What You Need to Know About Google Analytics 4

Is your business prepared for the latest evolution of Google website analytics? Analytics are critical to understanding where your traffic comes from and how users are interacting with and navigating your website or app. Universal Analytics (UA) from Google has served us well over the past decade, but we are excited about the new opportunities to better understand website traffic with Google Analytics 4 (GA4). 

GA4 is already available to use, but requires migration from UA to get started if you’re already using Google Analytics. Here is everything you need to know before UA stops collecting data on July 1, 2023:

What Does Google Analytics 4 Do?

It has been a long time since Google Analytics has seen a major update. Until now, UA focused on collecting session data that tells you how many users were on what page at what time. In contrast, GA4 collects event-based data allowing you to measure defined user interactions on your website or app without the hassle of Google Tag Manager. Event-based data is a valuable asset to understanding your customer’s journey. Potential interactions to measure include link clicks, going to a particularly relevant page, and all the way down the line to completing a purchase. 

As Internet privacy continues to be a concern for consumers, GA4 offers new privacy controls like cookieless measurement as well as behavioral and conversion modeling to move away from third-party data dependency. 

This latest generation of analytics offers more accessible dashboards for the lay user while allowing analytics experts to drill further down into the data than ever before.

What is Happening to Universal Analytics?

Universal Analytics will stop processing new data on July 1, 2023. According to Google, UA reports will be accessible for at least six months afterward but will be unavailable at a yet undefined time in the future, so download any reports that you may need sooner rather than later. Enterprise teams with  Google Analytics 360 have a little more leeway and will continue to collect data until October 1, 2023.

What Does This Mean for Adpearance Clients?

Adpearance clients don’t need to sweat the transition to Google Analytics 4. Our team of experts are already in the process of migrating all client accounts from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4. Starting the migration process now means you will already have months of GA4 historical data to compare to when UA is no longer available. 

More Questions About Google Analytics 4?

If curious how Google Analytics 4 will affect your website traffic data, get in touch. We’re happy to review your marketing mix and produce a free digital analysis with recommendations and competitive insights specific to your market.

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