How to Enable Google Signals in GA4 (Step by Step)

Google Signals lets Google Analytics 4 track and report across devices. When it is on, GA4 can use data from people who are signed in to a Google account (Gmail, YouTube and so on) and have ads personalization turned on. In practice that means more accurate tracking of the same user across phones, laptops and platforms, remarketing audiences you can push to Google Ads, and demographic reports such as age, gender and interests.
Google Signals is not enabled by default in Google Analytics 4. Follow the steps below to turn it on.

How to enable Google Signals in GA4

1. Open your Google Analytics property and go to Admin in the left-hand menu.

2. In the Property column, go to Data Settings → Data Collection.

3. Click Get started in the notice at the top of the page.

4. Click Continue.

5. Click ACTIVATE.

You should now see this view:

6. After 24 hours, open the Demographics overview report in the GA4 left-hand menu.

If you see user data such as age, gender and interests, Google Signals is working correctly.

To turn Google Signals off later, simply flip the same toggle.

Google Signals is one of a dozen or so switches that decide whether your GA4 data is good enough to make advertising decisions on. If you are not sure your setup measures everything it should, take a look at what our marketing audit covers. We go through the entire GA4 configuration and show you exactly where data is leaking.