How to Export GA4 Data to BigQuery

GA4 reports limit your analysis options. Exporting the data to BigQuery lets you query every event with SQL. This guide covers confirming the GA4 property, creating the BigQuery Link, choosing Daily export, and verifying that events_ tables arrive.

Why connect GA4 to BigQuery

GA4 reports are fine for trends and routine monitoring, but they get restrictive for deeper analysis: data retention is limited, custom queries are constrained by report dimensions, and you cannot join website data with other sources. Once GA4 data lands in BigQuery, every event is stored in daily tables you can query with SQL, and you can run it side by side with Search Console exports in the same project.

This post walks through the whole setup: confirming the GA4 property, creating the BigQuery Link, choosing the export type, and checking that data actually arrives. Everything happens in the browser, no code required.

Step 1: Confirm the GA4 property

Open Google Analytics and select the GA4 property for yourwebsite.com.

Make sure it is a GA4 property, not Universal Analytics. Universal Analytics has no BigQuery export option, only GA4 supports this link. If the account holds several properties, confirm the right one is selected before moving on.

Step 2: Open BigQuery Links

In GA4, click Admin (the gear icon in the bottom-left corner), find Product links, then open BigQuery Links.

Step 3: Create the Link

Click the Link button and work through the setup in order:

Choose BigQuery project

Select yourwebsite-dataset. If the project does not exist yet, create it in Google Cloud Console first. The project and dataset steps are covered in the Search Console guide: How to export Google Search Console data to BigQuery.

Dataset location

Pick US, matching your BigQuery dataset location. If GA4 and BigQuery use different regions, the link fails or the data is delayed.

Data streams and events

Keep the default settings. GA4 automatically includes all data streams under the property.

Export type

Two options are available, and Daily is the recommended one:

Export type	Characteristics	Best for
Daily	Batch export once per day, lower cost	SEO analysis, weekly and monthly reports, page analysis
Streaming	Near real-time data, higher cost	Live monitoring, second-level response needs

For SEO analysis with weekly reports, monthly reports, and page analysis, Daily is enough. Streaming delivers second-level data and costs more, so there is no need to select it.

Leave User data unchecked below Export type, and leave Review and submit unchecked too. Then submit.

Step 4: Submit and wait for data

After submitting, the LINK CREATED message confirms the link is live.

Then wait, usually a few hours up to 24 hours. Back in BigQuery, the structure looks like this:

yourwebsite-dataset
├── searchconsole_yourwebsite
└── analytics_xxxxxxxxx

The analytics_ dataset holds the GA4 export. If Search Console data is already linked, both datasets sit side by side for cross-querying.

Step 5: Confirm the GA4 data

Open the analytics_ dataset and you will see daily event tables:

events_20260814
events_20260815
...

Open any table and check that the schema includes these key fields:

event_name
event_timestamp
user_pseudo_id
event_params
traffic_source
device
geo

If these fields are present, GA4 data is flowing into BigQuery completely. New events_ tables will be generated every day, and you can start running SQL analysis.

Full workflow recap

The whole setup in four steps

Confirm GA4 property

GA4, not Universal Analytics.

Open BigQuery Links

Admin, then Product links.

Create the Link

Project, region, Daily export.

Wait and verify

Hours to 24h, check events_ tables.