Does Shopify Use Google Analytics?

Yes, Shopify works with Google Analytics, and connecting them is one of the most effective ways to understand your customers and grow your store. While Shopify's built-in analytics are great for a quick look at your sales numbers, Google Analytics answers the deeper questions about how shoppers find you and what they do on your site. This guide will walk you through exactly why you need both, how to set up Google Analytics 4 with your Shopify store, and what to track to make smarter marketing decisions.

Why Bother with Google Analytics If Shopify Already Has Reports?

It's a fair question. Shopify's dashboard gives you clear, immediate access to crucial metrics like total sales, conversion rate, top-selling products, and returning customer rate. These reports are fantastic for understanding what is happening in your store from a sales perspective.

Google Analytics, on the other hand, is built to tell you why it's happening. It focuses on the entire customer journey, not just the final transaction. It fills in the gaps that Shopify’s reports leave out.

Here’s what GA4 can tell you that Shopify's analytics can't:

Detailed Audience Insights: Go beyond basic location data. Google Analytics shows you detailed demographics (age, gender), interests (based on their other online activity), and the technology they use (browsers, devices). This helps you build a much richer picture of your ideal customer.
Full Customer Journey Tracking: See the entire path a visitor takes. Did they read a blog post, then leave, then come back a week later from an Instagram ad before finally buying? Shopify usually only attributes the sale to the last click, but GA4 can show you how different channels work together over time.
Content and Campaign Performance: Discover which blog posts, landing pages, or product collections are most effective at attracting visitors and turning them into customers. You can see how long people spend on different pages and which content leads to the most engagement and sales.
Advanced Custom Tracking: You can track almost any interaction as a goal, not just sales. Want to know how many people watched a product video, signed up for your newsletter, or downloaded a sizing guide? GA4 makes that possible.

Think of it this way: Shopify Analytics is like your store's sales ledger, perfectly tracking revenue and inventory. Google Analytics is like having a customer research team, telling you who's walking through the door, which aisles they browse, and what brought them in.

How to Set Up Google Analytics 4 on Your Shopify Store

Getting GA4 running on Shopify used to be a little messy, but thanks to their updated Google & YouTube channel app, it's now a straightforward process. You won't have to touch any code.

Important Note: Google phased out its old system, Universal Analytics (UA), in 2023. All new setups should use Google Analytics 4. If you have an old UA tag on your store, it's no longer collecting data and you should set up GA4.

Step 1: Create Your Google Analytics 4 Property

First, you need a virtual "home" for your store's data within Google Analytics. This is called a Property.

Go to https://analytics.google.com/ and sign in with your Google account.
If you've never used GA before, it will prompt you to create an account. If you have, click the gear icon for 'Admin' in the bottom-left corner.
In the 'Property' column, click the "Create Property" button.
Give your property a name (e.g., "My Shopify Store"), set your reporting time zone and currency, and click "Next."
Provide some basic business information (your industry and business size). Click "Next."
You'll be asked about your business objectives. You can select "Get baseline reports" to keep it simple. Click "Create."
Now, you need to set up a "data stream," which is the source of your data. Choose "Web."
Enter your Shopify store's URL (e.g., yourstore.myshopify.com or your custom domain) and give the stream a name. Leave "Enhanced measurement" enabled. Click "Create stream."
A page with your stream details will appear. At the top right, find your Measurement ID, which looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX. Copy this ID, you'll need it in the next step.

That's it for the GA4 side. Now let's connect it to Shopify.

Step 2: Add the Google & YouTube Channel to Shopify

Shopify's official app is the bridge between your store and your Google Analytics account.

From your Shopify Admin dashboard, go to "Apps" in the left-hand navigation.
You may see a suggestion to "Add Google & YouTube." If not, click the "Go to Shopify App Store" button and search for "Google & YouTube." It is a free app made by Shopify.
Click "Add app" and then "Add sales channel."
It will ask you to connect your Google account. Select the same account you used to create the GA4 property. Grant the required permissions.

