Migrating to Google Analytics 4 – why time is running out…

It’s been common knowledge for a while that Google has been busy developing a brand-new version of Google Analytics (simply named Google Analytics 4 or GA4), alongside the current version of Google Analytics (known as Universal Analytics, or GA3). 

For a long time, only analytics geeks and hardcore users have been paying much attention, but Google recently set a date for when migration to GA4 must happen for everybody, namely the 1st July 2023, when the old version of Universal Analytics will be switched off for good.

But that’s still a year away – so what’s the rush?

One thing we’ve come to realise is that GA4 is essentially a completely new analytics tool  and rather than tracking page views, it looks at many different page elements. This will help to deliver a full picture of a user as they journey through your website. 

More importantly, it will not import any of your previous data. It will only begin collecting data from the time that you create your new GA4 property. That means if you rely on year-on-year reporting, you will need to create and configure an account now, so that you have enough historical data to continue to track and analyse your account in this way.

The sooner you migrate, the better for your business

Given that a simple migration is not available, the sooner you start to create your new GA4 property, the better. If you want to continue to have a year-on-year comparison, you must launch your new GA4 property before 1 July 2022. This is to ensure you have 12 months’ worth of data by the time UA/GA3 stops working. And that’s not very far away! Making the switch now will mean that you can collect both sets of data for a year – and make sure that you can analyse like-with-like, whether it’s GA3 or GA4.  

How should you approach the migration?

You will need to make sure that you cover off everything you need to migrate over to GA4. Google recommends that you get started as soon as you can. Firstly consider your current account structure and create the new property. Then you will then be able to add in the necessary data streams for data collection and link to Google Adwords should you wish to. When you’re set up, there are ways to map and migrate custom events, goals, conversions and audiences from GA3 to GA4. There is a Google user migration tool to help you do this.      

Some GA4 highlights for users

GA4 promises users a new reporting system, with advanced levels of analysis. This will hopefully make the creation and analysis of reports more straightforward and intuitive. Predictive metrics and machine learning will also help you to analyse future user behaviour including purchase and revenue forecasts. But to take full advantage of GA4’s measurement continuity, automated insights about customer behaviour and activation to improve ROI, you will need to set up your property as soon as you can.

How we can help

Switching on a GA4 account is pretty simple – and that’s a step most people with some knowledge of Google Analytics can manage themselves. It becomes a bit more complicated when it comes to setting up and configuring your analytics to provide the answers you need and have come to expect from its predecessor. 

This is where we can help. We offer a simple but bespoke package of set up, configuration and initial training. Get in touch today to avoid the great analytics panic which is only a few months away!