Since 2012, Universal Analytics has been the primary analytics tool used by Google. At the time it was released, online measurement was centred around the desktop web and made use of data from cookies. However, this system of online measurement has since become outdated and ineffective.
So Google has recently developed Google Analytics 4 to replace the outdated Universal Analytics. Google Analytics 4 allows you to track your users’ journeys across multiple touchpoints, allowing you to gain insights into your customers without the data being split into multiple independent sessions as they move between platforms.
Google Analytics 4 also utilises machine learning to give you predictive insights into the behaviour of users and uses that information to generate new audiences that are likely to respond to your brand.
In addition to these new features, Google Analytics 4 has more integrations across other Google products, uses data-driven attribution to increase your ROI and allows you to minimise the data you collect from users whilst maintaining measurement functionality with new country-level privacy controls.
If you are still using Universal Analytics, it is recommended that you switch as soon as possible or at least install Google Analytics 4 now to start collecting data on the new tool. On 1 July 2023, Universal Analytics will stop processing new data, so if you still haven’t made the switch to Google Analytics 4 you will have no form of online measurement using Google.
You will still be able to access previously processed data using Universal Analytics for 6 months from 1 July 2023 but no new data will be processed so it is important to get ready for the change now. It is even more important to make the change now if you are running Google ads campaigns as the new version is a key consideration in campaign optimisation.
If you need any assistance in installing Google Analytics 4 or would like further information, please give us a call.