Google is getting ready to sunset Universal Analytics, which was the standard version of Google Analytics before GA4, in mid-2023.
To be exact – July 1, 2023 is the date Universal Analytics will stop processing new data.
Universal Analytics 360 properties will have an extra three months of data processing, ending on October 1, 2023.
After those dates, Google Analytics 4 will be the new go-to solution for monitoring website activity.
Why?
Google is moving on from Universal Analytics due to its inability to deliver cross-platform insights.
Whereas GA4, on the other hand, can measure data across websites and apps.
Universal Analytics Is Obsolete
Google says the model Universal Analytics is built on has become obsolete:
“Universal Analytics was built for a generation of online measurement that was anchored in the desktop web, independent sessions and more easily observable data from cookies. This measurement methodology is quickly becoming obsolete.“
By not relying exclusively on cookies, and using an event-based data model, Google Analytics 4 can operate across multiple platforms. This makes it a more future-proof solution.
In addition, GA4 is said to offer more privacy protection, which is increasingly important to web users:
“It helps businesses meet evolving needs and user expectations, with more comprehensive and granular controls for data collection and usage. Importantly, Google Analytics 4 will also no longer store IP addresses. These solutions and controls are especially necessary in today’s international data privacy landscape, where users are increasingly expecting more privacy protections and control over their data.”
Google Analytics 4 Is The New Standard
GA4 is designed to meet a number of key business objectives, such as driving sales or app installs, generating leads, and connecting online and offline customer engagement.
Here are several of the benefits offered by GA4:
- Insights across touchpoints: Get a complete view of the customer lifecycle with a measurement model that isn’t fragmented by platform or organized into independent sessions.
- Data-driven attribution: Assigns attribution credit to more than just the last click, helping you understand how different marketing activities collectively influence conversions.
- More valuable data: Machine learning generates predictive insights about user behavior and conversions, creates new audiences of users likely to purchase or churn, and automatically surfaces critical insights.
- More actionable data: Expanded integrations with other Google products, like Google Ads, work across GA4’s combined web and app data, making it easy to use Analytics insights to optimize ad campaigns.
- Built for enterprise: New sub and roll-up properties in Analytics 360 allow you to customize the structure of your Google Analytics 4 properties to meet data governance needs.
Mark Your Calendars
Mark the following dates on your calendars:
- July 1, 2023: All standard Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits.
- October 1, 2023: All 360 Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits.
Previously processed data in Universal Analytics will remain available for at least six months after the above dates.
Source: Google
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