Data Retention Settings
AnalyticsAlso: Data Retention Policy · User Data Retention · Analytics Data Retention
Quick definition
Data retention settings control how long a platform stores individual user and event-level data before deleting it automatically. In Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the default is two months. If you do not change it, any custom Exploration report looking back further than two months will return empty or incomplete results.
How it varies across Australia
A significant share of Australian GA4 properties are still running on the two-month default. The businesses that discover the problem tend to discover it the hard way, when a quarterly review or year-on-year comparison produces blank Exploration reports. The fix takes under a minute but must be done before the data rolls off.
See data and tracking scores across Australian industries →What it actually means
Data retention settings are the expiry dates on your analytics data. Every platform that stores user-level or event-level data has a policy for how long that data stays before it is automatically deleted. In GA4, you have two choices: two months or fourteen months.
The default is two months. That means if you open GA4 in March and try to run an Exploration report comparing user behaviour against the same period last year, you will get nothing. The raw event data is already gone.
The important distinction is what the setting actually affects. Standard GA4 reports, the ones in the left-hand navigation showing sessions, users and conversions, draw on aggregated data that is retained independently. The retention setting controls user-level and event-level data, which is what powers Exploration reports, path analysis, funnel exploration and audience segment comparisons.
This matters most for cohort analysis, attribution troubleshooting and anything involving conversion rate patterns over time. If your team ever needs to compare how a specific cohort behaved across more than two months, the fourteen-month setting is the minimum viable configuration.
Changing the setting does not recover data already deleted. It only governs data collected going forward. The earlier you change it, the more historical event-level data you preserve.
The two-month default is the quietest data loss in marketing. It never announces itself. You only find out when you need the data and it's gone.
How it shows up
The problem shows up when you try to use GA4 Explorations for any analysis window longer than two months. Path analysis, funnel exploration and segment overlap reports all pull from the retained event-level data. A blank or partially populated Exploration report is often the first sign the retention setting was left at the default.
It also affects audience building for Google Ads remarketing when audiences are defined by behavioural sequences that stretch beyond the retention window. Users who completed early steps in a funnel more than two months ago may fall out of the audience entirely.
The Australian context
Australian privacy obligations under the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) add a layer of consideration that goes in the opposite direction. While GA4's default setting loses data too fast for analytical purposes, Australian businesses also need to ensure they are not retaining personally identifiable data longer than necessary. The fourteen-month GA4 setting stores event-level data attached to pseudonymous identifiers, not names or emails, which generally sits within the APPs framework. For businesses in health, financial services or legal, check with legal counsel before extending retention beyond the default.
Where people get this wrong
Related terms
Common questions
Where do I change the data retention setting in GA4?
Admin panel, then Data Settings, then Data Retention. Change the user and event data retention dropdown from two months to fourteen months and click Save. You need Editor or Administrator access on the property. The change takes effect for new data immediately.
Does changing data retention affect my standard GA4 reports?
No. Standard reports like the traffic acquisition and conversion reports use aggregated data stored separately. The retention setting only affects Exploration reports and user-level queries. Your standard reporting history stays intact regardless of this setting.
Can I recover data that was deleted when the retention period expired?
No. Once GA4 deletes event-level data under the retention policy, it cannot be recovered. The only way to preserve more history going forward is to change the setting before the data rolls off, or to set up a BigQuery export from the start.
Does the data retention setting affect Google Ads audiences built from GA4?
Yes, indirectly. Remarketing audiences built on behavioural sequences or conditions that reference events older than the retention window may shrink or behave unexpectedly. Setting retention to fourteen months gives audience definitions more room to work with, particularly for longer consideration cycles.
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New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.
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