Connect Google Analytics 4 to your Etsy shop (the right way)

If you’re ready to harness the power of numbers to optimize your Etsy shop but haven’t installed (or upgraded) Google Analytics yet, don’t wait any longer!

Here are the complete, accurate instructions for connecting Google Analytics 4 with an Etsy shop.

You will learn:

  • What login to use for Google Analytics
  • Whether to create a new Google Analytics Account or use one you already have
  • All the most effective, up-to-date settings to apply inside Google Analytics
  • How to link your new Google Analytics tracking number to Etsy
  • How to test everything is working
  • What to do next to start looking at your visitor numbers and behaviour!

⚠️ You need to follow these instructions even if your Google Analytics 4 Property was created automatically and you had the old GA version (Universal Analytics) connected to Etsy.

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Track your ads with a Paid Social Channel in Google Analytics 4

You pay good money for your ads on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest! So don’t let all that valuable traffic get lumped into your Google Analytics reports with your other visitors from social media, in the general “Social” Channel.

It’s important to clearly separate social media traffic you’ve paid for (advertising) and organic traffic (from your own and others’ posts). Learn how to use the Channel called “Paid Social” that will automagically capture all our social ad visitors, where they can be analyzed separately.

Quick Answer: Google Analytics 4 now comes with a Paid Social Channel built in. You can start using it right away by simply tagging your ad destination links with the Medium value of paid-social and a Source of the social platform’s domain (eg. instagram.com).

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Connect Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to your ecommerce platform

1 July 2023 is fast approaching came and went, just as fast as we expected.

Some UA Properties kept tracking data all the way to November 2023 but it’s all over now. Universal Analytics has been and gone!

If you were previously “dual tracking” GA4 with Universal Analytics, you can now remove the UA tracking code.

If your ecommerce platform supports Google Analytics 4, you should connect it as soon as possible to restore your web analytics tracking.

Keep reading to find instructions for your ecommerce platform (or leave a comment if yours isn’t yet covered).

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The Unexpected Value of Organic Search Traffic

Years ago, almost all of my clients also partnered with a Search Engine Optimization agency.

Google was king and SEO was strategy #1.

Then social media marketing took over as businesses discovered the value of free exposure on Facebook and Twitter. The results were faster and it was no harder than SEO.

Now it’s 2018 2023. Organic reach on social media is still a shadow of its former self. Advertising costs on the major networks (AdWords and Facebook) are doubling every year. And AI chatbots are loudly heralding the return of the king: search is back – and this time, it’s smarter!

If your marketing strategy is getting more complicated and expensive every month, it’s time to re-discover the value of organic search traffic.

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Google Analytics 4: the what, when & why

Google Analytics 4 is a brand new version of this powerful tool. When I say “brand new”, I mean it is completely different! There are some exciting, really powerful features. And some missing features. There’s also the important question of whether it works with Etsy!

So let’s get a quick overview of what GA4 means for boutique ecommerce sellers.

đź‘‹đź‘‹ Universal Analytics is going away in late 2023

DEFINITION: “Universal Analytics” is the name of the old version of Google Analytics that we used for many years. From here, I’ll refer to it as “UA“.

On March 16, 2022, Google announced that Universal Analytics (UA) will stop processing new data on 1 July, 2023 and reports on historical data will only be accessible until 1 July 2024.

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