How to Set Up Analytics for a Cannabis Website

Install GA4 as the on-site layer

GA4 is the base. It records what people do once they are on the site: which pages they land on, how they move through, and which actions they take. The cleanest way to deploy it is through Google Tag Manager, which lets you add and change tags without editing site code every time and, importantly, lets you gate those tags behind a consent choice. Confirm data is flowing in the GA4 realtime report before you trust anything else. A tag that looks installed but never fired is the most common reason a setup silently collects nothing.

Link Search Console and know the division of labor

GA4 and Search Console each see one half of the journey, and linking them is what makes the setup useful for SEO. Search Console owns everything before the click: the queries people searched, your impressions, and which results they clicked. GA4 owns everything after: what those visitors did on the page. Verify the site in Search Console, then link it to GA4 so the query data appears inside GA4's reports. Now you can see the search term that brought someone in sitting right next to what they did once they arrived, instead of alt-tabbing between two tools and guessing at the join.

Configure key events, or measure nothing that matters

Out of the box, GA4 counts pageviews and sessions, which tell you volume but not success. The step people skip is defining key events, GA4's name for conversions. Decide what a win looks like on your site, an add-to-cart, a menu order start, a store locator use, a phone call, then mark those events as key events so GA4 reports them as conversions. Skip this and your reports show plenty of traffic and zero outcomes, which makes it impossible to tell whether SEO is doing anything beyond attracting visits. This is the one setting that turns analytics from a traffic counter into a results tool — nothing else matters as much.

Wire consent before tracking, not after

Because cannabis browsing and purchase data is sensitive, the order of operations matters: consent first, tags second. Route your GA4 and advertising tags through a consent mechanism so they respect a visitor's choice before collecting anything, and build in the opt-outs that privacy laws expect. Setting this up at install time is far easier than retrofitting it after you have been tracking without a gate. Confirm your specific obligations with counsel; this is not legal advice.

A worked example

A dispensary had GA4 running for a year and could not say whether SEO drove any sales. The reason was plain once someone looked: no key events were configured, so GA4 had recorded a year of sessions and nothing else, and Search Console was never linked. They marked add-to-cart and store-locator use as key events, linked Search Console, and within a month could see that organic visitors from strain-name searches converted to store-locator use at a strong rate. Same traffic they always had, finally measured — the data had been there all along, uncounted.

Frequently asked questions

What analytics does a cannabis site actually need?

Two free tools cover most of it: GA4 for on-site behavior and conversions, and Google Search Console for how the site performs in search. Install GA4, verify Search Console, and link the two so organic query data flows into GA4 reports. That pairing answers most SEO questions without any paid platform.

Why link GA4 and Search Console?

Because each sees half the picture. Search Console knows the queries and clicks that happen before someone lands, and GA4 knows what they do after. Linking them lets you view the search queries that led to a page next to what those visitors did on it, which is far more useful than reading either report alone.

What are key events in GA4?

Key events are the GA4 term for conversions, the specific actions you count as success. On a cannabis site those are things like an add-to-cart, a menu order start, a store locator use, or a call. You mark the relevant events as key events so GA4 reports them as conversions, otherwise they sit in the data unlabeled and your reports show traffic but no outcomes.

Does analytics setup have privacy implications?

Yes, and more so here than for most sites. Cannabis browsing and purchase data is sensitive, so setup should route tags through a consent mechanism and respect opt-outs before collecting data. Configure consent first and tracking second. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm your obligations with qualified counsel.