Why is Google moving from Universal Analytics to GA4 & what is going to change?

On 16th March Google announced they will be sunsetting the use of Universal Analytics from 1st July 2023 and moving everyone over to Google Analytics 4. GA4 was released in October 2020 but not all reports were available in the new property so some advertisers have been hesitant to transition. However, now there is an end date in sight, it’s time to stop resisting and embrace the change.

Although July 2023 seems like a long way off, it will be important to start migrating over to the new Google Analytics 4 property ahead of time to ensure a smooth transition when Universal Analytics ceases to exist.

What does sunsetting UA mean?

On the 1st July 2023 standard Google Analytics will stop processing new hits. 360 analytics properties will stop processing new hits on the 1st October 2023. However, the read only data should remain available for use for at least 6 months.

Why is the change happening?

Privacy has been a big concern for consumers over the last few years and users' awareness of their privacy online has been increasing. The result of this has been changes in the law like GDPR in Europe and ITP.

As we move into a cookieless world, Google has created GA4 with privacy front-of-mind. GA4 operates across platforms (web and app) and does not rely exclusively on cookies. It uses event-based data modelling for its measurement.

What is going to change?

There will be lots of differences between UA and GA4 but the miang ones to highlight are…

●      Access to insights across both app and web instead of using UA for web insights and Firebase for app.

●      Data-driven attribution not only for 360 customers. GA4 will allow everyone to use DDA and import this back into Google ads for optimisation.

●      Machine learning to give predictive insights about user behaviour including users who are likely to convert and users likely to churn, which can be used in audiences.

●      Enhanced measurement of events - previously these had to be tracked using additional tracking via GTM/manual tagging but GA4 will include as standard… 

○      Page scrolls when a user hits 90%

○      Outbound clicks

○      Viewed search results page

○      Video engagement for embedded YouTube videos

○      File downloads

●      The UI - the interface in GA4 is different to UA. Not all of the same reports are available (although most of these can be re-created via the explore tab) and new ones have been added. It’s a good idea to start getting familiar with these as soon as possible.

Recommendations

We recommend getting a GA4 property set up as soon as possible in order to give the platform enough time to accurately model event based conversions ahead of July 2023 when this will become the source of truth for sales and revenue for many advertisers. Google has a step by step guide on how to start the migration here.

Compare the data coming through Universal Analytics vs GA4 and see where the discrepancies lie for each of your main advertising channels. It should be useful to see if additional transactions are being attributed using event based data in GA4 vs the cookie based data in UA.

Make sure you are happy with the reporting and data available in GA4 ahead of time so you aren’t rushing to learn a new platform before you are forced to start using it.

 If you have any questions about why you should start using GA4 or how to set this up, feel free to reach out to us at WRP.