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Connect your GA4 event-level data via BigQuery

Prepare your GA4 property, export event data to BigQuery and connect the GA4 via BigQuery MTA connector in Funnel.

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Cheatsheet: Where are you in the Digital Measurement setup?

  1. Complete the proof of value and review results.

  2. (You are here) Connect your advertising channels and Connect your GA4 event-level data via BigQuery.

  3. Create a Funnel Measurement export for GA4 events.

  4. Set up brand and market.

  5. Set up verified conversions and verified revenue.

  6. Validate and sign off on your data for Funnel Data-Driven MTA.

  7. Validate and sign off on your data for Funnel Digital MMM.

  8. Map Funnel Digital MMM rules to Funnel Data-Driven MTA data.

  9. We set up exports, rules and we create your model. Review your results:

    1. Understand the different types of attribution models.

    2. Compare attribution models.

    3. Review your measurement setup.

    4. Review your marketing performance in the Insights dashboard.

Other related articles: Introduction to Digital Measurement, Introduction to Advanced Measurement, Getting started with Digital Measurement, Glossary: Funnel Measure terms

To use Digital Measurement, you need to connect your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) event-level data to Funnel through Google BigQuery. This involves preparing your GA4 property, exporting event data to BigQuery and connecting the GA4 via BigQuery MTA connector in Funnel.

Before you begin

Ensure you have the following:

  • A GA4 property with an active web data stream.
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  • A Google Cloud project with the BigQuery API enabled. Create a project or use an existing one.
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  • Editor or higher permissions on the GA4 property.
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  • Owner access on the BigQuery project.

Step 1: Enable user-provided data in GA4

User-provided data allows GA4 to collect hashed first-party data like email addresses, which improves measurement accuracy.

  1. In Google Analytics, go to Admin.
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  2. Under Data collection and modification, select Data streams.
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  3. Select your web data stream.
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  4. Scroll to the Google tag section and select Configure tag settings.
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  5. Select Allow user-provided data capabilities.
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  6. Toggle on Allow user-provided data capabilities selector and choose how to identify user-provided data:
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    • Add a code snippet to your website for manual configuration.
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    • Automatically detect email address patterns on your web pages.
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    • Specify CSS selectors or JavaScript variables to map specific fields.
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  7. Select Save.

If you add a code snippet, follow the instructions in the GA4 interface to set the required fields.

Note: The steps above may change as Google updates its interface. For the latest instructions, see Google's documentation on user-provided data.

Step 2: Link GA4 to BigQuery and activate event streaming

This step sets up the daily export of GA4 event data to BigQuery and includes the User ID for multi-touch attribution.

To link GA4 to BigQuery

  1. In Google Analytics, go to Admin.
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  2. In the Product links section, select BigQuery links.
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  3. Click Link and choose your BigQuery project.
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  4. Select a Data location (for example, European Union).
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  5. Under Configure settings, select an Export type. Choose Daily for a full export of the previous day's data.
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  6. Select Next, review your settings and select Submit.

Note: It takes at least 24 hours after setup before data appears in BigQuery.

Enable streaming for user events

To include User ID in your BigQuery export, ensure User ID is correctly configured in your GA4 property and that user-level data is part of the export:

  1. In Google Analytics, go to Admin > Data streams.
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  2. Select your web data stream.
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  3. Under Enhanced measurement, confirm that User ID is configured and being collected correctly.

The User ID is included as a field in GA4 exports to BigQuery when it's properly set up within GA4.

Note: The steps above may change as Google updates its interface. For the latest instructions, see Google's documentation on BigQuery export.

To verify data in BigQuery

Once data begins flowing, BigQuery contains event tables with fields like user_pseudo_id and user_id. Run a query in BigQuery to confirm that User ID values are present for authenticated sessions.

Step 3: Connect the GA4 via BigQuery MTA data in Funnel

When data is flowing from GA4 to BigQuery, connect it in Funnel using the GA4 via BigQuery MTA connector.

  1. In your Funnel workspace, go to Data > Connect > Data sources and click Connect data source.
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  2. Find GA4 via BigQuery MTA and start the connection.
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  3. Select your credentials and click Next.
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  4. Select your BigQuery project and dataset and click Next.
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  5. Configure the data source settings:
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    • Do you track your conversions as the 'purchase' event in GA4? Select Yes if you track conversions through the standard purchase event. In the initial version of Digital Measurement, only purchase events are supported as the conversion event.
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    • Is user ID tracked in a custom dimension? Select No if you use the standard user_id field. Select Yes if you track User ID in a custom dimension, then specify the custom dimension name and its scope.
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    • Do you track multiple countries in your GA4 property? Select No if you don't track multiple countries. Select Yes if you do, then choose how to identify each country. Currently, only Default geo dimensions is available.
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  6. Configure the Funnel Data-Driven MTA settings:
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    • Internal domain filtering mode: Page views from internal and payment domains (like checkout.com or payment processors) are filtered out of Funnel Data-Driven MTA analysis to focus on external traffic sources that drive conversions. Select Autodetect to let Funnel automatically detect internal and payment platform domains, or select Specify your own domains to enter them manually.
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  7. Optionally, configure additional fields:
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    • Include debug fields? Select Yes to include fields like mta_source_event, dclid, page_referrer, page_location and event_value_in_usd. These are processed, human-readable fields derived from GA4 data, useful for debugging attribution logic. Note that page_location has very high cardinality and may affect data warehouse performance.
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    • Include raw JSON fields? Select Yes to include fields like event_params_raw, session_traffic_source_last_click_raw and traffic_source_raw. These are unprocessed JSON blobs from the GA4 BigQuery export for custom processing or advanced analysis. They are memory-intensive (approximately 40% more data).
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    For most Digital Measurement setups, the default settings (No for both) are sufficient.
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  8. Select Next, review the configuration summary and select Connect data source.

Note: The GA4 via BigQuery MTA connector is available on the Digital Measurement plan. If you don't see it in your connector list, contact us to enable it.

Handoff: After connecting your data sources, wait for us to confirm that the data is flowing correctly before proceeding to the next step.

Related Articles
How do I activate GA4 event streaming to BigQuery in order to connect to Funnel Measurement?
Connect to GA4 via BigQuery with the Standard report
Create a Funnel Measurement export for GA4 events
Validate and sign off on your data for Funnel Data-Driven MTA
Map Funnel Digital MMM rules to Funnel Data-Driven MTA data
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