Google are retiring Universal Analytics

Google Analytics as we currently know it is set to undergo a significant transition, so website owners and SEO's need to get ready for a change. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is replacing the Universal Analytics (UA) model.

The most popular website analytics programme, Google UA, is used by marketers, web designers, and website owners. It offers information that can be extremely useful for figuring out how visitors move across your website. Since UA, Universal Analytics has been the most recent iteration of Google Analytics. As a result, many users might find the approaching transition to GA4 more than a little difficult. Despite being released in 2020, GA4 has not experienced the same levels of popularity as UA. A lot of consumers found the shift in data models, tracking techniques, and user interfaces to be an overwhelming transition.

There will soon be change.
Users of UA won't have many options anymore, though. In the future, GA4 will predominate over Universal Analytics, which is being discontinued. Of course, there are certain similarities between the two Google Analytics versions, including the kinds of data that are gathered. But many people are dubious of GA4 because of a poor launch that had bugs and usability problems.

By July 2023, when UA will be permanently gone, the platform will have undergone significant changes over the previous year and will continue to do so over the next 15 months. The court language of analytics may currently be UA, but in a few years, GA4 may be able to achieve the same status with less difficulties.

Preparing for the major switch
You want accurate data that you can track and analyse to enhance your online experience, whether you're a website owner, web consultant, digital marketer, or something else entirely. It is essential for advertising, web design, organic marketing, and many other purposes. As a result, you need to make sure that switching from UA to GA4 won't negatively impact your capacity to collect this data. What can you do, then, to lessen the pain of the switch?

The greatest response is to start utilising GA4 immediately. Even though you might still want to run UA to confirm that you're receiving all the same data you used to, only utilise GA4 if you must run UA concurrently with it. Learn how it functions and confirm that it is truly operating correctly for your website. Learn how to use the new interface, what reports you may transmit, and whether the new data might be useful to you.

You have roughly a year to get ready before GA4 becomes the primary format of Google Analytics.

 

Author

Paul Baguley
Paul Baguley

Paul was included as a SEO contributor in a book called Digital Marketers Sound Off. He was one of 101 accomplished digital marketing specialists sharing their favourite tools, tips, tactics, and predictions for the future.

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