28 Apr Google sunsetting Universal Analytics in 2023
With the introduction of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) in 2020, the transition from Universal Analytics (UA) was inevitable. Google has recently announced that they will be sunsetting the UA on the 1st of July 2023 and the 1st of October 2023 for 360 properties. So what does this mean for those who haven’t moved over to GA4?
Are still using Universal Analytics?
As there was no clear date before when the full transfer to GA4 would take place some businesses still haven’t got GA4 set up. So we understand they may be concerned about their data, fortunately, Google has stated that the data will go read-only for at least 6 months allowing users after the cut-off date to access their previous data and giving plenty of time to get GA4 up and running, which we recommend doing as soon as you can. This can allow you to run UA and GA4 in parallel giving you time to get used to how GA4 works. Unfortunately, you can’t transfer the data you have previously gathered in UA into GA4, so we recommend exporting it before the transition so it isn’t lost in the future.
Why should you move over to Google Analytics 4?
GA4 was designed with the future in mind not only focusing on the rise in mobile and app development and use but mainly being built with privacy in mind as users around the world are becoming more aware and concerned about how they are being tracked. This allows us to gather useful performance data and metrics that comply with the laws being set in place concerning online privacy.
Compared to UA, GA4 allows a lot of flexibility with the events you can track lots of different types of information in your reports. While the pre-configured reports are limited, this version focuses on the custom reports and how they can help organise your data in the best way possible for you. One other benefit of GA4 is the automatic tracking which is missing from UA allowing you to track pages, outbound links and more. There are a number of new features and differences with GA4 that once implemented can help improve your website’s performance.
As it gets closer to July 2023 we will be posting the latest information about the transition as Google announced it.
