Analytics is a very powerful tool for your online store, and you need to have it properly set up. Besides giving you information about your website’s stats, you can also see what pages are performing best, what your rankings are, and of course, how people find your website.

By knowing what pages are performing better, where your visitors are and how they interact with your website, you have all the tools you need to optimize your marketing funnel and improve your conversion rates.

NOTE: Shopify has now released integration with GA4. This is to be added using the Google Channel app.

Recommended Shopify app

If you’re interested in finding more must-have Shopify apps. Get a secret 20% discount on paid plans by contacting the creators and saying, “I found your blog deal on Teckers for 20% off”.

Fileflare Digital Downloads

fileflare

Digital product delivery on Shopify + file protection.

This includes unique features no other app has, such as email tracking, fraud protection, file protection, IP address download limits (stop users from sharing the files with others) and much more.

Why do you need Google Analytics?

1. Measure the effectiveness of your campaigns

You need to know if your ad campaigns are reaching the right audience, and by paying close attention to your analytics, you can figure out data about your visitor’s location, the way they found your website, and the time they spend on your website. Above everything, you can also find out what their interests are.

2. Improve your conversion rates

In your analytics menu, you will be able to see what your bounce rates are and make a plan to improve them. In general, high bounce rates mean that your visitors didn’t find what they needed, so you need to work on the quality of your content. 

3. See what your visitors are looking for

Using the “Site Search” tab on your Google Analytics screen, you can find out what people are searching for, how many of them searched for the same thing, and how many unique searches you had in a specific time frame. This can help you create targeted content for your visitors, and your conversion rates will improve

4. Have access to real-time stats

The best thing about Google Analytics is the fact that you can see who is visiting your website in real-time. This can help you get an idea of where your visitors live and what are the times they interact with your website. By sending ad campaigns in that timeframe, you can increase the number of people entering your marketing funnel. 

Of course, you need to use Google Analytics along with your Shopify store. Even though all the codes may lead you to think that it’s a hard process, it’s actually very easy thanks to the integrations Shopify is offering. 

We suggest installing both Universal & GA4

Google use the old version (Universal Analytics) & the new version released in 2020 (GA4).

Both versions should be installed with Shopify up until July 1st 2023. UA will be discontinued from that date onwards and GA4 will take over.

NOTE: It’s not possible to install GA4 using Google Tag Manager on most Shopify plans because Tag Manager only supports Shopify Plus plans (2k+/m) on the checkout pages. Learn more.

google tag manager plus
Universal AnalyticsGoogle Analytics 4 (GA4)
Older version of Analytics that still can be added to Shopify in the “Online store” > Preferences section.GA4 is now available on Shopify! Yay!

You need to use the Google Channel app to connect GA4.

How to add GA4 to Shopify

1. Set up GA4 if you haven’t already

If you have already created the GA4 property in the Universal Analytics steps above then skip to step 2.

1.1 Go to Admin > GA4 Setup Assistant

From Google Analytics, go to “Admin” and select “GA4 Setup Assistant“.

admin > ga4 setup assistant

1.2 Create a New GA4 Property

When you reach the setup menu, you’ll need to create a new GA4 property.

get started button google

1.3 Complete the Setup Process

Click the “Create Property” button.

1.4 Open Your GA4 Property

2. Install the Google Channel app to your Shopify

Go to the Google Channel app and install it to your Shopify store.

google channel

3. Connect your Google account

Simply log in with your Google account and connect the Google Analytics GA4 property that you created earlier.

Once you have done this, then that’s it!

ga4 connection

How to add “Universal Google Analytics” to Shopify

You can still add UA analytics to Shopify until 1st July 2023. You should consider adding it anyway, but it’s completely up to you.

1. Create your Universal Google Analytics code if you haven’t yet

Skip to number 2 if you have a universal code already.

Go to the gear icon “Admin” in the bottom left. Then “Create Property“.

Click “Show advanced options“. This will open up the section to create a universal property.

Enter your website domain. If you haven’t created a Google Analytics 4 property yet, you can keep the first bullet point selected where it says “create both a Google Analytics 4 and a Universal Analytics property“.

If you have already created a GA4 property, then select the second bullet point saying ” Create a Universal property only“.

2. Find your Universal Google Analytics code

  1. After setting up your Universal property, you will want to go to your Google Analytics dashboard.
  2. Click on “All Web Site Data” and make sure you have selected the UA property. The code begins with “UA” for Universal Analytics.
select all web
select ua analytics
  1. Next, find your “Admin” button in the bottom left.
  2. From there, click on “Tracking info”, where another menu will open. Next, you will want to open the “Tracking code” tab and copy your ID.

Please make sure you have selected the Universal Analytics property for this. If the tracking info doesn’t show, you are not in the Universal property.

Add Google Analytics To Shopify

3. Add your tracking ID to Shopify & enable Ecommerce

Open a new tab or window then go to the Shopify dashboard and open the “Preferences” tab.

shopify, preferences select

You need to add your Google Analytics Tracking ID (example – UA-00000000-0) to the Shopify “Google Analytics account” field shown below. Your universal ID always begins with UA.

In Q3 2021, Shopify seems to have written “You must upgrade to the latest version of Google Analytics in order to use Enhanced Ecommerce.” This doesn’t make sense because they still only accept the old universal analytics. Just place the universal analytics code in there and you will be able to enable enhanced eCommerce.

Then tick the “Use enhanced ecommerce” setting and click save.

Add Google Analytics To Shopify

4. Enable Ecommerce Tracking in Google Analytics

  1. In this step, you need to return to the Admin screen of your Google Analytics console and click on “Ecommerce Settings”. 
set up Google Analytics with Shopify
  1. This step is very straightforward and you only need to move the slider from “Off” to “On,” and then save your settings.
enable ecommerce tracking

After completing this step, you can go back to step 2 and enable the “Use Enhanced Ecommerce” box under your tracking ID. 

Read more