Step 3: Paste Your Measurement ID from GA4

You're on the final step. Now you just need to tell the app which GA4 property to send data to.

Within the Google & YouTube channel in your Shopify admin, you should see a section for Google Analytics. Click the "Get started" button.
Your new GA4 property should appear in the list. However, pasting the ID directly is the most reliable method. Find the section that says something like "add your Google Analytics 4 property manually."
Paste the Measurement ID (G-XXXXXXXXXX) you copied earlier into the designated field.
Click "Connect."

Your Shopify store is now connected! Data will begin flowing into your GA4 account almost immediately, but it can take 24-48 hours for reports to be fully processed and available. You can check the "Realtime" report in GA4 to see live activity and confirm your setup is working.

Key Metrics to Track in GA4 for Your Shopify Store

Once you're set up, where do you start? Don't get overwhelmed by all the options. Focus on answering key business questions. Here are a few essential reports to get you started:

Where are my most valuable customers coming from?

This report tells you which channels are an investment and which are a waste of money.

How to find it: In GA4, go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition.
What to look for: This report breaks down your traffic by channel (Organic Search, Paid Search, Direct, Social, etc.). Look at the columns for Conversions (which should include purchases) and Total revenue. Sorting this table by revenue immediately shows you which channels deliver not just traffic, but actual paying customers. You might find your small email list drives more revenue than all your social media efforts combined.

What path do people take on my site before buying?

Understanding user flow helps you identify points of friction in your buying process.

How to find it: In GA4, go to the Explore tab and choose "Funnel exploration."
What to look for: A purchase funnel visualizes how many users complete each step towards a sale. The standard e-commerce steps are: session_start → view_item → add_to_cart → begin_checkout → purchase. GA4's funnel will show you the exact drop-off points. For example, if you see a huge drop-off between "add to cart" and "begin checkout," it could indicate that unexpected shipping costs are surprising users and causing them to abandon their carts.

Which content helps drive sales?

Not every page on your site is designed to sell directly, but some play a vital assisting role.

How to find it: Go to Reports > Engagement > Pages and screens.
What to look for: This report shows your most popular pages. Add a secondary dimension or filter to look at revenue. You may discover that a popular blog post you wrote two years ago is still a major entry point for paying customers, telling you that creating more content like it is a smart strategy.

Understanding the Limitations of the Shopify + GA4 Integration

While Shopify's integration is easy, it's not perfect. It's important to be aware of a few nuances to avoid confusion down the line.

Data Discrepancies Are Normal: Your Shopify sales numbers will almost never perfectly match the revenue numbers in Google Analytics. Don't panic! It doesn't mean anything is broken. The two platforms attribute sales differently. Shopify gives 100% of the credit to the very last click. GA4 uses a more complex, data-driven model that shares credit across multiple touchpoints in the customer journey. Use Shopify for your financial "source of truth" and GA4 for understanding directional trends in your marketing performance.
Data Has a Delay: Shopify data is close to real-time. GA4 data can take up to 48 hours to be fully processed and finalized in your reports. Be patient when looking at data for a specific day.
Advanced Customization Requires More Work: The default integration handles the core purchase events flawlessly. However, if you have a highly customized theme or need to track very specific interactions (like filtering products by color), you might need to hire a developer or use a third-party Shopify App to implement more advanced tracking.

Final Thoughts

Coupling Shopify's native analytics with Google Analytics 4 gives you the best of both worlds. Shopify tells you what you sold and for how much, while GA4 shows you the complete story of your customer - who they are, how they found you, and what persuaded them to buy. Following the steps above puts comprehensive, free, and incredibly powerful data at your fingertips.

Reporting on all this can still get complicated, especially when you pull in data from your ad platforms like Facebook or Google Ads right alongside Shopify and Google Analytics. When we built Graphed, our goal was to solve that problem. We make it easy to connect all those sources in one place and simply ask questions in plain English - like 'Show my ad spend vs Shopify revenue by campaign' - to get real-time dashboards instantly, without ever having to wrestle with different reporting interfaces.