We want to make your transition from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 as seamless as possible. If you’re seeing data that looks too high in your GA4 account, you could be at risk for a setup issue. If you’ve shared GA4 access with Raptive and still don’t see your dashboard migrated, one or more of these setup issues could be holding up the data verification process.
Follow the troubleshooting steps below to get the most accurate data possible so your site is ready for a smooth migration!
Check Your Metrics
Your pageviews between your UA and GA4 accounts should match within ~5%. Sessions are defined differently in GA4 (more on that here), and this results in some creators seeing a higher number of sessions, while others may see a lower number. If the difference is higher than 10%, you may have a setup issue.
To see if you’re within the 10% range for each metric, pull your page_view and session data in each account.
In UA: Use the Audience > Overview report + the date range filter in the top right corner to grab pageviews and sessions for a given day. We recommend that you go back at least three days so that all of the data has been finalized in both interfaces.
In GA4: Use the Engagement > Events report + the date range filter set for the same day and hover over the ‘page_view’ bar/ ‘session_start’ bar in the ‘Event count by Event name’ graph.
Now, compare the two using this equation to get the percent difference for your pageviews:
(GA4 page_views - UA pageviews) / GA4 page_views
Similarly, for sessions:
(GA4 session_start - UA sessions) / GA4 session_start
Troubleshooting Guide
If your pageviews are +5% higher and/or your sessions are +10% higher, use the following steps to troubleshoot your setup:
1. Do you have a connected tag in Universal Analytics PLUS your GA4 measurement ID installed in your source code? This will lead to double analytics in GA4.
a) From your Universal Analytics account, navigate to Admin > Tracking Info > Tracking Code and click on 'Connected Site Tags'. If you see your GA4 measurement ID there, you have a connection running from UA into GA4.
b) Now navigate to your source code and search for your GA4 measurement ID. It will have this format (G-XXXXXXXXXX), and you can grab it from your GA4 UI: Admin > Data Streams > click into the Data Stream and copy the measurement ID. You may have it installed via a manual script, an analytics plugin(s), or Google Tag Manager.
c) If you’ve confirmed you have BOTH running, you can remove the connection. From your UA account, you should see three small dots located here, allowing you to 'remove tag'. Please disconnect, as you currently have the GA4 measurement ID live on your site and don't need the connection.
d) If the 'remove tag' option is grayed out, navigate to the GA4 Setup Assistant tab in Admin. Click 'disconnect' here first (see below), then try removing the tag again (as outlined in the step above).
2. Did you accidentally install your GA4 measurement ID in two locations within your source code?
Please check your analytics plugin(s), gtag scripts, and/or Google Tag Manager to make sure you only have one instance of your GA4 ID on your site.
3. Do you have two or more active streams in your GA4 property?
In your GA4 property, navigate to Admin > Data Streams and ensure you only see one active stream present. Delete any additional streams that are tracking the same pages and duplicating data.
4. Filters in your Universal property
a) From your UA Account, navigate to Admin, then click on ‘Filters’ under the ‘View’ column.
b) If you have filters set up, your GA4 UI will NOT have those same filters implemented. This will keep your accounts from lining up properly. Currently, there is no way to set up those same filters in GA4.
c) Let our team know if you suspect this is the reason for the discrepancy, and we’ll verify your site and migrate it as-is.
5. Timezone: check to be sure both accounts are in the same timezone.
a) In UA: navigate to Admin > View Settings to confirm/change your timezone.
b) In GA4: Admin > Property Settings.
If you’ve gone through these steps and still see high metrics in GA4 after at least 3 days of monitoring post-changes, our team at support@raptive.com can help!