A Step-by-Step Guide to Linking Your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Account to BigQuery

Introduction

In the era of data-driven decision making, having access to, and control over, your business data is of utmost importance. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and BigQuery are two powerful tools that allow you to analyze, visualize, and leverage your data effectively. In this blog post, we will walk you through the process of linking your GA4 account to BigQuery, enabling you to unlock deeper insights about your business.

What are GA4 and BigQuery?

Before we dive into the process, let’s briefly discuss what GA4 and BigQuery are. GA4 is the latest version of Google Analytics, a web analytics service that provides you with valuable insights into your website traffic and user behavior.

On the other hand, BigQuery is a fully-managed, serverless data warehouse that enables super-fast SQL queries using the processing power of Google’s infrastructure. By linking GA4 to BigQuery, you can export raw, unsampled event data from GA4 into BigQuery for more advanced and customized analysis.

Step-by-Step Guide to Linking GA4 to BigQuery

Step 1: Set Up BigQuery

Before you can link GA4 to BigQuery, you need to have a Google Cloud project and a BigQuery dataset.

Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you don’t have one, create a new account. Create a new project in the Google Cloud Console. Enable the BigQuery API for the project. Create a new dataset in BigQuery.

Once your BigQuery account is ready, the next step is to link it to your GA4 property.

Sign in to your GA4 account. Click on ‘Admin’ in the bottom left corner. Under the ‘Property’ column, click on ‘Data Streams’. Choose the data stream you want to link. Click on ‘Link to BigQuery’. In the setup screen, select the Google Cloud project you created earlier.

Step 3: Configure Data Export

After you’ve linked your GA4 property to your Google Cloud project, the next step is to set up data export settings.

Select the frequency of data export. You can choose to export data daily or as soon as it is processed by GA4. Choose whether you want to include data from past events. Click on ‘Next’, review the settings, and then click on ‘Link’.

Step 4: Verify the Setup

After the setup, you should verify whether the data is correctly exported to BigQuery.

Go to your BigQuery account. Check if there’s a new table in the dataset you linked to GA4.

Run a simple SQL query to see if the data is correctly populated.

Conclusion

Linking your GA4 account to BigQuery allows you to tap into the power of BigQuery’s advanced data analysis capabilities. By following the steps outlined in this blog post, you can start leveraging the full potential of your business data and gain deeper insights into your website traffic and user behavior. Remember, data is the new oil in the digital economy, and those who know how to refine it will have a competitive edge.

See Google’s documentation by using the link below with example scripts and learn how to visualise your data in Looker Studio.

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9823238?hl=en#zippy=%2Cin-this-article