Back to Resources

GA4 - Google Signals

Tomas Katysovas
Analytics

Google Signals is an advanced Google Analytics feature that enhances tracking, reporting, and remarketing by using additional information from users who are signed into their Google accounts and have Ads Personalization enabled. It helps you understand how the same user interacts with your business across multiple devices while keeping all data anonymous and privacy-safe.

What Google Signals Does

When Google Signals is enabled in GA4, it unlocks several powerful capabilities that go beyond standard device-based analytics.

  • Cross-Platform Reporting: See how users move between devices, such as discovering your product on mobile and completing a purchase on desktop.

  • Remarketing Across Devices: Build more powerful Google Ads audiences based on actual users, not just devices, enabling cross-device remarketing.

  • Advertising Reporting Features: Unlock advanced GA4 and Google Ads reporting, including cross-device conversions and modeled user behavior.

  • Demographics & Interests: Allow GA4 to include anonymous age, gender, and affinity/interest data where available.

How Google Signals Works

Google Signals uses additional data from users who:

  • Are signed into a Google account

  • Have Ads Personalization enabled

These users contribute aggregated, anonymized behavioral data to GA4. GA4 then links this behavior with pseudonymous cookies to better understand user journeys across multiple devices.

Important Note About Data Differences

GA4 sends pseudonymous event data to BigQuery. Because BigQuery counts devices (rather than users), you may notice:

  • More “users” in BigQuery (because it is effectively counting devices)

  • More accurate user counts in GA4, especially when Google Signals is enabled

This behavior is expected and is not an error.

Why Google Signals Matters for Server-Side Tracking

If you are using Server-Side Google Tag Manager (sGTM), enabling Google Signals is critical for:

  • Accurate cross-device reporting

  • Proper Google Ads remarketing

  • Ads personalization settings

  • Demographic reporting

Server-side setups without Google Signals lose important advertising and measurement features.

What Happens if You Disable Google Signals

Disabling Google Signals has significant consequences for your reporting and advertising capabilities.

  • You lose remarketing audiences based on GA4 data.

  • Demographics and interest reports are no longer available.

  • Cross-device reporting is no longer possible.

  • User-based modeling becomes less accurate.

  • Google Ads reporting becomes less complete.

Most importantly, you cannot selectively disable only certain features of Google Signals. It is an all-or-nothing setting.

Data Retention Rules for Google Signals

Google-signed-in data associated with Google Signals follows specific retention rules:

  • The default retention period for Google-signed-in data is 26 months.

  • If your GA4 Data Retention setting is shorter (for example, 2 months), this shorter period also applies to signed-in data.

Region-Level Controls for Google Signals

You can enable or disable Google Signals at the region level to meet regional privacy or compliance requirements.

  • Turning off a region stops new Google Signals data collection for that region.

  • Historical data remains available until it is removed based on your data retention settings.

  • Remarketing is disabled in any regions where Google Signals is turned off.

For example, many EU businesses choose to disable Google Signals in certain regions to support GDPR compliance.

Privacy and Limitations of Google Signals

Google Signals is designed with privacy in mind and has strict limitations on the type of data it provides.

  • It never provides personal information or personally identifiable data.

  • All data is aggregated and anonymized.

  • Data is considered privacy-safe and is only used inside GA4 unless you explicitly activate data sharing settings with other Google products.

Use Cases and Practical Examples

The following examples illustrate how different roles can benefit from Google Signals.

Publisher Use Cases

  • I want to: count real users, not devices
    So I can: understand how many unique people use my site daily, weekly, or monthly.

  • I want to: analyze how different user groups behave across device combinations
    So I can: optimize the experience for the most valuable device groups.

Marketer Use Cases

  • I want to: measure marketing campaigns across multiple devices
    So I can: make smarter budget decisions based on the full user journey.

  • I want to: run cross-device remarketing
    So I can: reach users wherever they are most likely to convert.

How to Activate Google Signals in GA4 (Step-by-Step)

Follow these steps to enable Google Signals in your GA4 property. You need Editor access to the GA4 property to complete this process.

  1. Step 1: Open the GA4 Admin and navigate to Data Collection
    Go to the GA4 Admin area. Under the Property column, open Data Collection & Modification, then select Data Collection.

  2. Step 2: Enable Google Signals data collection
    In the Data Collection settings, turn on the switch labeled Enable Google Signals Data Collection.

  3. Step 3: (Optional) Configure allowed regions
    If you want to control where Google Signals is active:

    • Click Settings in the Allowed Regions section.

    • Toggle each region ON or OFF according to your needs.

    • Click Apply to save your regional settings.

Important Notes When Activating Google Signals

  • Disabling a region stops the collection of new Google Signals data for that region, but existing historical data is retained until it expires under your data retention policy.

  • Disabling Google Signals entirely removes remarketing, demographics, and advertising features across all linked products.

  • If you use Google Ads, you must comply with Google’s Advertising Features Policy.

Ads Personalization vs. Google Signals

Ads Personalization and Google Signals are related but control different aspects of your data and advertising setup.

What Google Signals Controls

  • Cross-device tracking and reporting

  • Demographics data (e.g., age and gender)

  • Remarketing data used to build audiences

What Ads Personalization Controls

  • Whether GA4 data can be used for ad targeting in each region.

  • You can disable Ads Personalization in some regions while still collecting Google Signals data for measurement and analytics only.