The Old Google Analytics Is Getting a Makeover: Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

As of July 1, 2023, Google Analytics 4 has replaced the previous Google Universal Analytics.

In this post, we’ll explain the benefits of Google Analytics 4 and why it’s still worth making the switch, even now.

Effective July 1, 2024: All Universal Analytics services will be disabled. ⚠️

Starting July 1, 2024, Google will discontinue all Universal Analytics services and replace them entirely with Google Analytics 4. As of that date, all legacy Universal Analytics data and features will no longer be accessible.

Make sure you’ve switched to Google Analytics 4. Download your old data now or export it from Universal Analytics, otherwise it will be permanently deleted.

Data and settings used in Universal Analytics will no longer be available. For example, new conversions (key events) will no longer be tracked, which may negatively impact the performance of your advertising campaigns.

Effective July 1, 2023: Universal Analytics will stop collecting and analyzing data.

Effective October 1, 2023: 360 Universal Analytics will discontinue data collection and analysis. Data that has already been processed will remain available to you for at least six months after the deadline.  

For at least six months after the respective deadline listed above, the old data will still be available and can be downloaded as a backup. After that, the old Google Analytics data will be completely deleted.

Since Google Analytics 4 is based on an entirely new model, it is not possible to perform a simple update like the ones typically done with conventional software. You’ll need to set up Google Analytics 4 from scratch.

The sooner you switch to the new Google Analytics, the more historical data will be available in your account over the long term. This will allow you to compare data across months and years.

You can start building new data sets right now, even before Universal Analytics is completely phased out.

Previous measurement models were geared toward individual platforms or organized into individual sessions. Now, these measurements are event-based and provide a complete overview of all activities. This gives you a comprehensive picture of the progression of the customer lifecycle (the steps a person takes to become a customer and brand ambassador), all websites and apps, and your customers’ purchasing behavior.  

Google Analytics 4 is designed to keep pace with an evolving operating system.

With Google Analytics 4, you can use data-driven analysis to measure the impact of your marketing efforts across the entire customer journey . This means that it’s not just the last click that determines attribution —it’s the entire set of analytics data.  

These will help you understand how your marketing activities drive conversions . The data can be viewed in Google Ads and the Google Marketing Platform. This allows you to optimize campaigns in a targeted manner and further improve the customer experience.

Google Analytics 4 provides you with valuable insights from your first-party data, based on a robust measurement foundation. Machine learning then delivers results for predicting user behavior and conversions. The analytics tool creates new audiences that are highly likely to make a purchase or churn. It automatically provides key insights that help optimize your marketing and tailor it even more effectively.

By combining web and app data, Google Analytics 4 offers enhanced integration capabilities with other Google products. This allows results to be imported into Google Ads, enabling campaigns to be targeted even more effectively.  

These features make it easy to use insights from Google Analytics 4—such as predictive audiences—to optimize your ad campaigns . This provides you with a helpful way to, for example, specifically boost your sales in a short period of time and reach potential customers.

Google Analytics 4 places a strong emphasis on data protection. The tool therefore offers comprehensive and detailed controls over data collection and usage. This makes it easy to adapt to changing user needs and requirements.

With the privacy control—which can be configured by country—you can restrict data collection at the user level, such as cookies and metadata —and minimize it, while still retaining important measurement capabilities. Users gain more control over how their data is used. Data protection regulations, both national and international, can be easily implemented.  

The structure of Google Analytics 4 properties can be flexibly and easily adapted to the requirements of a a company’s data management . This ensures that partners such as advertising agenciescan access your data in accordance with company policies.

Google Analytics 4 offers the most comprehensive solution for businesses to align their campaigns even more closely with users’ needs and expectations . The analytics tool provides the flexibility to measure a wide variety of data types and link them across channels.

While the old Google Analytics model is still heavily focused on the desktop web and cookie-based data, Google Analytics 4 offers cross-platform solutions.

This means that online marketing a tool for more comprehensive and detailed control over data collection and use.

The tool is designed to help achieve business goals, such as increasing revenue, acquiring new customers, and bridging the gap between online and offline customer engagement.

The latest standard for analytics tools does not rely exclusively on cookies and an event-based data model. Instead, it draws on cross-platform and user-centric measurements. This makes Google Analytics 4 a future-proof solution.  

It also offers better privacy protection. For example, IP addresses are no longer stored.  

Today’s data protection regulations require comprehensive protection of user data (You can find more information about the GDPR here). The new analytics tool meets these requirements.   

The sooner you switch to the new Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the more data you’ll be able to use in the long run.

As of June 30, 2023, no new data will be recorded in the old Google Universal Analytics (UA). Historical data will remain available for export until approximately the end of 2023, but after that, the data will be completely gone.

GA4 offers the following benefits:

• You can better understand the customer journey and draw conclusions from it; to do this, Google Analytics 4 uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

• Thanks to advances in machine learning, tracking is possible even when cookies are not available.

• You can also track data across multiple devices, thanks to cross-platform and user-centric measurements.

• It becomes easier to understand which marketing activities influence conversions.

Additional information:

• Google: “The Next Generation of Google Analytics”

• Google: “Universal Analytics Will Soon Be Discontinued”