If you’re running a Shopify store, you’ll want to understand your website visits and customers further with a free tool like Google Analytics 4.
The best and easiest way to connect your Shopify store to Google Analytics is to use the free Google & YouTube app.
Since July 2026, the app uses built-in web and server-side tracking, a reliable method to track website visits and transactions.
Previously, the app would rely on web-side tracking, meaning you’d lose some of this data when browser or cookie blockers got in the way. Or when a checkout thank you page did not load. We estimated around 20% of purchases were missing in GA4 reports before July 2026.
The Google & YouTube app offers a number of features including:
This article has been updated in August 2026.
We will explore the following:
At a high level, it tracks:
| Event name | Event description |
|---|---|
| page_view | Page title (name), path, etc. |
| search | A customer viewed a product on your online store. It will show the first variant of a product with the product’s full name, e.g. 100% Recycled Flower – Blue. If you have more than one variation (e.g., 100% Recycled Flower – Red), this event will not fire when the customer changes the variation on the same page. The integration sends the product ID, not the variant ID, to GA4. |
| view_item | When you view a product’s individual page. |
| add_to_cart | A customer presses the add to cart button for a product in your store/adds further quantity on the product page. The event does not fire when quantity is added/deleted in the view cart page. Some payment gateway add-to-cart events will not fire, e.g., Shop Pay quick checkout buttons. |
| begin_checkout | A customer started the checkout process. If the customer goes to view the checkout again in the same session, GA4 receives this event only once. |
| add_payment_info | A customer successfully enters payment information. |
| purchase | A customer completed their checkout. This event will fire once only, even if the customer reloads the page. The value does not include shipping or tax. Upsells shown post-purchase do not have revenue, item view or information sent to GA4. GA4 does receive the customer information for the purpose of Google Ads if you have connected this. |
In August 2024, Shopify started to close a loophole that allowed users not on Shopify Plus to add additional tracking to their checkout and thank you pages.
From 26 August 2026, all remaining thank you and order status pages will be migrated to the new version, along with the removal of Additional Scripts in the checkout settings.
Four new events will be added to the app from 17 August 2026.
| Event name | Event description |
|---|---|
| view_item_list | A customer views your product category or collection page. |
| remove_from_cart | When a customer adds a product to their shopping cart, then decides to remove it from the cart. |
| view_cart | If the customer goes to view their cart, this event should fire. We would expect it to include the sidebar view cart experiences in most themes. |
| add_shipping_info | At the checkout, when the customer provides their shipping or address details. |
In addition, Google will also add extra information to some existing events, including:
| Event name | Additional information (parameters) |
|---|---|
| view_item | Value, Currency, Item SKU, Coupon, Variant ID and Quantity |
| add_to_cart | SKU, Variant ID and Coupon |
| begin_checkout | SKU, Variant ID for each item in the cart |
| add_payment_info | Value, Payment Type (payment gateway), List of cart items associated with item data and Coupon. Also, the non-standard “total” is changed to “value” |
| purchase | Coupon, Item SKU, Variant ID, Market ID (Localisation information) and Affiliation (includes hostname, which is the website URL) data. |
These additional events and information are likely for future use, not historical. However, they will fill up many of the gaps currently in the Monetization (eCommerce) reports that Shopify users face in GA4.
If you wish to exclude any of these events, the app adds a new parameter so you can create a filter with the parameter equals shopify_event_name (event name is the event name you wish to exclude; see table above).
The Google channel app still has some gaps after 17 August, including:
*These data points are usually only achievable with custom server-side tracking tools or apps.
The following events have some limitations:
Watch this tutorial video below or see detailed steps underneath.
If you prefer to use another app or don’t have this, go to the right-side banner (usually has a Google Ads message), then select the arrow to choose the next slide. You’ll have an option to just install Google Analytics instead.
Note: Your checkout and payment page will disconnect Tag Assistant. You can check Google Analytics 4 in 24 hours or use GA4 Debugview.
Hot tip: To test that your full setup is working, you can create a discount code for your product and shipping. Then use this as a guest checkout. Make sure the discount is only set to specific users (your email), or has a long code and restricted usage setting (quick expiry) to avoid a 100% coupon from going into the wrong hands. Also, cancel the order post-testing.
Further reading: 10 steps to set up your GA4 property
You must follow a different process to install Google Tag Manager in Shopify.
This video also shows you how to install Google Analytics using your theme code, if you do not want the Shopify Google & YouTube app method. Note that the app gives you more information unless you add custom tags afterwards.
If there is no traffic result in the real-time report, double-check the steps or use Google Tag Assistant to verify which tags are firing.
If you want server-side tracking and support to troubleshoot issues, these paid options may be for you.
Note: You can get server-side tracking already when using Shopify apps like Meta.
Littledata offers server-side tracking for Google Analytics, Google Ads, along with third-party tools such as Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Klaviyo (Email Marketing), TikTok and Pinterest.
The tool starts with its Flex plan that charges $0.35 USD per order. It also has a $199 USD plan for those with 1,500 orders per month.
Elevar also offers server-side tracking across multiple platforms, including Google Analytics, Meta, Google Ads, TikTok and Klaviyo.
Pricing starts from $225 USD per month for sites with up to 2,000 orders.
Analyzify offers server-side tracking as well for Google Analytics, Meta, TikTok and integrates with Google Tag Manager.
It starts from $145 USD per month, with up to 5,000 orders included.
We provide custom tag solutions for clients depending on their business and needs.
For most eCommerce stores, you will want to track the following:
In addition, you’ll want to ensure you capture the best practice settings for GA4. You may also want to track the following:
These items are useful for understanding user behaviours better and can be reused for Google Ads remarketing to tailor messages to your audience.
A good use case is to build an audience of those who select Afterpay but forget to check out, and you show an ad on Google Ads that mentions Afterpay, or track what size or colour different customers like to segment them for Google Ads/new products later.
Customer Events allow you to add custom tracking or apps to your Shopify Store.
To get there, head to your Shopify Admin dashboard, then type into the top search bar “Customer events”.
You’ll find the Google & YouTube app (if set up).
Other common use cases:
Select the tag to edit it. You can also disconnect or delete the custom pixel.
Our GA4 eCommerce Package can take care of this.
For this package, we will combine the Shopify Google & YouTube app and Google Tag Manager to track events in your store.
