About the GA4 Setup Checklist
Many GA4 properties collect data for months before anyone notices the retention is still two months, staff visits are counted or payment gateways are taking credit for sales. This GA4 setup checklist covers the property and data stream, data quality, events and key events, consent and integrations, and campaign tagging.
It is useful for a new property and for auditing one a client hands over. Items explain where each setting lives and what breaks if it is wrong, and link to the GA4 event builder, UTM builder and UTM checker. Indian sites will find notes on INR currency and gateways like Razorpay and PayU. Ticks are kept in your browser so you can work through a property in stages.
How to use it
- Open GA4 Admin next to this checklist.
- Fix property settings and data quality items first.
- Plan and validate events and key events with the event builder.
- Connect integrations and verify data in DebugView.
Frequently asked questions
What is the default data retention in GA4?
Standard GA4 properties keep event-level data for two months by default, which limits explorations. You can change it to 14 months in Admin under data retention. Standard aggregated reports are not affected by this setting, but changing it early avoids losing detail you may need later.
What are key events in GA4?
Key events are the actions you mark as most important to your business, such as a purchase, lead form submit or sign-up. Google renamed GA4 conversions to key events in 2024, while conversions now refers to actions used in Google Ads. Keep the list short so reports stay meaningful.
What are the GA4 event naming rules?
Event names can be up to 40 characters, must start with a letter, and can use only letters, numbers and underscores. They are case-sensitive, so a consistent snake_case convention helps. Avoid reserved names and prefixes such as google_, ga_ and firebase_. Each event can carry up to 25 parameters.