Missing Google Analytics 4 Configuration tag

Updated: September 18th, 2023

This might have caught you off guard. You open a Google Tag Manager container, but the Google Analytics 4 configuration is missing. How can that be?

Well, there has been an update in Google Tag Manager, and the process of how Google Analytics 4 tags are managed has changed.

What happened?

In early September 2023, Google retired the Google Analytics 4 configuration tag. It is now replaced by a new tag template called Google Tag. I recorded a quick tutorial about it here:

Together with this update, Google also introduced two new variables: Configuration Settings Variable and Event Settings Variable.

Both are designed to help you manage tag settings and event parameters more easily.

So what should you do?

This update has caught many users unguarded, and I didn’t have enough time to write a blog post about all of this. However, I recorded a video that you can view on my Youtube channel.

In it, I explain:

• What is Google Tag
• How to install Google Analytics 4 with the new Google Tag template
• How to use new GA settings variables in GA4

So if you want to learn more details about this, go here.

What happens to the containers that had the GA4 configuration tag?

Google says they will automatically migrate all GA4 config tags to the new Google Tag, so no action is required.

But honestly, given Google’s track record of recent migrations, I will randomly check several containers of mine (after the migration) to see if this is working fine.

Missing Google Analytics 4 Configuration tag: Final words

Even though this update (related to new GA settings variables) is a welcome addition, getting rid of the GA4 configuration tag will also cause a lot of commotion among Google Analytics users. Personally, I would have preferred keeping the original config tag and then using the settings variable there. I share more details and opinions about this update in my Youtube video.

P.S. if you listen carefully, you can hear thousands of GA4 tutorials going out of date instantly.