GDS

Someone in one of my Slack channels recently asked about managing GA4 properties across multiple time zones.

The question was whether to set all properties – regardless of the publications’ physical locations – to the same time zone, or set each publication’s property to its local time zone.

Before I share my answer, let’s look at how to check your timezone settings and why they’re important.

Subscribe Now: Digital Strategy Newsletter

How to change Time Zone in Google Analytics 4

1. Go to the Admin tab

2. Click on “Property details”

In the screenshot below, both options take you to the same place – it doesn’t matter which one you click.

3. You’ll see your “Reporting time zone.”

If it’s not what it should be, click the dropdown, select the city in your timezone and click the blue Save button.

Are Time Zone Changes Retroactive in GA4?

No. If you change your time zone in GA4, it only affects data collection from that point forward, not retroactively.

Effects of Changing GA4 Time Zone

Two things can happen if you change your time zone in GA4:

Your Data Spikes for an Hour or More

Let’s say it’s 9 a.m. ET and your time zone is set to New York and change it to Los Angeles – a three-hour time difference.

For that one point in time when you changed your zone, you will double-count data for three hours: first, from 6-9 a.m. ET (this would be collected before the change), then again from 6-9 a.m. PT (this, after).

Since it was 9 a.m. ET when you changed the time zone, you sent your property “back in time.”

You’ll see data for all 24 hours of the day where you changed the time zone, but those 24 hours will contain 27 hours of data.

Your Data Flatlines for an Hour or More

This is the opposite of the previous scenario. Let’s use the same times but flip the time zones.

If it’s 9 a.m. in LA and you switch your time zone to ET (New York), you’re taking your GA4 property “into the future” and therefore “skipping” the three hours between 9 a.m. to noon.

So any data you look at for that one day when you moved your time zone forward will only have 21 hours’ worth of data.

Which Time Zone Should You Choose in GA4?

In Google Analytics 4, you should choose the time zone that corresponds with the physical location of your business or organization.

If your business is spread out across multiple time zones but you only have one property, I recommend choosing the time zone within which your headquarters or home base are located.

If you don’t have a central physical location, then it’s up to you which time zone to choose. It should still, however, be one of the time zones where you have a physical presence.

Properties in Different Time Zones: Google Analytics 4

What if you manage multiple GA4 properties for businesses located in different time zones? Should you set each property to it’s local time zone, or sync them all to the same time zone?

This depends on your preference, but I’ll share my strong recommendation.

If you’re thinking of marrying the data (in an export or Looker report e.g.) across multiple properties and using a time-based GA4 dimension, it comes down to two choices:

Local-Time Sync

What this means: Matching each property to it’s actual time zone based on its physical location

Super simplified example: If you have 1,000 views across all properties at 7 a.m. ET, you know that means it was 7 a.m. in each respective time zone. That also means a 7 a.m. view for your East Coast property occurred at 4 a.m. in your West Coast property (assuming US time zones).

One-Zone Sync

What this means: Setting all properties to the same time zone (let’s say ET)

Taking that same example, views that took place at 7 a.m. ET and 4 a.m. PT would be grouped together – and grouped under the 07 hour dimension – but views at 7 a.m. ET and 7 a.m. PT would not.

I prefer the first option because when you’re analyzing properties in silos, it could be confusing to “remember” which time zone it’s in and say, for example, “OK I see our LA property got 400 views at 7 a.m. but since the time zone is set to ET I know it was actually 4 a.m.”

If you have other team members in the properties – especially if they don’t walk across all time zones – you would have to remind them of the difference.

Otherwise, they may make time-based strategic decisions based on false assumptions if someone forgets the time-zone difference.

Subscribe Now: Digital Strategy Newsletter

Why Does My Time Zone Matter?

The time zone you choose will affect any dimension related to time: day, hour, date, for example. You can see the full list in the screenshot below.

This is especially important if you base editorial decisions around time.

For example, if you notice that most of your newsletter traffic comes in between 7 and 8 a.m., you might schedule it to go out at 6:59 a.m. local time.

But if your time zone is set to U.S. CT and the majority if your readers are in U.S. ET, you could make the mistake of sending your newsletter out an hour later than you intend to. Why?

Because your data is telling you that most of your newsletter traffic comes between 7-8 a.m. but your readers are on the East Coast. By scheduling at 6:59 a.m. CT, it’s hitting their inboxes at 7:59 a.m. ET, missing the majority of your target window.