Lesson 2: Accounts, Properties and Data Streams

Why the structure matters

In Level 1 you learned that GA4 records everything as events. This level covers where those events are stored. GA4 uses three nested levels, and the choices you make now affect every report you build later. A setting that is wrong on day one, such as the wrong time zone, can distort your figures for months.

Think of it like a filing cabinet:

• Account: the cabinet. It usually stands for one business or organisation.
• Property: a drawer. It holds the reports and settings for one brand, website or app experience.
• Data stream: a slot that feeds documents into the drawer. Each one is a single source of data, such as a website, an iOS app or an Android app.

All reports, key events and audiences sit at the property level. Data streams only bring the data in.

Task 1: Decide how many accounts, properties and streams you need

Google's documented limits are:

• Up to 2,000 properties per account.
• Up to 50 data streams per property, of which no more than 30 can be app streams.
• Up to 100 accounts per user.

Few businesses get anywhere near these limits. What matters is the design. Use this checklist:

1. One account per business or legal entity. An agency should not keep its clients' properties in its own account. Each client should own an account and give the agency access.
2. One property per brand or separate user experience. If a customer moves between your website and your app as one journey, measure both in one property. If two brands have different customers and goals, give each brand its own property.
3. One web data stream per website. Several web streams for the same site split your data and make reports harder to read. Add app streams (iOS, Android) to the same property only when the app belongs to the same experience.

Example: A UK garden centre has one shop website and no app. It needs 1 account, 1 property and 1 web data stream. If it later opens a separate trade-only wholesale site with different customers, it can add a second property in the same account.

Do: Write down your own structure (account name, property names, streams) before you create anything.

Task 2: Create a property

You need the Editor role or higher. Menus in GA4 change often, so check them against Google's current help pages.

1. Click Admin (the gear icon, bottom left).
2. Click Create, then choose Property.
3. Enter a clear property name, for example "Garden Centre – Website".
4. Choose the reporting time zone and currency. For a UK business this is usually United Kingdom time and British Pound (GBP).
5. Click Next and choose your industry category and business size.
6. Click Next, choose how you intend to use Google Analytics, then click Create.

What the two settings do:

• Reporting time zone sets where each day starts and ends in your reports. If you pick a time zone that uses daylight saving time, GA4 adjusts for the clock changes automatically. If you change it later, the change applies only from then on, and you may see a flat spot or a spike around the switch.
• Currency is the currency GA4 uses for money values in reports.

You can review both later under Admin > Property settings > Property details.

Task 3: Add a web data stream

1. In Admin, under Data collection and modification, click Data streams.
2. Click Add stream and choose Web. A new property may take you straight to this step.
3. Enter your website URL, for example examplegardens.co.uk.
4. Enter a stream name, for example "Garden Centre – Web".
5. Leave enhanced measurement switched on for now. Level 4 explains what it collects.
6. Click Create stream.

GA4 then offers ways to install the Google tag. Do not install it yet. Level 3 covers installation step by step.

Task 4: Set data retention

Data retention controls how long GA4 keeps user-level and event-level data for explorations and funnel reports. The standard reports are not affected.

• Default: 2 months.
• Options for standard GA4: 2 months or 14 months. Longer periods (26, 38 and 50 months) apply only to event data, and only in the paid Analytics 360.

To change it:

1. Go to Admin. Under the property, open Data settings > Data retention.
2. Set event data retention to 14 months.
3. Click Save.

The longer setting applies to data GA4 still holds. It does not bring back data that has already been deleted, so change this setting on the day you create the property.

Task 5: Find and record the measurement ID

Every web data stream has a measurement ID in the format G- followed by letters and numbers, for example G-PSW1MY7HB4. It tells your website's tag which stream to send data to. It is not the same as the numeric property ID.

1. Go to Admin > Data streams and open the Web tab.
2. Click your stream. The measurement ID appears near the top of the stream details.
3. Copy it into a settings record, and note every place you will use it, such as your website's tag, Tag Manager or a CMS plugin.

To see the measurement ID you need the Editor role or higher on the property.

Your report: a property settings sheet

Open Google's demo account (the Google Merchandise Store property). You can also use your new property. Demo users have the Viewer role: you can see settings but not change them.

1. Open Admin > Data streams. Record how many streams there are and what type each one is (web or app).
2. Open Property details. Record the reporting time zone and currency.
3. Open Data retention. Record the setting.
4. Put these in a simple table: Setting | Value | Notes.

Question to answer: Which time zone and currency does the demo property report in, and how would that affect a UK marketer comparing its daily totals with their own figures?

Key takeaways

• The hierarchy is account, then property, then data stream. Reports and settings live at the property level.
• Use one account per business, one property per brand or experience, and one web stream per website.
• Set the time zone and currency when you create the property. A time zone change applies only from then on.
• Data retention defaults to 2 months. Change it to 14 months straight away. It affects explorations, not standard reports.
• The measurement ID (G-...) identifies a web data stream. Record it before you install the tag.