Google is permanently replacing ‘Universal Analytics’ (UA) with ‘Google Analytics 4’ (GA4), its next-generation counterpart, on July 1, 2023. But what is it and what does it actually mean for users?
Google GA4 has been active for a number of years, however with the internet giant finally set to pull the plug on UA, it is set to become the standard for web analytics.
The next-generation in analytics management solutions, it collects event-based data from both websites and apps. A new kind of property designed for the future of measurements, it allows users to better understand the customer journey and has predictive capabilities to offer guidance.
With the ability to collect more data and provide more insight than UA, GA4 is built around the concept of events, rather than sessions – covering everything from pageviews and clicks to form submissions and custom events defined by the user.
It also includes a new reporting section with an advanced toolset, enables cross-platform tracking to include both website and apps, uses ‘probabilistic matching’ to stitch together data from different sources (e.g. Google Ads and Facebook Ads), predicts purchase probability and churn and has an enhanced data model to track interactions as they happen.
So, what does the July 1 UA shutdown actually mean for users?
Until July 1, users can continue to use and collect new data in their UA properties, with some continuing to process data for a short period as the shutdown is staged.
In preparation for the change, Google has gradually auto-generated GA4 properties for existing users, unless they opted out or had already self-created a GA4 property. If users choose to self-create a GA4 property, and it is connected to a UA property, Google will automatically copy over any configurations, such as goals and audiences, not marked complete to a user’s new property.
After July 1, users will have access to previously processed UA data for at least six months – any extension on this is yet to be confirmed. Users are encouraged to export any historical reports during this time to avoid losing any data.
In the coming months, Google will provide a future date for when existing UA properties will not longer be available, including historical data and reports in the analytics interface or access your UA data via the API.
How do I export my historical reports?
There are several ways for users to export existing reports and data from a UA property:
How do I know if my Google Analytics property is impacted?
If you created your property before October 14, 2020, it’s likely that you’re using an Universal Analytics property and should consider migrating to GA4 sooner rather than later. If you created your property after October 14, 2020, it’s likely that you’re already using GA4 – so no action is required.
Unsure which property you’re using? Here’s a handy identifier…
If you are using Universal Analytics, you’ll likely have a blue notification to tell you that the shutdown is effective as of July 1 – unless you’ve previously dismissed it.
Alternatively, your property ID will tell you which type you’re using. UA property IDs start with UA and end with a number (for example, UA-XXXXXXXXX-1), while GA4 property IDs are comprised of numbers only.
To find your property ID, click on the down arrow in the top left corner (near the Analytics logo) to open the property selector. Your property ID will be displayed below the property name.
Will these changes affect my Google Ads?
Unless your UA property is linked to your Google Ads account, it will remain unaffected. If the two are linked, UA data will stop flowing to your Google Ads after July 1, in line with the UA shutdown.
Google Ads campaigns will be affected if you’re:
To avoid this, users should migrate all UA property Google Ads links to GA4 property as soon as possible. Users should then look to important GA4 conversions (for biddings) and/or add GA4 audiences to a campaign or ad group (for remarketing).
If you’d like more information on how to use or switch to a GA4 property, get in touch to find out more about how we can help.