Ohh – those ‘pesky’ emails from Google Analytics. You have installed the new Google Analytics 4 tracking code on your website and checked your Google Analytics properly and the data is flowing – but you keep getting emails from Google Analytics saying your setup is incomplete.

Why is that?
Well, in the plainest language possible, it is because you likely have not set up Google Ads.
You see, in my opinion, the new GA4 interface is built to really push and track Google Ad spend. If you are not using pay-per-click advertising, Google is letting you know.
Ok – that is not ALL it does, but the new interface does put ads much more front and center. If you ARE an advertiser it is a much easier interface to use. If you are not – it is a bit of a pain.
But the good news is – you do not HAVE to move to add spending to turn off those pesky emails.
You simply need to mark the actions on the setup page as complete.
But before you do that – remember that all the historical data in your previous Google Analytics account will disappear in December 2023.
That means that if you want to look at historical data and compare year over year for 2023 and 2024 – you will not have access to 2023’s data.
Now some people choose not to look at their website traffic, so for them, it is of no consequence. But for others – that is a big deal.
If you are currently a web maintenance client, we went ahead and installed the GA4 tracking code for you a few months ago and it is happily collecting data. The great news is that as a website maintenance client, we have already set up a plan to go in and gather your 2023 historical data (your Audience Report, Acquisition Report, Behaviour Report and Conversion Report)
If you are not a web maintenance client and this type of tech challenges you – I’d love to invite you to join our CAPS maintenance crew and enjoy all the benefits of having the Speaker Website experts.
Monthly billing is $99 per month – but annual billing is $899 per year (less than $75 per month!)
If you want this kind of worry-free feeling for your website, visit pibworthps.com/website-maintenance-packages/
But if you are not a PibworthPS client (yet) read on for instructions on how you can do this yourself.
Want to eliminate those emails from Google Analytics saying your setup is incomplete?
Here’s how
- Log into your GA4 account at https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/
- Click “admin’ next to the gear icon at the bottom left and then click ‘setup assistant”
- You will see a page that looks like this

- Any of the actions left undone will show as ‘not started’.
- Take a look at the list and either click ‘manage’ to import your old GA setup etc into your new GA4 account or click ‘mark as complete’ and the setup assistant will make that step complete. That will make the emails from Google Analytics saying your setup is incomplete stop.
Remember – as of December 2023 you will lose your tracking data from the old tracking code, so while you are in there – download all of your historical data.
And if you run into trouble and decide this is just a big hassle – Pibworth’s website maintenance service is hassle-free.