Annotations Now Available in Google Analytics 4 – How They Work
Watch our video on how annotations work below!
Great news for digital marketers—annotations are finally back in Google Analytics 4 (GA4). For anyone who relied heavily on this feature in Universal Analytics, the return of annotations is a big win. It’s been years in the making, and the rollout is finally happening.
Why Annotations Matter
If you’ve worked in digital marketing or analytics, you know how powerful annotations can be. In Universal Analytics, they allowed teams to mark important changes—like website updates, campaign launches, or technical issues—directly on the timeline. When Google launched GA4, annotations were missing, and it was a noticeable gap.
Now, they’re back—and better.
How to Use Annotations in GA4
To get started with annotations in GA4:
- Navigate to your Traffic Acquisition report.
- Look for the “View Annotations” button—this new feature should be visible near your graph.
- Click “Create Annotation.”
- Add your note, for example:
“Changed product description formatting to better engage potential customers.” - Choose a date range (e.g., the date you made the change).
- Optionally, assign a color to your annotation for visual tracking.
- Click Create Annotation.
And that’s it! You’ll now see your annotation listed and displayed directly in the timeline view.
A Better Way to Track / See Annotated Changes
What’s great about this new version is that all your annotations are viewable in one spot – a feature that wasn’t available before. This makes it much easier to keep track of historical changes, collaborate across teams, and analyze performance around key updates.
Check out this quick video walkthrough that shows how it works in action:
