Best practice GA4 & Data Studio for marketers

Kyle Rushton McGregor is an analytics expert who has spent more than a decade helping businesses translate data into meaningful action. With a deep-rooted background in SEO and extensive experience across B2B, charity, and e-commerce sectors, Kyle has supported thousands of marketers in mastering Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and successfully guided over one hundred GA4 website migrations.

He's worked extensively with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Looker Studio, and the wider Google Suite and a critical question frequently encountered is who should truly "own" analytics in a business? Below, Kyle shares his fresh take on ownership, best practices, and actionable insights for making Google Analytics and Looker Studio an engine for genuine business growth.

Who should own analytics in your business?

In many businesses, I've seen analytics get lost in the shuffle. Managers might glance through metrics occasionally, but analytics often feel like "someone else's job." To truly harness the transformative potential of analytics, someone must take clear and intentional ownership.

I believe the mechanics, implementation and best practice configuration of Google Analytics should typically rest within the digital marketing team. Marketers understand how websites draw traffic and what metrics matter most for day-to-day success. They're naturally positioned to ensure data accuracy, define parameters, and manage the technical aspects.

Analytics should never be siloed entirely within marketing. While I advocate strongly for marketer-led implementation, interpreting and acting on insights demands a wider company effort. Analytics is a strategic asset that cuts across departments and serves all business units simultaneously.

Just because data is available does not mean it belongs in your report

Regardless of your team’s makeup, successful GA4 implementations consistently share one trait: collaboration. Product owners, sales managers, customer experience leads, and even senior management must provide insights about the business objectives relevant to their part of the business. This clarity guides marketers in tracking what genuinely matters.

In short, the marketing team may configure analytics and should certainly champion its usage, but stakeholders across various departments have a vital voice in making analytics meaningful by identifying critical events, key conversions, and strategic KPIs. Use a simple RACI matrix to make sure each team is covered, or take a deep-dive into optimal web analytics team structures.

Tracking with context

The analytics landscape in 2025 has evolved considerably, especially with GA4’s recent addition of annotations. GA4 annotations allow marketers to add important context directly into reports. This might be noting that a traffic spike came from a sponsored LinkedIn campaign, or that a temporary dip occurred because of a 24-hour technical outage.

This excellent addition provides transparency and clarity in board meetings or executive discussions, because annotations erase guesswork from website performance reviews. We've also seen the rise of tools that bulk-upload annotations, enabling teams to swiftly add historical context across multiple dates.

Simplify decision-making with Looker Studio

GA4 works even more powerfully alongside Google Looker Studio (formerly known as Data Studio). As part of my ongoing practice, I regularly help teams work with Looker Studio to visualise their analytics data clearly and crisply.

When businesses ask how to get the most out of Looker Studio, here are my immediate tips:

Use alternative visualisations

For instance, switching from a standard Search Console table to a bubble chart quickly highlights search phrases attracting traffic but failing to drive clicks.

Transform numbers into clarity

Instead of reporting raw figures, show metrics as percentages of totals, such as “Organic traffic drove 55% of visits but only 10% of conversions.” This approach immediately surfaces actionable insights, and helps build the conversation towards practices and actions that drive results, rather than vanity exercises.

Create and leverage calculated fields

Group data segments effortlessly (e.g., branded vs. non-branded searches). Quickly understand if your brand or general SEO strategies warrant enhancements.

Blend data sources

Combine Google Search Console and GA4 analytics data to better align search query impact with business outcomes, nurturing moves that improve user journeys.

Automate scheduled reports

Reduce manual work by emailing automated weekly or monthly reports directly to your inbox or your colleagues. You’ll quickly become known for consistency, reliability, and helpfulness!

The style tab!

One of my best discoveries this year came from the style tab in Looker Studio. Simple features including aligning data cards vertically, or automatically extracting branding colors from your logo image make reports visually appealing effortlessly. Small tips like these immediately boost professionalism and minimise report layout stress for marketers.

Avoiding overload and "analysis paralysis"

Just because data is available does not mean it belongs in your report. Often, I see unnecessary noise and "data puke" causing confusion rather than actionable insights. Too many businesses get caught in analysis paralysis by reviewing ten-page reports with no clear endpoint.

Instead, focus narrowly on KPIs directly tied to genuine, measurable outcomes (such as revenue, leads generated, qualified conversations started). Successful businesses keep Looker Studio dashboards concise and clear, designed for actionable discussions rather than drowning teams in detail.

AI's growing influence on analytics reporting

In recent months, clients have regularly asked how AI-driven search and new traffic sources affect their analytics. By directly monitoring various clients across industries, I've seen AI tools start driving traffic, but for most businesses, this figure sits at less than 1%. While large publishers report big disruptions, SMEs and digital marketers still see conventional channels like organic search, paid media, and email driving nearly all traffic and revenue growth.

AI-driven traffic is worth monitoring, but businesses should avoid kneejerk reactions or overstating its importance. Ultimately, your website and landing pages remain essential revenue-generating channels.

Getting started with GA4 and Looker Studio

If your business is just getting started with GA4 and Looker Studio, I recommend immediately identifying a few core business questions (e.g., "Where do high-value leads come from?" or "What content drives conversions?"). Then, build concise visual dashboards in Looker Studio to provide the answers.

For senior marketers joining a new business, try to have strategic conversations first before inspecting digital analytics or reports. Discover internal pain-points and stakeholder objectives to clearly define what "successful analytics" means to your new business.

To truly transform Google Analytics into a source of competitive advantage, remember clear ownership and cross-functional collaboration matter most. Set the marketing team as owners of setup and accuracy, invite other teams to communicate their essential metrics, and craft dashboards in Looker Studio that inform decisive action.

I've seen analytics drive positive growth repeatedly. Success happens by keeping it simple, collaborative, and relentlessly tied to tangible outcomes. By placing GA4 and Looker Studio in this wider business context, analytics can become your competitive differentiator.

Interested in improving your analytics setup, reporting, or overall strategy? Let's talk. I'm always excited to help brands unlock genuine insights that propel meaningful business growth.