Google Analytics GA4 Audit

Fix your tracking, trust your numbers, and make better marketing decisions.

When your data is wrong, everything downstream suffers –>budget allocation, channel strategy, reporting, even pricing. Our in-depth GA4 Audit is built for SMEs that need accurate, decision-ready analytics without the guesswork. We don’t just “check the settings.” We diagnose what’s broken, explain why it matters, and give you a clear, prioritised plan to fix it.

Who this audit is for

• You migrated from Universal Analytics and things never quite added up.
• Conversions, revenue, or users look “off” vs. reality.
• Your Looker Studio dashboards don’t match GA4.
• You can’t trust attribution or channel reports.
• You’re planning growth and need rock-solid numbers before scaling Paid, SEO, or CRO.

What you get

• Executive Summary (Plain English): What’s wrong, why it matters, and the impact on decisions/ROI.
• Scorecard by Category: Pass / Warn / Fail across setup, data collection, conversions, audiences, ecommerce, privacy, integrations, reporting.
• Prioritised Action Plan: Effort vs. impact matrix + step-by-step fixes with screenshots and exact paths (GA4, GTM, CMP, code).
• QA & Verification Plan: Test cases, acceptance criteria, and how to validate fixes in DebugView / Realtime / standard reports.
• Governance Pack: UTM & naming conventions, event/parameter dictionary, and change-control recommendations.
• Optional Implementation & Re-test: We can implement fixes or support your team/agency to do so.
• Optional QA Dashboards: Lightweight Looker Studio QA board to monitor data quality going forward.

Deep-dive: What we audit (in detail)
1) Measurement strategy & mapping

• Business objectives → KPIs → metrics → events/conversions.
• Event taxonomy audit (are you capturing the right user actions?).
• Parameter strategy (e.g., item_category, method, form_id, coupon, login_status).
• Event naming consistency & cardinality risks.

2) GA4 property & data streams

• Property structure (one vs. many), web/app streams, stream settings.
• Enhanced Measurement (on/off per event; duplicates vs. custom events).
• Internal traffic filters, developer traffic filters, bot filtering.
• Data retention window & implications for year-on-year.
• Timezone, currency, and default reporting identity (by device ID / by User-ID).

3) Data collection & tag transport

• Web container review (GTM or hard-coded): firing rules, consent-aware triggers, load order.
• Redundant/duplicate tags and event duplication (e.g., gtag + GTM double-firing).
• DataLayer audit: presence, timing, schema consistency; missing ecommerce payload fields.
• Client-side vs. server-side tagging review (if in place).
• DebugView / Realtime sampling to validate payloads and parameters.

4) Events, parameters & conversions

• Event list vs. documented measurement plan.
• Parameter types (text vs. number), units, currency, thresholding risks.
• Conversion configuration (which events are marked, value passing, de-dupe).
• Key interactions: forms, lead gen steps, downloads, video, chat, site search.
• Consent Mode behaviour on events/conversions (if applicable).

5) Cross-domain & subdomain tracking

• Cross-domain linking configuration and referral exclusions.
• Self-referrals & session breakage diagnosis.
• Subdomain & environment separation (prod vs. staging).

6) Ecommerce & revenue integrity (if relevant)

• GA4 ecommerce schema (view_item, add_to_cart, begin_checkout, purchase).
• Item arrays, item IDs, categories, coupon and affiliation usage.
• Tax/shipping handling, multi-currency, and duplicate purchase prevention.
• Refunds, cancellations, subscription renewals, and offline reconciliation options.

7) Attribution & channels

• Default Channel Grouping alignment with your UTM taxonomy.
• UTM governance (required mediums/sources/campaigns, case sensitivity, paid social conventions).
• Attribution settings review and education on model differences.
• Unassigned / Direct spikes analysis; paid/organic cannibalisation checks.

8) Privacy, consent & compliance (UK/EU aware)

• Consent Mode/CMP integration and tag behaviour pre/post consent.
• Anonymisation settings, data thresholds, and reporting identity trade-offs.
• Data minimisation: parameters that may capture PII, hashing policies, IP handling.
• Policy-friendly event design and documentation for audits.

9) Integrations & links

• Google Ads / Floodlight / DV360 / SA360 linking and auto-tagging.
• Search Console linking & query/landing page coverage.
• BigQuery export status, daily completeness, and cost-aware retention strategy.
• Merchant Center, app (Firebase) links if applicable.

10) Reporting layer & governance

• GA4 Explorations vs. Standard Reports configuration.
• Looker Studio data sources, blends, calc fields, and filter logic.
• KPI consistency checks (why GA4 ≠ Looker sometimes).
• Access control, least-privilege roles, and change-control workflow.
• Documentation: living measurement plan + change log.

Common issues we fix (fast wins + high impact)

• Double-counted sessions/conversions from mixed gtag/GTM setups.
• Missing purchase values or incorrect currency on ecommerce.
• “Direct” suddenly huge due to self-referrals / cross-domain gaps.
• Conversion events marked incorrectly (or not at all).
• Thresholded reports because of high-cardinality parameters.
• Looker Studio not matching GA4 due to blends/filters/row limits.
• Consent Mode sending events before consent or blocking everything by mistake.
• DataLayer events firing after the GA4 tag (race conditions).

Our audit workflow

1. Access & discovery – Read access to GA4, GTM, Looker Studio, CMP notes, and (if used) BigQuery; short intake on objectives and pain points.
2. Evidence gathering – Structured checks across the 10 categories above; screenshots, payload samples, and version history captured.
3. Findings & fixes – Scorecard + prioritised recommendations with precise instructions.
4. QA & verification – Test scripts for dev/marketers, DebugView validation, and “before/after” metrics snapshot.
5. Enablement – Measurement plan, UTM policy, and change-control templates so the setup stays clean.

What we need from you

• Read access to GA4 and GTM (or codebase notes if hard-coded).
• Your current KPIs and any existing event lists or dashboards.
• Details of your consent/CMP setup and cross-domain requirements.
• If applicable: ecommerce platform details and a test card/user for end-to-end QA.

Why SMEs choose Zaddle for GA4

• Real-world SME focus – We prioritise the few high-impact fixes that change decisions, not academic perfection.
• 18+ years in digital – We connect tracking to marketing outcomes (Paid, SEO, CRO), not just “nice reports.”
• Transparent & teachable – We explain the why behind every recommendation, so your team becomes self-sufficient.
• Flexible engagement – One-off deep audit, fix-support, or ongoing data quality monitoring (whatever fits your stage).

Analytics & Reporting FAQs

Can you fix historical data?
No analytics tool can retro-correct past data already collected incorrectly. We focus on preventing future errors, annotating known issues, and (where possible) modelling or reconciling with source systems/BigQuery.

Do we need Google Tag Manager?
GTM isn’t required, but it dramatically simplifies governance, consent handling, and QA. If you’re hard-coded, we audit that too and provide a migration path if helpful.

Will GA4 ever match Looker Studio 1:1?
It can, but only with consistent data sources, filters, and definitions. We document the settings so they align and show where they won’t (e.g., thresholding, sampling, row limits).

What about consent and UK/EU privacy rules?
We review your CMP/Consent Mode configuration and align event behaviour to consent choices. We also flag any risky parameters and propose privacy-safe alternatives.

We’re not ecommerce so does this still help?
Absolutely. For lead gen, content, and B2B SaaS, we define meaningful conversions and micro-interactions so you can see which channels create pipeline, not just clicks.

Ready to trust your numbers?

If you’re serious about getting more from your online marketing, start with accurate analytics. Let’s talk about a GA4 Audit and put reliable, decision-ready data at the heart of your growth.