Prepare for the Google Analytics overhaul or go without metrics
If you own or run any of the 28 million websites that use Google Analytics to find out who’s visiting your site and what they’re doing — and you want to keep collecting that data — it’s time to get a move on. Upgrade your site, or your client’s, to accommodate the new Google Analytics 4 or be consigned to being clueless about your digital operations and customers.
Launched in October 2020, GA4 will fully replace the existing version of Google Analytics, known as Universal Analytics, on July 1. The new platform is the only way Google will record website data from that day forward, so if you want to track your future data, get those GA4 properties built now.
Google is under pressure to make the changes to comply with stricter regulations throughout the world regarding user privacy.
Three important takeaways from this change:
- GA4 collects website data differently than the current platform and will know less about individual users who visit. UA tracks your journey through a website based on things like the number of sessions and pageviews generated. The GA4 model relies on events occurring on a website – scrolling, clicking on links, filling out forms. It captures those events and works backwards to associate them with the user.
- A powerful feature of GA4 is that it integrates tracking of websites and apps, making it easier to analyze all of your data collectively.
- Export your historical UA data or risk losing it. There is no mechanism to import UA data into GA4. While data collected by UA accounts still will be accessible after July 1, Google hasn’t said for how long.
Do you have any options? Yes. Unless you make the inadvisable decision to quit tracking and analyzing data, investigate alternative platforms or dive in and update your website with GA4. It is free and, after you learn how to use it, you’ll be better positioned to determine if you need complementary data and reporting tools to more effectively use the data you’re collecting.
We’ve taken the challenge and our updated website is ready to roll. Change can be difficult, but for us, progress means change.
