If you logged into your Google Analytics account and saw this notification, it may have been a bit startling or even scary. Your thoughts may have gone from, “Now what?” to “What does this mean?” to “What do I do?” No worries, we’re here to help.
First, let’s cover the timing of when Google Analytics - also known as Universal Analytics (UA) - goes away.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is replacing Universal Analytics
On July 1, 2023, all standard UA properties will stop processing data from your website. It may seem like you have plenty of time to handle this, but we encourage you not to wait. In fact, we spoke with our Google Ad Grants Specialist, Jeremy Weedman, to see what advice he would like to offer. Here’s what he had to say:
"If you do not actively set up GA4, and correctly connect it with your older Universal Analytics account, you run the risk of losing incredibly valuable data. Data is king. It helps you with marketing decisions, advertising efforts, content creation, and optimizing that content for your audience.
I would encourage you to not take this down to the wire (June 30th) and risk losing years' worth of data. Google makes it easy to upgrade, and we can help if you get stuck."
What does GA4 offer?
It’s important for businesses and nonprofit organizations to make data-driven decisions and understand the behaviors of visitors to their websites. Not to mention, ensuring that user data is safe and secure.
GA4 measures many different types of data that UA didn’t, delivers strong analytics dashboards, shows the visitor journeys through the websites, and provides user privacy. What’s really important - GA4 will no longer store IP addresses. GA4 also does not rely exclusively on cookies but rather uses an event-based data model that delivers measurements based on user behaviors.
How to start gathering data with GA4?
Whether your business or nonprofit organization is focused on sales, generating leads, raising donations, or increasing customer/donor engagement, GA4 offers the tools you need.
Image Source: Google Blog
Here’s an informative blog in Google, Prepare for the future with Google Analytics 4, that we encourage you to read. It covers the following ways that GA4 can support your business or nonprofit:
- Understand your customers across touchpoints
- Improve ROI with data-driven attribution
- Measure engagement and conversions with business and compliance needs in mind
- Get greater value from your data
- Easily activate your insights
- Address your enterprise measurement needs
Now, it’s time to take action and make the move over to GA4 this month.
Want to handle your own migration?
There are plenty of resources out on the Google Analytics Support web pages if you feel confident that you can handle your own migration. They offer step-by-step instructions, video tutorials, and several articles for you to follow. Here are a few links to some of the support articles. You can find many more in addition to these:
- Make the switch to Google Analytics 4
- Common reporting solutions in Google Analytics 4
- Comparing metrics: Google Analytics 4 vs. Universal Analytics
- Migration guide for beginners
- GA4 migration walkthrough (videos)
- Migration reference
Want OneEach to help with your migration?
If you’re a current OneEach website customer, and you prefer that we assist you with your migration, submit a support ticket along with your login for your current Google Analytics account.
Wrapping It Up
Per Google, it can take up to 30 minutes for data to begin appearing in your new GA4 property. As always, your OneEach Account Managers and Support Team are here to help. Contact us with any questions you may have.