It’s time for search marketing to get rid of the resistance and implement Google Analytics 4.
Google will end Universal Analytics next year, the company announced on Wednesday. Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits as of 1 July 2023 in addition, Universal Analytics 360 properties will stop processing hits from the 1st of October, 2023.
The previously processed data stored that were processed previously in Universal Analytics will be stored for at least six months following the dates of deprecation listed above.
The reason Google has decided to make the change. “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,” Russell Ketchum director of the product and marketing department at Google announced at the time of the announcement. “This measurement methodology is quickly becoming obsolete.”
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) differs from its predecessors in that it works across different platforms, doesn’t depend on cookies and employs an event-based information model to measure. The GA4 also doesn’t keep IP addresses in its database which helps brands remain on the right side of privacy rules.
A brief overview of Google Analytics 4. GA4 was launched in October 2020 and came with promising predictive analytics, more integration to Google Ads and cross-device measurement capabilities. Since then, Google has introduced the following changes to its brand new analytics platform:
Google Analytics 4 updates include machine learning algorithms to bridge the measurement gaps and a Search Console integration
You are now able to link Google Analytics 4 to Google Search Console
Google launches Search Ads 360 integration for Google Analytics 4.
We care about it. If you haven’t yet set in place your GA4 properties, now is a perfect time. Although we’ve had over a year of data, setting up GA4 now will allow it to begin tracking the factors you value to ensure that the historic data is accessible whenever you require it.
This also serves as an awakening: A lot of search marketers are dragging their feet when it comes time to implement GA4. In less than 15 months, it is no longer an option. So the more comfortable you are with GA4’s interface and capabilities the better prepared you’ll become to manage the change for your brand.
