Shopify has now released native support for Google Analytics 4, allowing you to track on-site and ecommerce events without requiring template updates. This is excellent news to get accurate analytics passed through to Google marketing tools such as Google Ads and Looker Studio.
Previously if you were looking to set up GA4 tracking it would require adding and updating tags throughout various theme and template files.
How to Install Google Analytics 4 on Shopify
In Google Analytics
- Create a base GA4 property and web stream if you do not already have one.
Google’s instructions are available here. - Note the Measurement ID for the web stream
In Shopify
- Visit the Preferences page from the Online Store section
- Click Manage Pixel here in the Google Analytics section
- Click Connect your Google Account and sign in with Google.
Note: If you have already set up the Google Sales Channel, you will need to use the same Google account - Select the Measurement ID from the list
- Click Connect
Event Tracking
Now that Google Analytics 4 is connected to Shopify via their native integration, the following events will be automatically tracked. If you have already installed GA4 via Google Tag Manager or another method, you will need to disable the Page View tracking so data is not duplicated.
General Events
| Event name | Event description |
|---|---|
| page_view | A customer visited a page on your online store. |
| search | A customer searched for a product on your online store. |
Shopify GA4 Ecommerce Events
| Event name | Event description |
|---|---|
| view_item | A customer viewed a product on your online store. |
| add_to_cart | A customer added a product to cart. |
| begin_checkout | A customer started the checkout process. |
| add_payment_info | A customer successfully entered payment information. |
| purchase | A customer completed their checkout. |
Next Steps
Connect Google Ads
With accurate ecommerce data in Google Analytics make the most of it by linking your Google Ads account and tracking relevant and important conversions. Move from basic click tracking to bid on ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and reach out to customers throughout the purchasing funnel. Our Google Ads Management team love having this data available to optimise and monitor campaign performance.
Report on your data
Import your website data into Looker Studio alongside your other business and social data to understand the bigger picture. What role do online sales play in your business? Are there new opportunities to look into? Support your general marketing strategy with accurate data.