TutorialPractitioner4 min read

GA4 for Marketers: Free Course (2026)

A free GA4 course for marketers: setup, key events, UTMs, channels, AI referral traffic, explorations, consent mode, BigQuery and Looker Studio.

Dipuck Jones
Written by Founder of MentionX · 13+ years in B2B SaaS growth and SEO
Reviewed
Short answer

This free track teaches marketers to set up GA4 properly and use it for real decisions: key events, clean UTMs, channels including AI Assistant traffic, explorations, attribution, consent mode, BigQuery and Looker Studio. Each lesson is checked against Google's own help pages and includes copyable configs, regex or SQL.

Key takeaways
  • Lessons 1-5 cover how GA4 counts, admin setup, events, key events and UTMs.
  • Lessons 6-7 explain channels, including GA4's AI Assistant channel and a tighter AI regex.
  • Lessons 8-12 cover reports, explorations, audiences and attribution.
  • Lessons 13-19 cover consent mode, data quality, integrations, BigQuery, Looker Studio and AI-assisted analysis.
  • Lesson 20 ties it together in a monthly AI search measurement routine.
  • Everything works on a free, standard GA4 property.

Checked 4 November 2026 (CET) against Google Analytics Help and Google developer documentation. GA4 menus and limits change, so confirm in your own property. "Our view" marks MentionX opinion. Ledgerline is a fictional company used for illustration.

01What's in the track?

#Lesson
1How GA4 works: events, users and sessions
2GA4 property setup checklist for marketers
3Events and enhanced measurement
4Key events: what replaced conversions
5UTM tagging that GA4 reads correctly
6The default channel group, explained
7AI referral traffic: the AI Assistant channel and a custom regex
8Customising standard reports and the library
9Free-form explorations and segments
10Funnel and path explorations
11Audiences for remarketing and analysis
12Attribution models and lookback windows
13Consent mode v2: basic vs advanced
14Thresholds, sampling and data quality
15Linking Search Console and Google Ads
16Custom dimensions and testing in DebugView
17BigQuery export on the free tier
18Looker Studio reporting on GA4
19Analysing GA4 exports with Claude and ChatGPT
20GA4 for AI search: a monthly measurement routine

02How is the track organised?

Part 1: Setup and foundations (lessons 1–4). How GA4 counts events, users and sessions, a property setup checklist, enhanced measurement and key events.

Part 2: Traffic sources (lessons 5–7). UTM tagging, the default channel group, and the AI Assistant channel with a custom regex for AI referral traffic.

Part 3: Reports and explorations (lessons 8–11). The report library, free-form explorations and segments, funnel and path explorations, and audiences.

Part 4: Attribution and data quality (lessons 12–14). Attribution models and lookback windows, consent mode v2, and thresholds and sampling.

Part 5: Connections and reporting (lessons 15–18). Search Console and Google Ads links, custom dimensions and DebugView, BigQuery export and Looker Studio.

Part 6: GA4 in the AI era (lessons 19–20). Analysing exports with Claude and ChatGPT, and a monthly routine for measuring AI search.

03Who is it for?

Marketers in content, SEO, paid media, demand gen and marketing ops who need GA4 numbers they can trust and explain, without becoming analytics engineers. No coding is needed, though lessons 16 and 17 include optional code.

04How should you take it?

Do lessons 1-4 in order; a property with the right retention, filters and key events makes every later lesson work. Then jump to what you need. If you track AI visibility, lessons 6, 7 and 17 pair with the MentionX measurement guide to tracking AI traffic in GA4 and measuring brand visibility in Claude.

Our view: most GA4 frustration comes from setup, not from the interface. An hour on lessons 2-5 saves months of arguing about numbers.

05Which lessons should you start with for your role?

Your roleStart withThen readWhy
Content or SEO1-46, 7, 9, 15, 20Organic and AI referral traffic you can explain
Paid media1-56, 12, 15Clean campaign data and fair attribution
Demand gen or growth1-45, 10, 11, 12Funnels, audiences and channel credit
Marketing ops or analytics1-413, 14, 16, 17, 18Consent, data quality and pipelines
Team lead1, 26, 14, 18, 19Numbers the team can trust and report

Next: How GA4 works: events, users and sessions.

07Common questions

Is this GA4 course free? Yes. All lessons are free to read, with no sign-up.

Do I need Analytics 360? No. Every lesson works on a standard GA4 property, and each one notes where 360 limits differ.

Does GA4 track ChatGPT and other AI traffic? Yes. GA4's default channel group now has an AI Assistant channel. Lesson 7 covers it, plus a custom regex for a fuller view.

Questions people ask

3 answers

Is this GA4 course free?

Yes. All lessons are free to read, with no sign-up.

Do I need Analytics 360?

No. Every lesson works on a standard GA4 property, and each one notes where 360 limits differ.

Does GA4 track ChatGPT and other AI traffic?

Yes. GA4's default channel group now has an AI Assistant channel. Lesson 7 covers it, plus a custom regex for a fuller view.

Sources

  1. Google Analytics Help, About eventssupport.google.com
  2. Google Analytics Help, Mark events as key eventssupport.google.com
  3. Google Analytics Help, Default channel groupsupport.google.com
  4. Google Analytics Help, Custom channel groupssupport.google.com
  5. Google Analytics Help, BigQuery Exportsupport.google.com
  6. All accessed 4 Nov 2026.
Written and reviewed by Dipuck JonesHow we research and testReport an error

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