- GA4's defaults keep detailed data for only 2 months. Change it to 14 months on day one.
- Without key events, GA4 can't tell you which channels bring in leads or sales.
- Unassigned traffic, self-referrals and payment sites showing as referrals all hide where your conversions really come from.
- Run an audit when you set up a property, after big site changes, and every few months.
Why audit your GA4 setup
Most GA4 problems don't show up as errors. Reports still load, numbers still move, and the gaps only appear months later when someone asks a question the data can't answer. An audit catches those settings early, while they're still a five-minute fix.
What the GA4 audit checks
| Check | What passes |
|---|---|
| Data retention | Event data kept for 14 months (or longer on GA4 360) |
| Key events | At least one key event set up |
| Key events recorded | Key events actually happened in the last 28 days |
| Enhanced measurement | On for your web stream, including scrolls, outbound clicks, site search and file downloads |
| Google Ads link | Linked, if you run Google Ads |
| Email redaction | On, so email addresses in URLs are removed before they're stored |
| Unassigned traffic | Under 5% of sessions |
| Self-referrals | Your own domain isn't listed as a traffic source |
| Payment site referrals | Sites like PayPal and Stripe aren't listed as referrals |
| Emails in page URLs | No page addresses contain an email address |
| Landing page "(not set)" | Under 5% of sessions |
How the score works
Each check carries a weight based on how much it affects your reports. Data retention and key events count the most, because getting them wrong can't be fixed later. The score is the share of that weight your property passes, out of 100. Checks you have to do by hand aren't part of the score.
The most common GA4 fixes
- Data kept for 2 months. In Admin, open Data collection and modification, then Data retention, and choose 14 months. It only applies from the day you change it.
- No key events. In Admin, open Events, find the event that means a lead or sale (such as generate_lead or purchase) and mark it as a key event.
- High Unassigned traffic. Usually UTM tags with a medium GA4 doesn't recognise. Use the UTM builder to check which channel each link lands in.
- Self-referrals. Often caused by pages without the GA4 tag, or by visitors moving between your own domains. Tag every page, and set up cross-domain measurement if you use more than one domain.
- Payment sites as referrals. Add them to the list of unwanted referrals in your web stream's tag settings, so sales are credited to the channel that brought the visitor in.
What to check by hand
Google doesn't let tools read a few settings, so the audit lists them for you to check yourself:
- Internal traffic filter: your team's visits are defined and the filter is set to Active, not Testing.
- Search Console link: linked, so organic search queries show up in GA4.
- Cross-domain measurement: set up if visitors move between two or more of your domains.
- Unwanted referrals: payment and login providers listed in your web stream's tag settings.
What the tool can see
The audit asks Google for read-only access to Google Analytics. It reads your property settings and a few summary reports from the last 28 days. It can't change anything in your account. Everything runs in your browser: your data goes from Google to your screen and is never sent to or stored on our servers. When you close the page, the access ends.
Connect GA4 to Analyse8 and ask which channels bring in leads, why traffic dropped or which pages convert best. Get the answer with a chart, ready to share.