Get Ready for GA4: Tips to Stay Ahead of the Game

As you probably know,  Google intends to phase out Universal Analytics (UA), their previous version of Google Analytics, and replace it with the latest version, GA4. Starting in July of this year, Google will no longer send data to the older UA properties, and these properties will be removed entirely by January 2024. Additionally, Google has disclosed that they will automatically configure GA4 for all existing UA accounts in March 2023.

Given the impending March 2023 deadline, we have some guidance to offer...

Overview: Google has released GA4 for implementation. Google said "All standard Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits on July 1, 2023.”

GA4 Migration: Our Advice

Recommended – Install Google Analytics 4 today, this will help accumulate and build historical site data in the platform.

After July 1, 2023, you can access your previously processed data in your Universal Analytics property for at least six months. It will no longer process hits.

Recommended – Google knows your data is important to you. We strongly encourage you to export your historical reports from UA during this time (before June 2023). We also recommend continuing to download your UA reports after GA4 is installed. The goal here is to plan ahead so that you will still have access to historical data when UA goes away.

GA4 collects both website and app data to better understand the customer journey. It uses events instead of session-based data. This includes privacy controls such as cookieless measurement and behavioral and conversion modeling. 

GA4 vs. UA

The difference between Universal Analytics and GA4 is the measurement model used.

Universal Analytics highlights Total Users (shown as Users) in most reports, whereas GA4 focuses on Active Users (also shown as Users).

This may impact the perspective on campaign performance. Universal Analytics uses a measurement model based on sessions and pageviews. A session is a group of user interactions (hits) with a website that takes place over a given timeframe. A session can contain multiple pageviews, events, and eCommerce transactions.

Whereas GA4 uses a measurement model based on events and parameters. Any interaction can be captured as an event.

There will be different results on metrics when comparing performance between GA4 and Universal Analytics. We want to understand these nuances fully as we gain learnings. To learn more about metrics in UA vs. GA4, check out this article from Google. 

Want to learn more about the GA4 migration process and how this might affect your website tracking? Contact us to schedule a call with an expert.