Safeguard Your Historical Data! Google Analytics 4 is about to launch.
Although it can be difficult, change is inescapable. The ability to evaluate data to find out about the facts that can help your organization will change just as quickly as user journeys online have in recent years. Although Google Analytics 4 (the company’s fourth version) is expected to replace Universal Analytics as the standard for modern marketers, there are some significant differences between the two.
Google Analytics: The Fundamentals 4
To build up historical data in the new format, Google advises switching from Universal Analytics to GA 4 as soon as possible. On July 1, 2023, Universal Analytics will officially stop operating, at which point users won’t be able to access their historical data from previous years or achieve goals set up in the Universal version.
You should start making plans for the move if you developed your GA property before October 14, 2020, as you are probably using a Universal Analytics property. Google Analytics 4 is probably already being used if you set up a property after October 14, 2020, but it’s always a good idea to double-check.
What Causes This Change to Occur?
Change is inevitable, as was already stated, especially in digital marketing and advertising. As stated above by Russell Ketchum, Director of Product Management at Google, “In today’s measurement landscape, businesses need to navigate new challenges to understand the complex, multi-platform journeys of their customers — all while prioritizing user privacy.”
Google Analytics 4, according to the company, “allows businesses to see unified user journeys across their websites and apps, uses Google’s machine learning technology to surface and predict new insights, and most importantly, it’s built to keep up with a changing ecosystem.”
An experience for a user is no longer straightforward, linear, or even solitary. GA 4 is being released to assist marketers in more simply attributing and comprehending the numerous touchpoints of their effort so that success may be replicated.
Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics Metrics Comparison
The KPIs that Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics track will differ from one another. Here is a list of such variations, along with a link to a detailed explanation.
Both existing and new users will continue to be accessible. A new metric called “active people will show how many people have been active during the previous 28 days.
The total number of pages viewed during a session is referred to as page views, which will henceforth simply be referred to as views. Unique pageviews will eventually disappear.
Sessions In UA, a session is defined as a period of time during which a user interacts actively with your website, app, etc. However, there are conditions that can cause a session to terminate early, such as inactivity on the website, interacting with the website through another campaign, or even the midnight cutoff. In GA 4, Session Start starts immediately after engagement but does not adhere to the earlier UA restrictions.
Conversions
Goals, which were also sometimes referred to as objectives, denoted important actions, such as submitting a form. Because goals are now called “conversion events” in GA 4, Universal Analytics will no longer count only one conversion per session.
Engagement Rate vs. Bounce Rate
With GA 4, bounce rates will expire. A once-reasonable way to monitor site activity has lost some of its value as websites, applications, etc. have evolved. The next key performance indicator to pay attention to is engagement rate, which counts sessions that last more than 10 seconds, resulted in a conversion, or had at least 2 pageviews.
Event Number
On the website, notable occurrences were chronicled by total occurrences. For instance, a remarkable CTA was clicked. Each triggered event in Universal Analytics has a category, action, or label associated with it. In GA4, all activities are considered events, hence, event counts don’t need to have such precise labels and can instead represent a larger range of actions and events.
How Do You Begin Your Migration?
You are already in line for the transfer to Google Analytics 4 if you work with SimpSocial, and your client success specialist will keep you informed as we move forward.
Even though you are not a client, we would be pleased to help you with the new setup and tracking features of Google Analytics 4. Contact us at simpsocial.com or SimpSocial (888) 829-1110
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