Quick Answer (TL;DR)
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the only free Google measurement tool still running, since Universal Analytics stopped collecting data in July 2023. For a small business, setting GA4 up correctly means three things: mark key events instead of relying on default metrics, extend data retention from the default 2 months to 14, and get Consent Mode v2 wired correctly, since every business that wired consent incorrectly lost advertising data after June 15, 2026. Without this, an owner sees visit counts, not who actually asked for a quote or bought something.
Why GA4 and Not Universal Analytics Anymore
Universal Analytics stopped collecting new data on July 1, 2023, and the old export stayed available for about one more year after that. Anyone still looking at the old interface, or following instructions from an old article, is measuring nothing. GA4 uses a different data model: instead of sessions and pageviews it counts events, so many metrics from the old Analytics do not carry the same name or the same calculation.
The change is not cosmetic. Report structure, the definition of a conversion, and the way GA4 connects to Google Ads all changed. A business that just "plugged in" GA4 and left the defaults has data, but not answers.
What GA4 Tracks Automatically
On setup, GA4 automatically turns on enhanced measurement, which captures without any extra code:
- page views (page_view),
- scrolling past 90% of a page (scroll),
- clicks to an outbound link (outbound click),
- on-site search, if the site uses a search parameter (site search),
- interaction with an embedded video (video engagement),
- file downloads, such as a PDF price list (file download).
For a contractor or a small store, this means that from day one you can see how many people read a price sheet to the end or download a PDF. The open question is which of these interactions actually counts as a business result.
Key Events Instead of Conversions
In March 2024, Google renamed "conversions" to "key events" inside GA4. The change was not just naming, it rippled into metrics too: "session conversion rate" became "session key event rate." In the raw BigQuery export, the parameter is_conversion_event was renamed is_key_event, while historical rows written before March 2024 still use the old name, which can break queries that only look for the new field.
What matters more for a small business is that GA4 does not know on its own what success looks like for you. A form submission, a click on a phone number, or a completed purchase has to be manually marked as a key event in the property settings. Skip that step, and GA4 counts visits, not inquiries.
How Long GA4 Keeps Your Data
The default user-level data retention setting in GA4 is only 2 months. It can be manually extended up to 14 months, which is the ceiling for a standard, free property. Businesses paying for Analytics 360 get retention up to 50 months.
This setting does not affect standard aggregated reports, such as the audience overview, but it does affect Explorations, where you would want to compare data year over year. Small businesses that skip this setting find out a year later that comparing this summer to last summer is simply no longer possible.
What to Track Beyond the Defaults
Enhanced measurement covers the basic interactions, but it does not cover what usually matters most for a small business: a contact form submission, a click on the phone number in the header, or a completed step in checkout. Those events have to be added manually, through Google Tag Manager or a small snippet tied to a button.
A practical example: a cabinetry shop has a "Request a Quote" button and a phone number in the top menu. Without an added event, GA4 only sees that a visitor viewed the pricing page. With events added for the button click and the phone number click, the owner can see exactly how many visitors actually took a step toward an inquiry, not just how many opened the page.
A properly built site makes this easier to wire up; our website design work includes form and phone-click events by default.
GA4 and US Privacy Law
In the United States, state laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and its update, the CPRA, require businesses to disclose what data they collect and to honor opt-out requests, including "do not sell or share my personal information" signals. A GA4 setup that ignores these signals can keep counting visitors who explicitly opted out.
This is a separate issue from Consent Mode, covered next: Consent Mode governs advertising signals sent to Google for EU/EEA visitors, while US state privacy laws govern disclosure and opt-out rights for US visitors. A small business serving both US and EU customers needs both handled, not just one.
Consent Mode v2: Required for Advertising Into the EU
Since March 2024, Google has required Consent Mode v2 from any advertiser targeting the European Economic Area (EEA). The mode adds two new signals alongside the existing ones (analytics_storage and ad_storage): ad_user_data, which governs whether user data is sent to Google for advertising purposes, and ad_personalization, which governs personalized advertising.
June 15, 2026 brought another milestone: Google Signals lost its role in advertising data, and ad_storage became the sole governing parameter for Google Ads. Signals itself still exists, but only for enriched reporting on signed-in users inside Analytics. Businesses that wired their consent banner incorrectly lost part of their advertising data after that date with no warning email. Any US small business running Google Ads toward European customers should check this wiring now.
Connecting Google Ads and Search Console
GA4 only becomes genuinely useful once it is linked to other Google tools. Linking Google Ads sends key events straight into Ads as optimization targets for campaigns, with no manual import. Linking Search Console adds search query data to GA4, showing which queries brought a visitor in, information that is not visible inside GA4 alone.
Both links are set up once, in the property admin, and require no extra code on the site.
GA4 and BigQuery: A Free Data Export
Every standard, free GA4 property can export data daily to BigQuery at no extra cost for the export itself. The cap is 1 million events per day for the daily (batch) export; real-time streaming export is only available on the paid Analytics 360 tier. The export itself is free, but BigQuery usage is billed separately, and for a small business's data volume that is typically minimal.
For a contractor with a brochure site, this feature is probably not a priority. For a store or business with hundreds of orders a month, a BigQuery export means the raw data survives past GA4's 14-month retention ceiling.
| Setting | Default | Recommendation for a small business |
|---|---|---|
| Data retention | 2 months | Extend to 14 months in Data Settings |
| Key events | None marked | Manually mark form submits, calls, purchases |
| Consent Mode | Often wired incorrectly | Verify signals now (June 15, 2026 milestone already passed) |
| Ads connection | Separate tool | Link inside property admin |
| BigQuery export | Off | Turn on if data volume is meaningful |
Common Mistakes Small Businesses Make in GA4
The first mistake is that nobody marks key events, so after three months the owner has no data on how many inquiries came through the site. The second is leaving retention at the default 2 months, which blocks any season-over-season comparison. The third is a consent banner that is not wired to Consent Mode, so advertising data quietly goes missing with no visible warning. The fourth is never linking GA4 to Google Ads or Search Console, leaving data scattered across three separate tools instead of one place.
How to Start This Week
Check five things, in this order: whether the GA4 property is actually installed and collecting data, whether key events are marked for every meaningful action on the site, whether data retention is set to 14 months, whether Consent Mode v2 is correctly wired to the consent banner, and whether Google Ads and Search Console are linked to the property. Each of these settings can be fixed in five minutes in the GA4 admin, with no developer and no extra code on the site.