Google's web analytics platform for tracking website traffic and user behavior

How to Record Google Analytics

Record GA4 without exposing real traffic and revenue. Guide for analytics tutorials, report walkthroughs, and conversion tracking debugging.

When you’d need to record Google Analytics

GA4 setup and configuration tutorials

Record GA4 property setup — data streams, event configuration, conversion marking, Google Tag configuration. GA4's setup differs significantly from Universal Analytics, and many users struggle with the migration.

Reporting walkthroughs for stakeholders

Record a guided tour of GA4 reports — traffic acquisition, engagement, retention, monetization. Walk stakeholders through the numbers so they understand what the data means, not just what it says.

Custom exploration tutorials

Record how to build GA4 Explorations — free-form reports, funnel explorations, path analysis. The Exploration interface has drag-and-drop dimensions, metrics, and segments that only make sense on video.

Conversion tracking debugging

Record DebugView in real-time — fire events on your site, verify they appear in GA4 DebugView, check parameters and values. Debugging event tracking requires seeing both the website and GA4 simultaneously.

Recommended settings

Resolution

1920x1080

Frame rate

30fps

Audio

Microphone only

Capture mode

Window Capture

Things to know

•GA4 shows real user counts, traffic sources, geographic locations, and conversion values — all sensitive business metrics
•The property selector (top left) shows all GA4 properties you have access to — property names reveal your website portfolio
•GA4's report interface loads charts and tables progressively — data appears in stages, not all at once
•Custom exploration reports may contain saved segments with specific user attributes or revenue filters

Step-by-step

1
In Screenify Studio, select Window Capture and pick the Google Analytics window.
Use a demo GA4 property if possible. Production properties show real traffic, revenue, and user data.
2
Open Google Analytics. Check the property selector (top left) — it shows every GA4 property you have access to. Property names like 'ClientName.com - Production' reveal your client portfolio. Select the property you'll demonstrate.
3
Choose a date range that you're comfortable showing. Default is 'Last 28 days' — if your traffic numbers, revenue, or user counts are sensitive, use a shorter range or a demo/test property.
4
Navigate to the specific report section before recording. GA4 has Reports, Explore, Advertising, and Admin — each is a separate area. Go to the one you'll demonstrate so you don't wander through menus on camera.
5
When hovering over chart data points, pause on each one for 2-3 seconds. GA4's tooltips appear on hover and show specific values — viewers need time to read the tooltip before you move to the next data point.

Pro tips

Auto-zoom on dimension tables. GA4 report tables show dimensions (page paths, sources, countries) and metrics (users, sessions, revenue) in 12px text with 8+ columns. When you click a specific row to drill down, auto-zoom zooms in so viewers can read the source name, session count, and conversion rate.

Use annotations to highlight trends. When explaining a traffic spike or drop in a chart, point at the specific data point, pause, and explain. Without pausing, you say 'notice the spike here' while your cursor is already 3 data points past it.

Record with a meaningful date range. A 7-day range on a low-traffic site shows flat lines. A 90-day range shows trends but packs too many data points into the chart. 28 days (default) or 30 days works best for most tutorial recordings.

Show the Realtime report for debugging tutorials. Admin > DebugView or Reports > Realtime shows events arriving in real-time. Record yourself triggering an event on the website, then switch to GA4 to show it appearing. This live cause-and-effect proves the tracking works.

Common mistakes

Recording on a production property with sensitive metrics. Your GA4 shows 450,000 monthly users, $127,000 in e-commerce revenue, and traffic sources including paid campaigns with spend data. Use a demo property or a property with non-sensitive data.

Moving the cursor across charts too fast. GA4 charts show tooltips on hover. If you move across a line chart quickly, 30 tooltips flash and disappear in 2 seconds. Viewers can't read any of them. Hover on specific data points, pause, read the value aloud.

Showing the property selector with all properties. The dropdown lists every property: 'Client-A.com', 'Client-B.com', 'personal-blog.com', 'side-project-i-havent-launched.com'. Click away from the selector before recording, or accept the names are visible.

Jumping between Reports and Explore without context. GA4 Reports (pre-built) and Explorations (custom) serve different purposes. If you switch between them, explain why: 'the standard report doesn't show this breakdown, so I'll create a custom Exploration.'