Some of you may have heard that Google is switching off universal analytics – its long running web analytics tool for tracking website data – on 1 July 2023.
Over 28 million websites currently use Google Analytics so that means there are a lot of businesses out there that need to know what this means and its implications.
In a nutshell it means if you don’t get prepared and set-up GA4 on your website all that valuable free data on your website will stop. And if you wait to implement it after 1 July 2023 you will not be able to retrospectively back date the data and any GA4 data before your implementation will be forever lost!
So here are three things you need to do!
- Don’t panic! You have plenty of time to go into your Google Analytics account and set things up to start using GA4. Google has laid out what you need to do in a blog earlier this year https://blog.google/products/marketingplatform/analytics/prepare-for-future-with-google-analytics-4/
- Understand – Learn how GA4 will be different to Universal Analytics – again there are tons of blogs on this if you google ‘GA4’ but essentially the biggest difference between the two is the measurement model that they use. Universal Analytics uses a model based on sessions and pageview plus page hits, event hits, ecommerce hits, and social interaction hits. In contrast, Google Analytics 4 data switches things up and uses a model based on events and parameters. Switching now means you’ll be able to start seeing the difference straight away and see how things will be different from 1 July 2013.
- Prepare – Google has launched a free training module specifically on GA4 – link to it is below. At the very least we highly recommend anyone running a company or working within a marketing team to take the training. Website analytics give you valuable free data to help you run your business effectively and GA4 will not only become a powerful tool in your marketing tool-kit but will also help you steer management, owners and stakeholders in the business with data driven solutions – so get cracking and take the training as the clock is ticking! https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11828307?hl=en
And remember if you need help, or you’re still not sure then speak to someone who can help and understands Google Analytics. We’re also here for any questions or if you want to discuss how we can directly help get in touch today.
